The uHandy Microscope converts your smartphone or tablet into a portable digital microscope. To set up the uHandy Microscope, all you need to do is to clip the microscope lens over your device.
Although you can take pictures and screencap images as well as pre-record the videos using the uHandy Microscope when preparing for classes, you may want the option to present images to students as part of an in-class demonstration or in-class observation. We know every instructor tries their best to engage every student in science as much as possible, regardless if students are taking in-person classes or remote learning or homeschooling. This is why we would like to walk you through how to get a quick start to connect the uHandy Microscope to a computer.
Items You Will Need
- The uHandy Microscope
- A computer/laptop
- A smartphone or tablet
- A stand for your smart device (Included in the uHandy Microscope Kit)
- Samples for observation
- A document camera (Don’t worry if you don’t have one, we can do some demonstrations without one!)
- Software and App Downloads
Connect the uHandy Microscope to a Computer/Laptop
1. Put the stand beside the computer/laptop and mount your smart device on the stand.2. Attaching the uHandy Microscope to your smart device.
- First, turn on your smart device and the uHandy App.
- Clip the Lo-Mag Lens/Hi-Mag Pro Lens onto the camera lens of your smart device. You may need to manually adjust the lens until the white circle is in the center of the screen, the white circle is the visual field of the lens. (If your smart device has a case or cover, please remove it. It will improve the visual field.)
- Make your own samples for observation: Set a small piece of your sample in the center of the Sampling Sticker. Then carefully place the sample in the center of the Sample Cap(for Lo-Mag Lens)/on the underside of the Circular Glass Slide(for Hi-Mag Pro Lens).
3. Connect your smart device to the computer/laptop.
- Install a screen mirroring software.
- Download the screen mirroring App.
- Follow the instructions from the link to mirror your smart device to the laptop. Once your smart device is successfully connected to the computer/laptop, you will see your device display on the computer.
- Open the pre-installed QuickTime Player
- Choose File > New Movie Recording. Click the Options pop-up menu, then choose the connected iPad as the option for Camera.
- Once your smart device is successfully connected to the mac, you will see your device display on the macbook.
When presenting both the PowerPoint and microscopic images at the same time, make sure the tab is the “Reading View” instead of the “Slide Show” tab of your PowerPoint.
After getting the uHandy Microscope connected to your computer/laptop, you can link your computer/laptop to a projector or share your screen in Zoom meetings or Google Meets so that you can demonstrate amazing microscopic images or give live demos for a remote class.
Connect a Document Camera to Demonstrate Making Samples and Microscale Chemistry Experiments
Want to go further and demonstrate the how-tos of sampling, cell observations or microscale chemistry experiments? Please follow the instructions below:
- Connect a document camera to the computer/laptop with the USB cord.
- Install the document camera software.
- Open the document camera software. Here we are using Visualizer for the IPEVO document camera.
- Adjust the settings on Visualizer and the camera to make sure the camera captures the full image on your smart device.
Question: Can we present the PowerPoint/Keynote and demonstrate both microscopic images and processes at the same time?
Answer: Sure! Let’s go through that together!
If you have any questions or suggestions about this how-to article, please feel free to contact us at edu@loveuhandy.com. We look forward to your feedback.
Interested in learning more about the uHandy Microscope and how to engage students in science with the uHandy Microscope? Fill out the contact us form for a demo session!
