6 ms·

This looks great for my son who is interested in science but shipping to Western Europe at $45 for a single $10 foldable microscope is a little too steep. Hope

This looks great for my son who is interested in science but shipping to Western Europe at $45 for a single $10 foldable microscope is a little too steep. Hope they can find a local EU supplier some time in the future.

Schinken_ 4y ago
There are also several DIY 3d printed microscope options in case that's easier/cheaper for you.
- kleiba 4y ago
  What about second hand microscopes off ebay? I know you can even get very fancy ones that would be overkill for a curious kid at home. But I'm sure you can tap into the lower end market where for the same cost as mentioned by grandparent you'll end up with something comparable not made out of cardboard.
anotheryou 4y ago
there are some resellers
onebitwise 4y ago
Checks out the Blips Micro lenses for smartphone. Shipping in Europe should be 5-6 euros :)
- docdeek 4y ago
  That looks really neat - thank you.
- hrnnnnnn 4y ago
  Thanks for the tip, I've been wanting to do some micrography for a while but hadn't found anything decent-looking. Just impulse-bought the blips lab kit!
- hypertele-Xii 4y ago
  They have extremely misleading marketing, noting magnification of 150x for the Ultra lens, but that's "with digital zoom" (doesn't add pixels just scales them up like you'd do in Photoshop); the actual magnification is only 33x, which is trash, wouldn't call that microscopic at all. The paper microscope in the OP is actually 140x, much better. Even my toy microscope I got for birthday decades ago as a kid does 750x.
  - novaRom 4y ago
    High magnification is not the best for most interesting experiences. The best is to have low magnification stereo with large Field Of View. A range btw 10x and 20x is great to observe fine biological structures in 3D.
    - dekhn 4y ago
      Yes, I agree with this- for the vast majority of people 10X is enough! Being able to easily pan the image over multiple fields is nice, as well.
    - bla3 4y ago
      You mean Depth Of Field, not Field Of View, right?
      - novaRom 4y ago
        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_view https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_view
      - dekhn 4y ago
        No. You can't really adjust your microscope hardware to get a larger depth of field, but field of view is straightforward. You want FOV because most things you are going to look at are relatively thin planes. If you want more DoF you should do photo stacking. Even for FOV, I do multiple field acquisition and then stitch because even my low-mag microscope only covers a 1mm circle.
    - 4y ago
causi 4y ago
You can get a cheap wi-fi microscope off Amazon for $20.
theodric 4y ago
I find this lazy, high-cost shipping to the foreign lands beyond the map both irritating and baffling. This folds, it fits in an envelope or through a mail slot. It shouldn't cost more than a tenner to ship it. But because they just got 1(one) quote from UPS for hyper-express service, they're missing out on 400 million potential clients in Europe. It's so, so dumb.
hellohowareu 4y ago
I purchased the "Carson MicroBrite Plus 60x-120x Power LED Lighted Pocket Microscope"[1] for $15 on Amazon. I love it for its portability and durability-- I can pop it in my pocket or backpack and check out stuff on nature trails. ...Checking out its amazon page I also see this related, more powerful product for $20: "Carson MicroFlip 100x-250x LED and UV Lighted Pocket Microscope with Flip Down Slide Base and Smartphone Digiscoping Clip" [2] And a search for 1000x microscope yields this $60 one "LCD Digital Microscope,4.3 Inch 1080P 10 Megapixels,1-1000X Magnification Zoom Wireless USB Stereo Microscope Camera,10MP Camera Video Recorder with HD Screen" [3] [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LAX52IQ?psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LAX52IQ?psc=1 [2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015MS8O48 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015MS8O48 [3] https://www.amazon.com/PalliPartners-Microscope-Magnification-Megapixels-Adjustable/dp/B08LVM9361 https://www.amazon.com/PalliPartners-Microscope-Magnificatio...

Schinken_ 4y ago

There are also several DIY 3d printed microscope options in case that's easier/cheaper for you.

kleiba 4y ago
What about second hand microscopes off ebay? I know you can even get very fancy ones that would be overkill for a curious kid at home. But I'm sure you can tap into the lower end market where for the same cost as mentioned by grandparent you'll end up with something comparable not made out of cardboard.

anotheryou 4y ago

there are some resellers

onebitwise 4y ago

Checks out the Blips Micro lenses for smartphone. Shipping in Europe should be 5-6 euros :)

docdeek 4y ago
That looks really neat - thank you.
hrnnnnnn 4y ago
Thanks for the tip, I've been wanting to do some micrography for a while but hadn't found anything decent-looking. Just impulse-bought the blips lab kit!
hypertele-Xii 4y ago
They have extremely misleading marketing, noting magnification of 150x for the Ultra lens, but that's "with digital zoom" (doesn't add pixels just scales them up like you'd do in Photoshop); the actual magnification is only 33x, which is trash, wouldn't call that microscopic at all. The paper microscope in the OP is actually 140x, much better. Even my toy microscope I got for birthday decades ago as a kid does 750x.
- novaRom 4y ago
  High magnification is not the best for most interesting experiences. The best is to have low magnification stereo with large Field Of View. A range btw 10x and 20x is great to observe fine biological structures in 3D.
  - dekhn 4y ago
    Yes, I agree with this- for the vast majority of people 10X is enough! Being able to easily pan the image over multiple fields is nice, as well.
  - bla3 4y ago
    You mean Depth Of Field, not Field Of View, right?
    - novaRom 4y ago
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_view https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_view
    - dekhn 4y ago
      No. You can't really adjust your microscope hardware to get a larger depth of field, but field of view is straightforward. You want FOV because most things you are going to look at are relatively thin planes. If you want more DoF you should do photo stacking. Even for FOV, I do multiple field acquisition and then stitch because even my low-mag microscope only covers a 1mm circle.
  - 4y ago

causi 4y ago

You can get a cheap wi-fi microscope off Amazon for $20.

theodric 4y ago

I find this lazy, high-cost shipping to the foreign lands beyond the map both irritating and baffling. This folds, it fits in an envelope or through a mail slot. It shouldn't cost more than a tenner to ship it. But because they just got 1(one) quote from UPS for hyper-express service, they're missing out on 400 million potential clients in Europe. It's so, so dumb.

hellohowareu 4y ago

I purchased the "Carson MicroBrite Plus 60x-120x Power LED Lighted Pocket Microscope"[1] for $15 on Amazon. I love it for its portability and durability-- I can pop it in my pocket or backpack and check out stuff on nature trails. ...Checking out its amazon page I also see this related, more powerful product for $20: "Carson MicroFlip 100x-250x LED and UV Lighted Pocket Microscope with Flip Down Slide Base and Smartphone Digiscoping Clip" [2] And a search for 1000x microscope yields this $60 one "LCD Digital Microscope,4.3 Inch 1080P 10 Megapixels,1-1000X Magnification Zoom Wireless USB Stereo Microscope Camera,10MP Camera Video Recorder with HD Screen" [3] [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LAX52IQ?psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LAX52IQ?psc=1 [2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015MS8O48 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015MS8O48 [3] https://www.amazon.com/PalliPartners-Microscope-Magnification-Megapixels-Adjustable/dp/B08LVM9361 https://www.amazon.com/PalliPartners-Microscope-Magnificatio...