If you want to take pictures and film the things you see through your microscope, you need to find a way to attach a camera. This can be done in several ways; either with a microscope camera that replaces one of the eyepieces, with a microscope camera or regular camera mounted on the third ocular on a trinocular microscope or with an adapter for your phone to mount that on the microscope. The easiest and cheapest way is by far with a mount for your phone.

A couple of months ago, I got my hands on a LabCam from iDu Optics for my iPhone 7+. This allows me to film and take pictures of the incredible things I find under my microscope with my iPhone.

Here I will go through the pros and cons for the LabCam and I will also try to provide you with some information, to help you if you are trying to figure out if you should buy a LabCam for yourself.

A digital microscope camera will cost from 400 dollars and up if the pictures needs to be of an acceptable quality. Regular cameras can cost even more, and you also need to buy an adapter to mount it on the microscope. However, you probably already have a high-quality camera in your pocket, so why not just use that?

The LabCam is very fast and easy to use. It only takes a few seconds to mount, and due to the build in optics, the iPhone is perfectly aligned every time. But being easy, fast and accurate comes with a price, and not just as a more expensive product. To achieve this the LabCam is made like a cover for your phone and is designed to fit only one model of iPhone. This makes sure that the phone is only able to sit in on spot, the right spot. But this unfortunately also means that there is no way of adjusting it to fit other models or brands.

But is it worth it?

After I have used the LabCam for several weeks now. My conclusion is that even though the price tag might be a bit intimidating at first. You are not only buying a piece of plastic. You are buying a piece of high-quality equipment for your microscope that will allow you to take pictures and film clips in high resolution for a very long time. If you had to buy a designated microscope camera you would have to pay an even higher amount to get the same image quality as you get with your iPhone and the LabCam. And a “real” camera along with an adapter would cost you way more.

In contrast to the cheaper phone-mounts for your microscope, the LabCam is made with strong materials with no moving parts, so there is essentially nothing that can break or malfunction as a result of wear and tear. The LabCam also has build in high-quality optics, which the cheap phone mounts lack.

In my honest opinion, the LabCam is a superior product to any of the other phone adapters out there and the extra money you spend, you will get back as saved time and higher image quality. I highly recommend it, and I am sure you won’t be disappointed, I am certainly not!

Here is a link to the LabCam on Amazon. And here is a small compilation of some of the clips i have filmed through my LabCam:

If you want to see more, feel free to find me on Instagram, and if you have any questions please ask!