Recommend a field microscope to use with an iPhone
April 2, 2021 1:05 PM   Subscribe

Help me choose a microscope to connect to my iPhone.

I'm looking for a microscope to connect to my iPhone with a lightening cable to take on an artist residency in the Arctic Circle. I'd like to spend less than $100. I'll be using it mainly to photograph algae and things like rotifers both in the Arctic and also on Lake Erie. Needs to be portable and robust. I've googled - looking for personal recommendations - thx!
posted by leslies to Technology (3 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Some of the clip-on macro lenses (cheap!) perform surprisingly well.
posted by porpoise at 12:12 PM on April 3, 2021


Response by poster: I should add I have a little handheld one with a light that one just holds up to the iPhone lens - no clamp so it's cumbersome. I've seen one pricey option (~$130) that does brightfield and darkfield - and that might be worth it to me. There are an enormous range of them out there and bunches of DIY options that look great for at-home use but less good for carrying in a pocket hiking and then using.
posted by leslies at 1:30 PM on April 3, 2021


Best answer: Keep in mind that for questions like "it needs to be portable, cheap, and robust," you often get to pick two.

For less than $100, I don't think you'll find anything where the magnification levels are provided by optical lenses; it's going to be digital zoom. About a year ago, I got one of those import USB microscopes from Amazon (seems to be discontinued) for about 50 bucks. It does have a 12MP camera and works reasonably well for detail work doing board repair, SMD rework, etc. but in terms of image quality at high magnification, it is definitely not a $800 lab microscope.

Smart phones, and iPhones in particular, are a little weird with their USB/Lightning connectors; even with adapters, you can't always treat them as a standard USB port and just hook up any old thing to it. Make sure anything you select specifically says that it's compatible with iPhone; you may have better luck with something that works wirelessly over WiFi or Bluetooth.

There's this one that works over WiFi (install app from the App Store). If you don't mind shopping with Amazon and you have enough lead time, maybe try a couple options and return them if they don't work as expected?
posted by xedrik at 8:29 AM on April 4, 2021 [1 favorite]


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