1 Today we will be talking about digital microscopes and we will examine their

properties.

2 Digital microscopes are basically optical microscopes that use a CCD, or charge-
coupled device, camera to examine a sample, without the need for an eyepiece.(XXX) Optical
microscopes use visible light and a system of lenses to magnify images.In order to see how a
digital microscope works we have to look at a specific configuration of the optical microscope
called a compound microscope. A compound microscope is a microscope which uses a lens close
to the object being viewed to collect light (called the objective lens) which focuses a real
image of the object inside the microscope (image 1). That image is then magnified by a second
lens or group of lenses (called the eyepiece) that gives the viewer an enlarged inverted virtual
image of the object (image 2).[3] The use of a compound objective/eyepiece combination allows
for much higher magnification. Since the only difference between the digital and the optical
microscope is the way the image is being observed, we can examine the optical compound
microscope and relate it to the digital.

3 The microscope approximation is based on the assumption that the length of the tube of
the microscope is large compared to either focal length of the eyepiece or objective lenses.And
finally, we will show you how to build your own digital microscope for under $20.

5 Here are some formulas that we will be using in our calculations

6 Many microscopes are standardized to a tube length of L= 160 mm (XXX). If we look at a

random 40x magnification objective lens, its focal point is given to be 4.4 mm (XXX).

7 … With magnification levels of up to -175, the nuclei from the plant cells can be easily
observed. This setup also produces stunning macro photography.