USB microscope and Mac

[johnmccombs]

Has anyone been able to get the USB microscope software to work with OSX? I get the preview window showing an image from the microscope, but when I click the image capture (or video) button, nothing happens, nothing is saved.

I can save an image from the microscope with PhotoBooth, but Photobooth wont save the full resolution of the camera.

Couple of other things. The Preference menu item doesn't work. The manual says you shouldn't unplug the microscope with the LED's on and they should be turned off by quitting the microscope application, but the LED's stay on when the app is shut down.

Also between approx 100-200x magnification, the microscope wont focus. I'm guessing you're supposed to remove the plastic cone on the bottom, but I can't get it off?

Any suggestions appreciated.

[adafruit]

hey john,

we've tested the scope with snow leopard as well as lion (and so far all our mac customers have been ok). what version of mac os x are you using?

the magnification is 20x to 200x (on the product page - 20x/200x axis micro-lens).

https://www.adafruit.com/products/636

technical details tab.

cheers,
adafruit support

[johnmccombs]

Hi,

hey john,
we've tested the scope with snow leopard as well as lion (and so far all our mac customers have been ok). what version of mac os x are you using?

OSX 10.7.3. MicroCapture 1.0. I tried it on two MBP's with the same result.

the magnification is 20x to 200x (on the product page - 20x/200x axis micro-lens).

What I'm saying is that between about 50x and 200x there's no way to get the image to focus. You can get it to focus at less than about 50x and more than 200x by moving the sample back and fwds, but between approx 50-200x I can't get a focussed image. Is there some trick to this?

[adafruit]

OSX 10.7.3. MicroCapture 1.0. I tried it on two MBP's with the same result.

here are 2 photos, about 20x and 200x from mac os x 10.7.3 taken a few seconds ago using the microcapture download from our site on a mbp. fresh install on our testing machine.

frame0.jpg (210.31 KiB) Viewed 5996 times

frame1.jpg (145.45 KiB) Viewed 5996 times

we quickly googled and saw this post:
http://www.tempel.org/DigiMicroScale

for at least one person the cause was "the app is trying to create the files in root of your startup disk." you might want to change that. we did not need to do that, but when we search for "microcapture mac os x" it was the first link.

What I'm saying is that between about 50x and 200x there's no way to get the image to focus. You can get it to focus at less than about 50x and more than 200x by moving the sample back and fwds, but between approx 50-200x I can't get a focussed image. Is there some trick to this?

the camera can only focus on 20x or 200x. for 20x it's adjustable, and as you said move the sample closer/further away. but for 200x it needs to be right up against it. all that said, if this did not meet your expectations, feel free to email support@adafruit.com and we'll take a return, no problem.

thanks,
adafruit support

[dnchayes]

My new USB microscope arrived this morning. I guess this was a new shipment - they were out of stock when I tried ot order one a while back so I asked to be notified by email (great option btw) when they were available.....

Two observations:
1) The CD in the box is old - the OS X version of the app was (2.0) from 2009! While that version ran, it would not take a picture. I downloaded from the link on your web site and now have version 2.5 of MicroCapture which does run under OS X (10.6) and does capture stills.

2) The functionality of the OS X version appears to be very limited compared to what the manual says one can do with the Windows version. Two simple examples: no calibrate, no view app w/ measuring (it just starts up Preview)

I'll run it on a Windows box tonight and see how that behaves.

Those things said, I'm happy with it and it will do what I need.
-Dale

[adafruit]

thanks dale!

we're hoping the manufacturer updates their mac app to catch up with the windows version as well. we'll see if we can inquire about them updating the mac version on the cd as well.

thanks,
adafruit support

[johnmccombs]

here are 2 photos, about 20x and 200x from mac os x 10.7.3 taken a few seconds ago using the microcapture download from our site on a mbp. fresh install on our testing machine.

Ok, the download from your website is a different version from the one on the CD that comes with the microscope. Some progress. On the 2009 MBP the capture app works for 30 sec or so then freezes. On a more recent MBP, it works ok, but the picture on the screen lags a 2-3 seconds behind what you do, which makes it pretty painful to use, especially focussing. Interestingly the version on the CD doesn't have the lagginess or freezing problems, but wont capture images...

Does anyone know of another Mac app that will capture a from a web cam? PhotoBooth seems ideal, except that it wont grab the full resolution of the microscope.

On the zoom front, it looks like it will actually focus in the 70-200x range, but the subject has to be inside the clear cone on the end of the camera. Removing it or shortening it should solve this problem. This feature could have been better thought through - or am I missing something?

[adafruit]

Ok, the download from your website is a different version from the one on the CD that comes with the microscope. Some progress. On the 2009 MBP the capture app works for 30 sec or so then freezes. On a more recent MBP, it works ok, but the picture on the screen lags a 2-3 seconds behind what you do, which makes it pretty painful to use, especially focussing. Interestingly the version on the CD doesn't have the lagginess or freezing problems, but wont capture images...

hmm, we've not heard or seen that one - we have macs of all shapes and sizes - 2009 mbp, the most recent 17" with lion and some older macs for our testing suite. the app on our site is from the manufacturer, it appears some CDs have older versions of the app (we're trying to see if we can find one with different versions on the CDs).

Does anyone know of another Mac app that will capture a from a web cam? PhotoBooth seems ideal, except that it wont grab the full resolution of the microscope.

not that we know of, we're using the app from the manufacturer to make the photos we posted.

On the zoom front, it looks like it will actually focus in the 70-200x range, but the subject has to be inside the clear cone on the end of the camera. Removing it or shortening it should solve this problem. This feature could have been better thought through - or am I missing something?

one customer removed a portion of the clear cone on their own to focus in ways it was not designed for, but the clear cap is meant to stay on.

thanks,
adafruit support

[tromo]

FWIW, I'm finding the same lag issue with a new USB scope (software d/l'd from AdaFruit) on a mid-2010 i7 MBP running lion. I get a 1-3s lag, depending on how long the video stream has been running. Changing the preview size seems to decrease the lag for a time. Using Windows XP in parallels, however, there is virtually no lag.

[hayden]

Hello

I experienced the same problem as John.
The sent software gave me a preview window but it did not save anything. I found this topic and saw John's issue and then downloaded the updated from
https://www.adafruit.com/products/636
Now the icon bounces up and down for a while and then sits there, and when I click on it it disappears.
I am running mac os x 10.7.3
I don not want to return the product, I just want the software to work.

[tromo]

Just an update on lag, and take this with a big grain of salt, but it seems that if I start MicroCapture with the scope plugged in, I get a lag, but if I unplug the scope, start MicroCapture, then plug the scope in, the lag is minimal.

[adafruit]

Hello

I experienced the same problem as John.
The sent software gave me a preview window but it did not save anything. I found this topic and saw John's issue and then downloaded the updated from
https://www.adafruit.com/products/636
Now the icon bounces up and down for a while and then sits there, and when I click on it it disappears.
I am running mac os x 10.7.3
I don not want to return the product, I just want the software to work.

we've never had any problems with Lion - does it work with any other computer?