The Veho VMS-004 is rather like a close-focusing webcam
I can remember very clearly when I received a toy microscope as a present when I was a child. Although it was definitely a toy, designed and produced for young children, it was a real microscope, with three different objective lenses of varying magnification power, and it worked surprisingly well. It was inspirational. I'm sure my experience was representative of many thousands of other kids. So I find the idea of an affordable digital microscope quite appealing. The most widely advertised digital microscopes are branded Veho, a company that specialises in inexpensive digital imaging devices, like film scanners, and USB microscopes. The model we've tested is the Veho VMS-004. It sells for around £45 in the UK, or around $80 in the US. Ours is the Discovery Deluxe version, which comes with an adjustable desk stand.
The first thing to realise is that digital microscopes like Veho VMS-004 are very different to conventional optical microscopes. There is no holder for glass slides, for example. There is no mirror or light source under the subject to illuminate the subject. Instead, there are white LEDs surrounding the lens to illuminate the subject from above. It's a bit like using a torch that has a camera built in to the lamp.
Software installation is straightforward, and there is a generous length of USB cable. Stills and video can be recorded from the VMS-004, though the CMOS origins of the sensor are betrayed by the rather wobbly nature of the moving image which limits the video capability somewhat. For some reason I could only get the capture button on the unit itself to produce BMP format image files, while recording images from the supplied software produced JPEG files.
Magnification rates of 20x and 400x are claimed for the Veho VMS-004. At 20x the frame captured by the VMS-004 covers a recorded distance from left to right of just over one centimetre. in 400x mode, most of the frame is the space between millimetre marks on a ruler. Exactly how Veho calculate the 20x and 400x magnifications rates is unclear. In fact there is very little technical information to be found about Veho digital microscopes.
What little information there is refers to a CMOS sensor with an 'interpolated' resolution of up to 2 megapixels, and a video resolution of 1280x960 pixels (1.2 megapixels). This would suggest that the native resolution of the sensor is 1.2 megapixels. But I suspect that the 400x mode resolution is lower, as we pixellation becomes much more noticeable.
On page 2 of this review we explore the results that you can expect from the Veho VMS-004, with a gallery of samples and comparison with a conventioned DSLR fitted with a macro lens. Below is a gallery of images of the VMS-004, with captions covering a detailed exploration of the hardware. Just click on a thumbnail to see the full size image with the caption notes:
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Image quality and samples
Below is a gallery of sample images to give you some idea of what the Veho VMS-004 is capable of, or otherwise. The first two images are actually taken with a DSLR and macro lens to demonstrate that the lower magnification mode of the VMS-004 is quite similar to such a combination. The digital microscope does offer the benefit of better depth of field, even though the DSLR macro lens was stopped down to f/14.
At 400x the VMS-004 is quite difficult to use. The subject is constantly on the move at that magnification and the wafer thin depth of field doesn't help. Perhaps the biggest issue is illumination. Although a subject, like the pixels on an LCD monitor screen, has its own intrinsic brightness and is relatively easy to work with, the built-in LED illumination of the VMS-004 at 400x proved next to worthless. I think this is because the lens barrel protrude so much it actually shades the subject. I managed to use an alternative light source with some success, but it's tricky to set up.
Click on a thumbnail to see the full size image file:
Verdict
I'm tempted to begin this summing up of the Veho VMS-004 by stressing that it's very inexpensive, especially compared to some similar looking kit, costing nearly ten times as much. But the reason I feel I need to say that is because the VMS-004 is not a high-grade professional tool. A police forensics department would be wasting their money on a VMS-004 because the results aren't good enough, especially at the 400x mode, and it's difficult to get really decent results.
However, for the money, I think the VMS-004 has some potential for pseudo educational/fun use. It's definitely fun to use. It installed without problems on Windows 7 (though x64 drivers are, I understand, problematical or unavailable). I'd definitely consider the VMS-004 as a present, and it may even find some use in my own work for photographing small details that could be featured in articles I write. I just wish it was easier to use.
