MicroCam X1 | Digital Microscope Camera for Outdoor Exploration

Not good… very low quality like an early aughts digital camera but worse than my 2008 point and shoot. It’s mostly blurry shots but when you do find the sweet spot of focus, it’s just pixilated and not the detail I’m used to with say a mirrorless digital slr. I just didn’t expect this camera to be so bad… The first one shipped to me somehow had the memory card lodged in the slot so hard it was impossible to get out, they made me return it. The second one I got, the memory card had to be reformatted to work — it was not charge and play like most cameras. You’d think the memory card they send with the camera would work right away, it didn’t for me at least.
Just not great. The few in focus photos I got are not detailed enough to do anything with. I’m sending it back.

The concept of this camera is excellent: it is very easy to use and allows you to take real microscopic photos in a simple, accessible way. When it works well, the results can be beautiful and very creative.

However, I had several issues after testing two units for 12 days. The first camera overheated after about 10 minutes and shut down by itself, so the company sent me a replacement. The second unit also gets very hot after 15–20 minutes, and instead of shutting down, it becomes very slow and sometimes fails to save the photos properly.

The microscopic focus is also quite unstable when shooting by hand, and the physical shutter button is too hard, so pressing it often moves the camera and ruins the shot. The touch shutter helps, but when the camera starts lagging it does not always save the photo in time.

Another important issue is that the microscopic lens scratches very easily, especially when photographing hard or textured surfaces like minerals. It would be great if replacement lens glass or better lens protection were available.

Overall, I think Littpopo is a very promising and unique product with a lot of creative potential, but in my experience it still needs improvements in overheating, stability, file saving, shutter usability and lens durability.

Great little macro camera – really good for macro photography, and you can shoot slightly further subjects by turning the lens, which is handy. One star off for the built-in light: during macro shots it shines into the lens, causing lens flare and reflections in the image. A bit of a shame, but otherwise I’m happy with it.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Just remember - this is a $100 camera! For the price, you get a halfway decent cellphone camera with a little micro/macro option. The micro/macro option is more of a gimmick, in my opinion, and needs significant improvement. This, of course, depends on what your intended use is. I was really hoping to use it to get decent close-up photos of lichens and that sort of thing. Unfortunately, this camera does not work well for that. The micro/macro option pretty much depends on the lens being placed directly on a flat, smooth surface. Any "topography" and it is pretty much impossible to get a decent photo. And if you don't have rock-steady hands, forget it! For the price, I don't think there's too much really to complain about (you get what you get), but at this point, I view it as a novelty, more of a toy than a useful instrument.

I am not sure why people complain about the microscope performance. My camera arrives in the evening, so I don't have enough light to test the cam. It hard to use, but the result is good.