Microscope that magnifies 800x on your smartphone: the Fingertip Zoom Microscope
Every now and then it’s nice to take a closer look at the world of the small. It is no longer necessary to carry around a heavy microscope. You can do that with your smartphone.
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Fingertip Zoom Microscope, full-fledged microscope for a few tens
It’s not just electronics that have become smaller and smaller. Also optics are now much better and much cheaper than before. For example, the lens system in a good smartphone is no longer inferior to a professional camera. Microscopes have also benefited from this. A microscope used to cost hundreds of euros, but now you can buy this mini microscope for a few tens, which gives almost as good an image.
800x, details down to a micron size
This eye-catching gadget enlarges to details as small as a micron, 1000 nm. This means that you can see bacteria and very large viruses with it. And of course small details, for example the hairs on the leg of a fly, on electronics or in nature. Even the very best optical microscopes don’t get much further than this, as this is close to the wavelength of light (400-700 nm). Sharper than this wavelength is only possible with lenses with a negative refractive index.
How do you use this microscope?
You stick this microscope like a ring around the lens of your smartphone. The trick to make these microscopes stick to your smartphone is borrowed from the famous wall lizard, the gecko. The microscope comes with a box with which you can immediately set the correct focal length. In this box you can immediately store the small lens again when you are ready. Light is also built into the microscope so that you can also use it in dim light.
Communicates with an app on your phone
The microscope communicates with an app on your smartphone. This can be an iPhone as well as an Android phone. In short, a nice and quite affordable Chinese gadget if you want to delve more into nature and the small, invisible world around us. More information on iMicro
