USB vs HDMI PCB Microscope Camera - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: pcm81
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 03:28:00 pm
content: After doing some research for PCB microscopes i settled on AmScope SM-8TZ-144S-10M. It comes with USB camera but its frame rate sucks at high resolution. I intend to mount either a tablet or a monitor at the back of my bench to have scope video available on. 90% of the time i will be using it through the monitor, 10% of the time actual eye pieces. From what i understand, the HDMI cameras output higher frame rate, while USB cameras offer custom software for additional functionality. But beyond that, i am uncertain of what i would be better off with, USB vs HDMI? I will either have to buy large tablet for USB or a monitor for HDMI. So either way it will be additional investment. Can someone fill me in of benefits of USB connection, even though it costs frame rate?The current USB camera that comes with scope has: Frame Rate: 38fps @872x654, 11fps @1744x1308, 3.3fps @3584x2748. So, it kinda sucks, but should get me started.I guess i could mount my nikon D5 for clean HDMI output at 4K if low light is an issue, but constantly changing batteries is no bueno.I could buy HDMI out camera....What do you all think about frame rate vs USB software features tradeoffs?Thanks

author: KungFuJosh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 03:46:27 pm
content: I think you should keep shopping. If you plan on doing anything other than inspection, the framerate is a deal killer. Poor framerate will also come with screen lag, which makes it unusable for soldering.Some digital microscopes have HDMI and USB, but the specs of the device determine how the rest of it works.

author: pcm81
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 03:51:36 pm
content: Quote from: KungFuJosh on August 23, 2025, 03:46:27 pmYeah, i kinda figured that the included camera won't be the final solution. What i am trying to decide if i should be going HDMI or USB (with better camera) route.

author: pcm81
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 04:01:09 pm
content: I am actually tempted to buy an AC adapter and use my Nikon D5, but that just feels like using a minuteman ICBM to take out an ant hill.

author: KungFuJosh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 04:10:02 pm
content: TBH the one you picked is probably nicer than any I've had, but the digital part of it still becomes a problem if you need to see in real time using the camera.Some users on here have much nicer microscopes including the Mantis stuff that's supposed to be good.

author: pcm81
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 04:14:23 pm
content: Quote from: KungFuJosh on August 23, 2025, 04:10:02 pmI really like Mantis, but i don't like it enough to pay $3K-$5K for itI am really leaning towards getting an AC adapter and hooking up my Nikon D5 to it for clean HDMI out. But D5 is now 9 year old camera and its digital zoom is not being sent to the hdmi port, so figured may bbe the 3rd party cameras are better option.

author: KungFuJosh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 04:24:03 pm
content: I've seen a couple Mantis models pretty close in price to the model you chose. There's also the used market to consider.

author: pcm81
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 04:57:09 pm
content: Quote from: KungFuJosh on August 23, 2025, 04:24:03 pmThe ebay listings often are missing arm or the objective lens; adding which from OEM would add like $1000+ to price tag of ebay listings. Plus it is a rather complex piece of optical machinery; if it got bumped too hard by previous owner it can require a trip to OEM for repair. At that point might as well just buy new and have warranty for repair.

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 05:28:01 pm
content: friend has AmScope and true it is a bit slow (but his unit is not like very bad either) for soldering etcSecond problem is that when you have it on some desk stand it usually wobbles when you press the desk making this not very nice so he has it attached to some led lamp mount mounted to wallthis is not a big deal if you wanna solder as you will (usually) not use some huuge magnification but the higher magnification you go the more problems with thatAlso look for one having a glass lens cause plastic ones if you place it too close to soldered joint or when unlucky can get some tiny tiny small solder pieces melted in after some time, also fumes are corrosive and making lenses less transparent after time from my experience. It is not a big deal when you select some cheap not cheap 50-200 $ microscope with screen on holder which is usually a "toy" that lasts some time and you replace it after few years.Other than that for inspection or looking closer he prefers it over other things he has as it is small, lightweight and easy to use with very good picture quality (but he has one that costed like 1k usd or close years back, do not remember the exact model rn)It is way easier when you get a camera for normal desk trinocular microscope than to purchase such a small one with both USB and HDMI.

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 05:36:00 pm
content: Basically as you noted, USB goes through a computer so you can run extra software to take on-screen measurement or record videos or stills. I use a USB camera to look at and photograph semiconductor dice.You don't need this for real time viewing and straight to the monitor may be simpler and better bang for the buck. Also lowest possible latency, though the extra overhead of sending over USB and processing in the computer is perhaps less than one frame. I find that ~20fps or faster USB camera is quick enough to comfortably operate a microscope. Never tried soldering under one.In the USB world, a big improvement is USB 3.0 - this has enough bandwidth to stream uncompressed 1080p60, but it also costs more. IMO USB 2.0 is waste of time - it's either less than 720p resolution, pitiful framerate or compression which usually doesn't look great (cheap cameras only support MJPEG).

author: pcm81
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 05:53:42 pm
content: Quote from: kmoonwalker on August 23, 2025, 05:28:01 pmas far a stability goes, it will be mounted to dragonball fixture tablehttps://www.fireballtool.com/products/diy-table-system-36x24-3-4-system?_pos=3&_sid=7ae05123c&_ss=r&variant=43869533569068

author: kloetpatra
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 06:01:12 pm
content: You should select the camera based on the image sensor used. The mount is called C-Mount. Good image sensors for those cameras are for example IMX585 or IMX678 which are both 4k with very good dynamic range and low-light capabilities. IMX662 is also good, but 1080p only.Be aware that there are many fake products where the image sensor advertised is often not the one you get.Cheap image sensors have poor dynamic range, hard compression, huge latency and other artifacts.Definitely check out this thread including its videos:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/microscope-for-soldering-sony-imx-comparison-fullhd-1080-vs-4k/

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 07:19:33 pm
content: Quote from: pcm81 on August 23, 2025, 05:53:42 pmIn this case this looks very heavy thus stability should not be an issue(but vibrations from other things on the table or nearby can be so should be taken into account)Usually those arms that come with cameras are the main problem - they look OK but they do fall into oscillations and it takes time for picture to become steady again.And I forgot one important thing - I prefer cameras with manual focussing over auto cause they often switch to closest element on PCB and depth of field is usually low on them - so that needs to be tested on selection phase against how much height difference you have between tallest element and PCB layer if you can still read SMD indications seeing well enough something like on picture.if you have relatively "low height" PCB components then this is not a big issue

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 07:32:08 pm
content: Quote from: kloetpatra on August 23, 2025, 06:01:12 pmones with real SONY sensors are very good performing and often can be found on cheaper brands but I'd recommend for any camera to request a demo or borrow two or three and test against each other.higher resolution is good but physics also plays big part thus on same sensor physical size FHD pixel will have 2x size of 4k one and thus it will be able to collect 4 time more photons - anyway most of current tech cameras from fancy side is way over 4k nowadays and they are expensive but performing very well.I remember when few years ago friend of mine compared few C-mount cameras from 150 to 1000$ and was shocked how big difference was on some 550-600$ camera compared to cheap one he got with his scope (worth like 100 or less). Then they had more res of more functions.