Celestron 44308 Handheld Digital Microscope Pro, 20x-200x Magnification, Grey/White

The firmware for #44308-B is not easily discoverable on the Celestron website. By Googling the information below from Celestron Support I eventually found it:- Windows OS - Microcapture Pro V2.5 for 44308-B I carefully deleted all my previous attempts and downloaded the correct software. Hey-Presto! Like magic, full functionality was achieved within seconds. As philately is my passion I found that by rotating the microscope thru' 180 degrees and securing it to a 2" block I was able to capture great pictures of whole stamps. Bringing the picture up enables fantastic variable enlargements. The LED's permit true colours without tinting as reported with some digital microscopes This microscope has been rubbished by some, particularly stamp collectors. In fact, my experiences so far have proved them completely mistaken. It is a great piece of kit.

Very good optics at low and high magnification; slightly let down by stand. The coupler should have been steel and not plastic - this would have removed some of the wobble. If you have eyesight problems and find eyepieces difficult to use, this system gives you beautiful screen images.

This is the third such device I bought in a week. The other two went back. For a start this is truly Mac compatible complete with Mac software. Beware of other such devices which claim to be but rely on Photo Booth which is tiresome and produces only small images. This software is very good and the device is well made and works brilliantly. The next step up from this would be a camera costing 3 of 4 times as much, so I think this is excellent value.

Installed software CD for Macs. Connected to Mac book Pro via USB cable as instructed. Microscope light came on but also a box - 'Celestron does not support this type of Mac.' Why not ? I only bought it and it is advertised as being Mac compatible. There is no included instruction manual on how to operate once connected. Manual on CD does not open. Will have to return it. Very disappointed. A complete waste of time.

It is exactly as advertised on Amazon. It was easy to assemble (a seven year old could do it less that two minutes) I downloaded the software to my MAC (running OS X Yosemite, does not have a CD reader) from the Celestron website with no issues whatsoever. it gives clear, sharp, easy to focus full screen images (my MAC has a 27 inch monitor) and takes crisp photos that are easy to manage. I have used it to photograph mites and rust from my garden vegetables and flowers. It also was very useful in removing a splinter from my finger.

Firstly, this device will never be compatible with a Mac OS. The downloadable software (Note no disc is supplied as shown in pictures) was last updated in 2015. The last review saying software was great was written in 2015. The software will load but will not recognise the camera. Luckily I have third party software for a Carlson which supports OS 12+ and works fine. The two focus controls; the vertical adjustment and the thumbwheel are so stiff that the stand twists and bends when trying to adjust focus. This makes fine tracking virtually impossible. The 8 LEDS reflect straight back into the camera when trying to use the supplied graticule so the numbers are unreadable. A polarised filter would seem to be an essential addition. All in all, switching on and using this microscope was not a pleasant experience. Hopefully time will loosen up the controls a bit and with experience I can master the use of it for insect observation.

I have been testing this item for a couple of days, trying to get it to work and have now decided to return it. I'm not sure whether it's faulty or whether this is typical of the product but the images produced by the microscope were consistently pink (attached), even though it provides its own light source. I also found that there was a lot of glare produced by the lights with no way of switching them off to use my own. The quality of the magnification was poor - we bought it to help us with getting splinters out of our skin (okay, we're old and the eyes just don't work like they should do) but the image, although clear, was quite dark when used with skin. This product has great reviews on the internet so it may be that we were sent a faulty item - however, I think we'll stick to one holding a magnifying glass and the other using a needle the next time we get a splinter.

Took some practise to get the best out of the microscope, but the results are worth the effort.

Adecuado desempeño

Das Gerät und die Teile sind dem Preis entsprechend sehr gut bis gut verarbeitet. Die Software von Celestron ist intuitiv und ich denke der Support wird von dieser Firma (da es sich nicht um eine No-Name Company handelt) auch noch länger sichergestellt sein. Unter Windows 8.1 x64 läuft alles problemlos. Handheld Mikroskope gibt es auch günstiger und ohne Tischständer, dieser erweist sich aber beim Scharfstellen als sehr nützlich. Man kann kaum die exakte Entfernung zu einem zu untersuchenden Objekt gleich halten, während man mit der anderen Hand scharfstellt und dann noch den Auslöser für das Foto (ich mache es in der Software mit der Maus) betätigt. Man darf sich natürlich keine Wunder erwarten was den Schärfebereich angeht, umso höher die Vergrößerung ums geringer wird dieser (gilt für 3D Objekte wie zb Kaffeebohne etc.) Seht dazu auch meine Bilder, die ich hier hochgeladen habe. Ich denke diese geben einen guten ersten Eindruck wie weit man mit dem Gerät gehen kann. Die Vergrößerung hängt natürlich von der Entfernung zum Messobjekt, sowie den Einstellungen an dem Gerät (diese stellen das Bild Scharf und vergrößern teilweise noch) ab. Wer mehr will, muss gemäß dem Gesetz der Wirtschaft (you get what you pay for) auch mehr bezahlen, da ist eigentlich auch klar. Für den Einstieg in die digitale Mikroskopie kann ich es getrost weiter empfehlen! Trotzdem der Hinweis von "dnt" gibt es ein "ähnliches" (vermutlich das gleiche Produkt nur in Schwarz) zu einem günstigeren Preis.

Para el que busque un equipo económico para ampliar pequeños objetos es una buena elección. La luz es en general demasiado potente pero la cámara tiene una gran sensibilidad lumínica y 5Mpx de detalle que hacen que una vez efectuada la foto se pueda ampliar considerablemente. Fotografiar es muy sencillo con un pegueño botón del cable El programa tiene una herramienta de medición calibrable que resulta muy práctica. El soporte el algo bajo pero su regulación es buena y fina. Fotografiar es muy sencillo

I like this as it allows me to do fieldwork using computer screen. For my purpose, suffiently high magnification for me to identify bryophytes --- my latest area of microimage work. Very good, fast, effective technical support. Could not get it to work at first, but quick reply by service person sorted out the issue.

An excellent digital microscope out of the box. At 5MP the resolution is just what I need but don't be fooled by the advertised magnification because magnification depends only on the size you blow up the image. The better figure of merit is resolution. At closest focus, it compares to the resolution of a 30x magnifying glass. The software is pretty basic. Since this is just a simple webcam packaged as a microscope, any third party software will do. Since I am running Windows 7, you have to make sure you install the codex (that comes on the CD) so that the 5MP resolution can be realized. I tried three providers of free 3rd party software and all worked (again, the 5MP codex must be installed for them to run at that resolution). This third party software had more features than Celestron Capture Pro so I will probably use them often. For example, the Celestron software doesn't allow for adjustable exposure - it only auto scales so it can't be trusted for depth of field stacking. It also has no color balance controls. This is necessary since the 8 leds do not provide uniform lighting and I will need other lighting sources in certain circumstances. All third party software I looked at offers adjustable exposure and other features that make depth of field stacking easy. They also offer the full gamut of image control. Speaking of depth of field stacking, I will have to construct my own mount and optical stage for depth of field stacking since the Celestron mount is far too flimsy. The Celestron mount is good for just viewing objects on screen but if you need to make fine adjustments it is finicky. I love the quality of the images - an excellent price point for the optical quality - I will customize it to make it suit my needs.