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Museum Store Company : The Finest Selection of Historic and Museum Jewelry, Art History Replicas and Museum Reproductions! Own a Piece of History...Give a Piece of History (tm) MuseumStoreCompany.com | |  | Microscopes | Home » » Celestron 44302-A Deluxe Handheld Digital Microscope 2MP | | | | | | | Description: | | This innovative microscope design allows you to view specimens or objects on a computer screen and allows you to take snapshot images or short videos. A rugged, metal stand is included for holding the microscope steady at various positions for viewing and/or imaging. | | | Features: | |
• Handheld Digital Microscope Powered by a 2.0 USB Cable.Digital Camera - built-in 2MP for Snapshot Images and Videos
• Computer Requirements - UVC Plug and Play with Windows 7, Vista, and XP and MAC 10.4.9 and later, CD/DVD Drive and open USB Port
• Power - 10x to 40x and 150x
• LED Illumination.
• CD-ROM - Software for Basic Image Capture and Organization as well as Simple Measurement Function (on Windows based operating systems)
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 6.0 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.0 inches | | Product Height:
| 3.0 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.44 pounds | | Package Length:
| 9.5 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.7 inches | | Package Height:
| 3.3 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.85 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 57 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 57 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 39 found the following review helpful:
 Quite good for the priceAug 07, 2011
By Ross Clark
"rheoman"
The image quality is good and I can use this camera / microscope on my Mac under OS Lion with the Photo Booth application. The illumination is good and the sharpness is good. At higher magnifications, it is a challenge to focus since there is not a rack and pinion type of focuser. You have to just make small adjustments to the stand or what you are observing. Since depth of field is shallow this can be tricky. The device is not parafocal. That means that different zoom levels require different focus positions. Yes, these are problems but overall this is a great way to see small things on your computer with reasonable quality.
28 of 28 found the following review helpful:
 Easy to use, once you get the hang of itAug 20, 2011
By C Homrich Jr.
"Chrish_jr"
I bought this recently so that I could take close up images of sections on coins that are in my collection. I have read in several places online that it is difficult to focus this digital microscope. I can't agree with that. Mine focuses easy and takes great pictures close up on coins. If you are looking for an easy way to capture images of very small areas (such as the steps on Monticello of the Jefferson nickels), look no further, this product does a wonderful job at a very reasonable price.
34 of 36 found the following review helpful:
 CumbersomeJun 28, 2011
By Brad Beatty
The microscope works fine, and the interface with the computer is fine, but actually using the device to look at things is not easy. The zoom control is cumbersome to grasp and its movement is very stiff. Consequently, you must grasp the microscope with both hands - manipulating this stiff zoom control while simultaneously moving the thing around to get the subject in focus.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Good optics; Need to Know TricksSep 22, 2011
By Troy B
This item has generally good build quality - excellent for the price. The optics give good pictures. The included software is basic, but works well on Windows. The biggest barrier to making good use of this item is thinking of it as a traditional microscope. The measurement tool in the software and a slight hesitation on the zoom ring give the biggest clues. As far as I can tell, the microscope both focusses and zooms at the same time. If you set it down on a flat surface, and focus on the surface you find that it focuses only at two different zooms/magnifications. These are where you can make measurements. Clearly the zoom/focus are working together from a midpoint on the zoom dial. As you zoom in or out from these measurement magnifications, you can indeed get sharp focus at a wide range of different magnifications, including low magnification on an area like a thumbnail at a reasonable distance. The included stand makes all this relatively painless. High magnification is a little tricky and loses contrast, and it may require removing the clear plastic piece. There are two oddities though. I have no problem with these for the price, but they are odd. First, I've got two of these and neither focuses on anything zoomed all the way out to low magnification. Second, there is quite a delay when taking photos. As a result, you really need to have it mounted on a stable stand when taking photos. The name handheld should therefore be removed from the name in my opinion.
There is one very messy problem - Mac support. I had no problem with the included software windows XP. It even worked with windows running on Fusion 3 on my mac. But this didn't work at all with my macbook pro on Mac OS 10.6.8. I tried Photobooth, iChat, iMovie, and Final Cut Pro 10.0.1. There were some silly outdated solutions on the Celestron website that also did not work. I did manage to get the microscope to 'work' on an old iMac G5 running OS 10.4.11, but only in iChat (not PhotoBooth). Celestron's website reads as if they really haven't even thought of buying a Mac and getting this to work properly. It can't be difficult. They really need to get onto it. As Mac users we expect devices to be plug and play, and its difficult to see how they messed that up. This an otherwise good device, but having to use it through Windows only does take the fun out of it. If anyone has had more luck or tricks that work with up-to-date versions of Mac OS, I'd love to hear the details.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Ok But Software Supplied Will not Retain Settings ChangeSep 12, 2011
By J. Gale
I bought this microscope even though the reviews were mixed.
The image quality is good. The stand is cumbersome and does not adjust easily or smoothly.
My main problem is with the software that comes with it.
I noticed that the color was too bright so I went to File, Settings and adjusted the saturation to a nice level.
The problem is that once you select apply and ok the settings revert back to the original. This occurs for any other setting available: contrast, brightness, gamma, etc.
I have this installed on a Windows 7/64 bit machine which is supposed to be supported.
I have contacted their customer support about this but no word back yet.
Would like to know if others have this problem and if so any solutions, thanks.
See all 57 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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