Two years ago this month (Dec. 2013), I bought a dinky little USB microscope from Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002JCSCYI). It was on sale for £35 and I bought it thinking it’d be a bit of a laugh and either be pretty cheap and useless, or not work at all in Linux. I was wrong on all accounts!
The build quality is pretty OK for the price. Even after two years of (granted, infrequent) use, it’s still holding up well.
On the side of the microscope you have a large rotating dial which is your focus. Really you have only two focus settings: near and far. Everything in between is a tweak to get sharper focus. Also on the side is a button for taking a snapshot (although most software has a snapshot facility which will give you a more stable shot), and a dial for turning the light on and dimming (if required). That’s basically it. You plug the microscope into your USB port and you’re off.
Obviously you’ll want some software to use it with. I use Cheese (in Mint 16) but previously I used Kamosa in KDE.
Both acknowledge the microscope as a webcam and let you take still photos or videos. The microscope’s highest resolution is 640 x 480 which is more than adequate for tinkering about with.
I recently started going through a box of old coins that I’ve had for years (that I got from my dad) and this little microscope was indispensable for finding mint marks and reading signatures.
Just watch when you’re buying it though as this is the x400 version I’m reviewing. There is a cheaper x200 version which I have not tried.
PROS: • It’s cheap and does the job • It takes pretty good quality photos considering its low price • It has a light which comes in handy
CONS: • The stand is a bit flimsy
I purchased mine from Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002JCSCYI