See what you've been missing with this 60x microscope lens for the Galaxy S4
The best part about having a really popular phone is all the crazy third-party accessories that get built for it. I did a little shopping at Amazon last week, and one of the things I picked up was this Vktech 60x microscope attachment for the Galaxy S4.
It's a simple concept. You have a plastic case back, and over the camera cut-out there's a threaded ring. A tubular lens body and LED light attachment screws into it, giving you 60x optical zoom and illumination so you can take some wild close-up shots of anything that fits under the lens. The lens tube and LED assembly comes with a tiny pleather carrying pouch to keep it from getting grungy in your pocket or bag.
The lens tube is easy to screw on and off, the case is easy to snap on and off, but neither will fly apart during normal use. It's a little tricky to get focused, but I've found a solution that seems to work. Zoom your camera app the whole way in to 4x, and extend the focusing tube the whole way. Place the end of the tube on whatever it is you're taking a picture of, and slowly slide the tube back into the body until you get a clear picture. The area of crisp focus is small, but there's enough detail that you can crop out the center and still have an interesting picture.
Needless to say, I've been having a ball with it taking all sorts of pictures of everything I can get my hands on. Hit the break to see some of the shots. You can pick up your own Vktech 60x microscope kit from Amazon for $16.79.
Pictures of the kit itself, in a mobile-friendly format:
Now for the cool stuff. Pictures taken with the 60x microscope attachment and the stock Galaxy S4 camera.
In order, from top to bottom and left to right:
- AT&T Nano-SIM card
- Fresh maple leaf
- Dead black cherry leaf
- Thomas Jefferson's eye from a $2 bill
- Great seal of the US from a $1 silver certificate
- Red potpourri from my wife's underwear drawer
- OMG PENTILE from the Moto X
- Super LCD from the HTC One
- Red flannel bathrobe
- A thumbtack
- Human beard hair from somewhere
- Velcro
Reader comments
The Vktech 60x microscope attachment for the Galaxy S4 is a cool way to spend $17
Is there a similar tool for the s3?
Posted via Android Central App
That's so cool.
Now, that's a great price for a smartphone accessory.
Posted via Android Central App, HTC One
Obviously Jerry's wife doesn't read AC!
Yeah, I was kinda wonderin' what his wife said when she saw him peering into his phone in her underwear drawer.
...and you know that's a 'beard hair' how? (eeeewwwwwww)
dude! thats awesome!
make one for the note 3!
video!!! videoooooo!!!
The MotoX isn't pentile, it's more like the Note 2's pixel layout, red-gree-largeblue
Looks like fun Jerry. When do we get Smartphone Astronomy?
It's nice to see these kind of accessories for Android devices.
Awesome A C
For astronomy I can't see it being a mounted attachment. Wireless however would make perfect sense...
Posted via Android Central App
For astronomy I can't see it being a mounted attachment. Wireless however would make perfect sense...
Posted via Android Central App
For astronomy I can't see it being a mounted attachment. Wireless however would make perfect sense...
Posted via Android Central App
I don't think I got this clearly. Can you say that for the fourth time?
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
I blame the ac central app
Posted via Android Central App
Doesn't look like 60x to me. More like about 10x.
Research microscopes might have a 60X objective but they also have a 10X eye-piece lens so a 60X image is really 600X. This little device is 60X and for a tenner is pretty cool
That is really neat for such a low price. The optics are not very good though- only the center seems to ever be in focus. Still, could be useful.
I didn't know that Moto X has pentile structure. Unless OMG cancels that out :-) seriously, what does OMG stand for ?
Posted via Android Central App
Old Midget Gonorrhea
Old Magical Goat
how about some bugs?
That's not red flannel, it's some nasty scab.
Posted via Android Central App
Cool!
Posted via Android Central App on my white Nexus 4 with StraightTalk
+1 for OMG PENTILE
no pics of little critters Jerry? WTF???
Did you expect Jerry to go out looking for critters just for this article?
YuP :) Hit the yard Jerry we want pics of lil critters , hahahahaha :D
the yard??? he's in WV. i bet he's got them as pet in the house!
He could've just pointed it at his beard and let us see the gnomes that inhabit it
A $2 bill and a Silver Certificate? Jerry, are you a numismatist?
Notaphilist?
Posted via Android Central App
60x isn't that much, they shouldn't even be calling it a "microscope".
Be that as it may, it's pretty cool!
Posted via Android Central App
I agree for $17 this is a very cool novelty.
|❌_❌|
Definitely fun. Jerry's going to have an unfair advantage when it comes to the Tiny Stuff-themed photo competition.
Posted via Android Central App on Nexus 4
Agreed
Posted via Android Central App
Microscope snobs to go with the camera snobs, spec snobs and all the other varieties? I think I've now seen it all.
Don't be that guy
What guy?
I've done plenty of microscopy at 10 and 20x and it's quite rare that I jump up to the 100x objective. Not everything has to be high power confocal or SEM to count as microscopy.
Thank you. That's my experience as well.
It's just another version of the mega-pixel myth. The same goes for telescopes on the other end. Higher power eyepieces let in less light all other things being equal.
Microscopes usually have a 10x, 20x, 60x, 100x, etc objective WITH a 10x eyepiece. So if you're using a 10x objective you're actually getting 100x magnification. By that standard 60x is pretty low.
That being said, this is a novelty and not intended for scientific lab work, so I don't have an issue with it. I'm just saying that the guy above is correct in pointing out that 60x is kinda low for "true" microscopy.
"60x isn't that much, they shouldn't even be calling it a "microscope"."
Said by the non-S4 owner!