Carson Z-Pix 34-168x Digital Zoom Microscope

Carson Z-Pix 34-168x Digital Zoom Microscope

Carson Z-Pix 34-168x Digital Zoom Microscope
List Price: $129.00
Our Price: $60.11
You Save: $68.89 (53%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $49.07 (click here)
Category: Sports
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Equipment Details

Manufacturer: Carson Optical
Brand: Carson
Release Date: 2009-05-26
Model: MM-740
Product features:
  • High-powered digital microscope connects to your computer
  • Capture images with onboard 1.3 megapixel digital camera
  • 34-to-168X magnification; measures 1.8 by 4.1 by 1.7 inches (W x H x D); 8.8-ounce weight
  • Includes specimen base, three blank sides, one prepared slide, forceps, eyedropper, USB cable, and CD ROM software
  • Compatible with Windows 98 SE, 2000, ME, XP, and Vista; Mac OS X 10.4 or later; requires USB 2.0 port

Sports reviews of Carson Z-Pix 34-168x Digital Zoom Microscope

Customer Review: Extremely good value with quality optics for under $100
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars

After reading the other reviews I quickly determined there are too many defective units or these reviewers simply haven't followed instructions...It seems the latter holds more merit...

The included software seems quite adequate in automatically controlling exposure, led intensity, white balance and other settings...Plus there are plenty of manual controls to change brightness, hue, sharpness, exposure, white balance, etc...I consider the optics to be quite good considering the amount of magnification and having to transfer this image to a large computer screen...I printed up a few 8x10's and they were quite crisp...Of course I had done a little further color editing and sharpening of the original image...

The still image natively saves at 1280x1024 .bmp or .jpg...I prefer the .bmp as the .jpg compression has been set very high and is not adjustable that I can find...Essentially the 1280x1024 .bmp files are 3-4mb while the same .jpg file is only 150-200kb...Too small for me...
These images can be saved at even higher resolutions than the sensor provides but this is strictly digital interpolation so why bother at this level...Better software programs can manipulate the image much better after saving the original .bmp...

While the camera has a manual button on the top for taking the still images you can also do it with a mouse click to prevent any unecessary camera movement...I much prefer the mouse when possible in a fixed setting...

The software accepts more than one input and initially I had to change mine because the screen was blank...I suspect this is what happened to one of the reviewers who complained their's was defective...I also believe the quality and speed of the video card plays a big roll in performance here as well...In my 5 year old laptop the image adjustments could take a second or more but with my new quad core, 3 gig Ram, 512mb video card the changes were instant..I also believe the proper monitor resolution settings and color calibration profiling plays a major role in getting the maximum quality of this cameras images...I doubt the negative reviewers were using optimum settings...

I haven't done any lengthly videos but the short clips I did were just fine...Saved in the basic .avi file...Again I believe the speed of the computer and video card are paramount in achieving optimum performance...

Overall, I cannot recommend this unit highly enough for the price and the quality of images it produces...Of course I don't have any other digital microscopes to compare with but I've used dozens of digital cameras and DSLR's so I know a quality digital image when I see it...I also take into account this camera costs under $100...I think the reviewers who downgraded it simply hadn't read all the software instructions on what the camera can actually do and what it takes to get that done...

I also find it ironic the cheaper sister unit MM-640 with a much smaller sensor is rated higher here at Amazon...To me this only confirms the reviews here on the MM-740 are mostly a result of improper instruction and not of inferior quality...

Buy it and most importantly take the time to properly use and I think anyone would be quite pleased with the results...

Description of Carson Z-Pix 34-168x Digital Zoom Microscope

The zPix? 200 from Carson Optical is a powerful Zoom Digital Microscope that displays the Magnified image right on your computer screen. The impressive 34x-168x Zoom Magnification allows you to see details of ordinary objects you never knew existed! Capture an image to keep using the built-in 1.3 megapixel resolution Digital Camera. You can even capture close-focus video! The MM-740 Zoom Digital Microscope is compatible with the following: Mac OSX 10.4 or later, Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP, Windows Vista. A USB 2.0 port is required.
The Carson Optical zPix is a powerful digital zoom microscope that displays a magnified image right on your computer screen. Impressive 34-to-168X magnification allows you to see details of ordinary objects you never knew existed, and you can additionally capture images with an onboard 1.3 megapixel digital camera.

Specifications

  • 34-to-168X magnification
  • Measures 1.8 by 4.1 by 1.7 inches (W x H x D)
  • 8.8-ounce weight
  • Compatible with Windows 98 SE, 2000, ME, XP, and Vista; Mac OS X 10.4 or later
  • Requires USB 2.0 port
  • Includes specimen base, three blank sides, one prepared slide, forceps, eyedropper, USB cable, and CD ROM software

About Carson Optical
Carson is a leading supplier of consumer optics products for major catalog companies, nationwide retailers, and direct to consumers. The company's product line covers categories from recreation, sports, hobby, education, and crafts with products ranging from high-end binoculars to low-cost magnifiers.

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