page_title: Digital microscope
section_title: USB microscopes
hierarchical_section_title: Digital microscope / USB microscopes
caption_attribution_description: 2008 Computex - D &amp; i Award: AnMo Dino-Lite Digital Microscope.
context_page_description: A digital microscope is a variation of a traditional optical microscope that uses optics and a digital camera to output an image to a monitor, sometimes by means of software running on a computer. A digital microscope often has its own in-built LED light source, and differs from an optical microscope in that there is no provision to observe the sample directly through an eyepiece. Since the image is focused on the digital circuit, the entire system is designed for the monitor image. The optics for the human eye are omitted.
  Digital microscopes can range from cheap USB digital microscopes to advanced industrial digital microscopes costing tens of thousands of dollars. The low price commercial microscopes normally omit the optics for illumination and are more akin to webcams with a macro lens.
context_section_description: Digital microscopes range from inexpensive units costing from perhaps US$20, which connect to a computer via  USB connector, to units costing tens of thousands of dollars. These advanced digital microscope systems usually are self-contained and do not require a computer.
  Some of the cheaper microscopes which connect via USB have no stand, or a simple stand with clampable joints. They are essentially very simple webcams with small lenses and sensors—and can be used to view subjects which are not very close to the lens— mechanically arranged to allow focus at very close distances. Magnification is typically claimed to be user-adjustable from 10× to 200-400×.
  Devices which connect to a computer require software to operate. The basic operation includes viewing the microscope image and recording "snapshots". More advanced functionality, possible even with simpler devices,  includes recording moving images, time-lapse photography, measurement, image enhancement, annotation, etc. Many of the simpler units which connect to a computer use standard operating system facilities, and do not require device-specific drivers. A consequence of this is that many different microscope software packages can be used interchangeably with different microscopes, although such software may not support features unique to the more advanced devices. Basic operation may be possible with software included as part of computer operating systems—in Windows XP, images from microscopes which do not require special drivers can be viewed and recorded from "Scanners and Cameras" in Control Panel.
  The more advanced digital microscope units have stands that hold the microscope and allow it to be racked up and down, similarly to standard optical microscopes. Calibrated movement in all three dimensions are available through the use of a step motor and automaded stage. The resolution, image quality, and dynamic range vary with price. Systems with a lower number of pixels have a higher frame rate (30fps to 100fps) and faster processing.  The faster processing can be seen when using functions like HDR (high dynamic range). In addition to general-purpose microscopes, instruments specialized for specific applications are produced.  These units can have a magnification range up to 0-10,000x, are either all-in-one systems (computer built-in) or connect to a desktop computer.  They also differ from the cheaper USB microscopes in not only the quality of the image, but also in capability, and the quality of the system's construction giving these types of systems a longer lifetime.
caption: A miniature USB microscope
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