but, by all MEANS? go grab you TV projection lens… and draw up an image on a piece of white paper… if its sunny out? you can see the CLOUDS and SKY pretty on a piece of white paper if your hands are steady…
Going through image results from a Google search, I see those for $12-15 from a great many different sellers.
All the same? All good enough?
Nobody specifies working distance (sigh)
and I haven’t found one saying it’d work with OSX/Macintosh (SIGH).
Some warn they will only work with Windows.
Hank?
Here’s my WAGs (Wild A##ed Guesses) :
= no one knows what the 12 dollar units are capable of. They might “be” the 60-70 dollar unis and warhawk overpaid, or, they might “be” the 640x480 “only” units… they COULD be all the same, but, the “software” unlocks the over-VGA resolution…
= my BEST GUESS? is that the webcame will work with MAC, as in “probably”/”maybe”/”perhaps”… and the software is only PC. My 64-x480 webcam? i just plugged it into my USB port, it went “ba-doop…ba-doop” and i can click on the “generic USB device” and i get rolling video and VGA “still shots”. I didnt bother with the software, as at THAT point it isnt “unlocking” much i need at that point. SOme units “look identical” brag PC/Mac?“linux with effort”.
= i’m buying a 12 dollar one ANYways, just so i will know if i can use the body and focus mechanism to “mod” with it. I will let everyone know, and make jokes if necessary.
= welcome to the world of chinese specs that cant be trusted until someone buys one that knows whats going on and reports it. Even then? it will only be “THAT seller, right THERE!”… IE, just like buying a ’68 flashlight off ebay, ha ha
= NO ONE is bragging about “great working heights” except on low magnification, the higher magnifications come at small/close working heights
= thats one of the multiple reasons why i am building mine from scratch. In addition to putting the money where it “counts” (wencam resolution, LENS) I have already proven “big working height with max resolution” is easily possible with a home build, as well as “swapping camera lenses”, things only available on the high dollar commercial units
= none of this “confusion” should really be anything new to a group of people used to “bnudget lights” and “budget specs problems”, LMAO
I paid a bit extra thinking that it did actually have higher definition than the others but I was gipped. I contacted the seller and they gave a $10 refund.
The bit about the lens on this thing is it is removable. I didn’t know this before hence the picture quality wasn’t good. One thing to note about the “zoom” it doesn’t actually have “zoom” it is just focus. Zoom is adjusted by moving the microscope closer or further away from the target.
Jesus H Christ on a popsicle stick… i just L-O-V-E the “language barriers” that are really just a smokescreen for “happy specs”
ZOOM = multiple FocalLrngths, IE, “80mm —-> 200mm a-d-j-u-s-t-a-b-l-e:”
FIXED = one focal length, IE, “25mm lens”
all right, “achievement unlocked”, lol…
Do you guys know what these “USB microscopes” really are? They are nothing more than WEBCAMS!!! They put them in those cases, they add a little flashlight ring to it for target illumination, and they use a different “board lens” than whats considered “normal” on a cheap webcam (but not by much, lol)
By THEIR definition of “zoom”? my cellphone has a “zoom lens” because i can certainly STAND CLOSER TO MY SUBJECT to get “magnification”
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why in the name of all that is unholy, do i need pretty much a GRAPPLING HOOK up their @$$ to pull out a “real specification” thats accurate?? ha ha
this is hysterically funny to me…
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its just a webcam, with a light ring, and a different board lens… nothing special. Apparently SOME of the better units (all same bodies, like flashlights) just have the more expensive high resolution webcam in it.
Yup. As usual, the sellers don’t know what they’re selling (sigh).
The $8 version (“500x”) claims to be 5MP, 2MP, and 1.3MP
I suggested they find out and tell me — take a picture and report the file size it produces.
Fat chance they can even lay hands on the item, these are usually just order takers for some drop-shipper elsewhere.
yeah, i’ve been searching webcams, so i can get a “budget” high resolution webcam to use for imaging in my build…
lot of people selling “5 mega pixel webcams” that claim wonderful stuff, all HD widescreen… then in the specs some of them report “640x480”
“5mp” is just something to throw on the “tag line” on EBAY to sell it…
anyone know whats the cheapest USB webcam that has anything higher than 640x480 VGA, NOT COUNTING STILL PHOTOS, video feed only…???
I got a reply from the seller (“marrymarryme”) of this one, which variously claimes 5MP, 2MP and 1.3MP in the listing.
They answered confirming it’s a 1.3 megapixel camera.
Costs between $12-13 — they vary the price and charge for shipping in several listings with varying descriptions.
Probably what I really want is a bare board camera, anyone seen those for sale without the shell?
Some relevant discussion with pictures here:
hank? you need to read the “marrymarryme” ebay link again… the specs say VIDEO is 640x480… 1.3MP is only available as a STILL PHOTO… i already got VGA VIDEO WEBCAM for 2 dollars all over the ebay, lol
e-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y likes to claim the “highest spec possible”, but… for soldering? still snapshots are useless… we need a live video feed to solder.
you can now see how “tricky” this is, even when no one is lying to us, lol…
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i dont have to go thru this crap when i work with “board cameras” that are not “usb webcams”… the specs are the specs, the pixels are the pixels… but, i went with “USB/webcam-style” because is takes the powersupply and screen out of the build… as well as giving us the option to capture video and still shots…
VGA video is a 2 dollar webcam… its old tech… it is cheap….
LOGITECH (like recommended in the build off-site that started all this?) is a 60 to 90 dollar “option” to know you are getting better than VGA for the video feed…
you cant tell me? there isnt something “between” the 2 dollar webcams, and the 60 to 90 dollar webcams… there just HAS to be…
> has to be
Yep. Somewhere. We need what photographers call a telephoto macro lens (sigh).
Camcorders have them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl5aebDSrhg (great closeup of a mantis)
hank? msybe THIS looks like a “macro lens extension tube” to you? lol…
you dont have to READ it? just go down to the pictures…I already BUILT IT… this is the “build thread” so everyone else can do it that wants to… wink
i just need a cheap webcam, thats better than VGA 640x480… I already “sourced” workable cheap imaging lenses? that will crush the little bitty webcam lenses. After several of us have built it? whatever focal length proves the best, i’ll order them in THAT size… no reason we shouldn’t have very inexpensive lenses that work perfect, and we can swap them in and out to suit our needs….
project? already off the ground, working just fine… magnification is “too much”, and working height is about 12 inches… i can swap lenses…
cheap build, easy to do… no “tech” no soldering… I sourced lenses…
peformance and general looks of the unit? looks suspiciously like the “big commercial” USB microscopes, lol… hey, every once in a while? you swing for the seats and connect, and it goes out of the park, you know?
Wow! This would make things so much easier 
The price is very reasonable as well. Great find, Thank you for sharing, hello new toy 
heres an example on ebay? i can build all this crap, lol… its not hard…
these things? are not as “high tech” as most people think… i got 10 bucks into my working build, and already have a real camera lens and 640x480 working… i throw a 60 dollar 5mp webcam in it? i am keeping up with the joneses, lol…
its just “arts and crafts time, busy work” to make the brackets and stuff, lol…
this project is in the “home stretch”, lol…