OMAX - MD827S30L Built-in 3MP Camera 40X-2000X Digital Biological Compound Binocular LED Light Microscope with Double Layer Mechanical Stage Oil Immersion NA1.25 Condenser

Love it! Beautiful piece of equipment. Delivery time was faster than expected.

I have used many different scopes over the years at work and teach lab courses that require students to use compound microscopes, but I wanted one for home use and specifically to easily capture digital images for website and class use. This microscope works great for the purpose I bought it for, and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the scope and images for the low price I paid. It is easy to set up and use, especially if you're familiar with compound microscopes and e.g. already know what a condenser is and what it does. (The instructions tell you how to adjust it, but not why this is important.) It plugs right into the computer via USB to capture images on screen. I found that once you have installed the software and set up the scope, you have to always plug it into the same USB port to make it work or the computer won't recognize it (I use Windows 7). The ScopeImage software manual reads a bit like "Chinese English" in terms of grammar - certainly not written by a native speaker - but it's not too difficult to understand and figure out how to use. The maximum image resolution the camera can save is 2048 x 1526 pixels (jpg or bmp). I have successfully used photo stitching software to assemble several images into large, high resolution pictures of around 5,000 pixels across. I've also used focus stacking software on image Z stacks with great results. It even captures video (avi) if you are observing things that move. You can use a ruler or stage micrometer to calibrate the software to measure objects. Overall, it does a great deal of things and I have been very pleased with it. For print quality images, I prefer to use the higher resolution cameras on the more expensive scopes at the university, but for online image archiving and class use, this scope does a great job.

I have used many microscopes that cost 5 to 10 times more than this smaller version and I would recommend this to anyone who needs to do biological or metallurgical work at magnfications from about 40X to 2000X. I used a calibrated grid to calibrate all of the lenses with the computer that I am using, which is a Windows 7 Professional driven Compaq. It is very easy to set up and use but you need to go on-line to get the most recent manual. There is a paper in the box that lets you know exactly where to find this. It is important because the manual this is in the CD is not for this microsope. If you are going to use this as a metallurgical microscope (not using tranmitted light but using reflected light) there is no through lense lighting. You will need to have an outside light. I purchased the AMScope LED-8WD from Amazon to go with this microscope. I had read a review that says you can not run the software on a Windows 8 machine. That is true if it is Windows 8RT but not a true Windows 8 machine. I installed the software on two of my Windows 8 computers and it works very well. You may have an issue with the drivers because windows installation may say that it is incompatible. Ignore this and make sure that you install the drivers for the camera before you plug in the USB cable. When installing the software leave the USB unplugged until you get a message saying that you need to plug in the camera. I would be happy to share more about this if you get into trouble. As an additional note: I also purchased the AmScope 20x-40x-80x Digital Stereo Microscope with top and bottom illumination. Which is another great microscope with digital camera lense. You have to remove the lense from the body and it is held in there with a very small phillips screw. There is nothing in the instructions that tell you this. This could also be too much microscope for your needs as oftern you want to record digital images at even lower magnification. You can see my review on this by looking up this AmScope. In the past, I ordered the AGPtek USB 800X digital microscope with 2 MP camera and believe it or not you can get some great pictures with it. I took some of some composite material that I was trying to analyze and I needed about 10X magnification. I will also review this separately. Make sure you buy a stand with this one such as the universal stand with x-y base.

it is good. The 'lens size' is very small. My vet is always disappointment that she cannot get a good view of the cells. It is also very difficult to get that 'fine tune' focus. I can never get the eye pieces so that I can see through comfortably. But it doesn't matter because I can view on the computer. It is a good starter microscope

Works very well. I've see blood cells, bacteria, etc.