I had an inspection last week that gave me an opportunity to acquire and experiment with some new tools and thought I’d share feedback on one that’s particularly useful.

Scene photos from the subject crash suggested one of the vehicles might display evidence of speedo slap (a seemingly lost art I’m interested in exploring more; please email me if you’re a master), so I bought a digital microscope, a UV light, and some colored glasses to bring along. Turns out there was no speedo slap, but the microscope proved useful for examining material transfers and subtle tire abrasions.

I bought this generic one on Amazon for $24, and even with its tiny sensor and mediocre build quality, it was helpful. It plugs straight into an iOS or Droid device and works like an external camera. It even has a ring light with adjustable intensity.

Microscope connected to iPad with ring light activated.

​Back in 2024, we explored the macro capabilities of a Nikon D750 (equipped with a 24-120 mm lens), an iPhone, and the famous Olympus TG-6, with ICARs’ beautiful challenge coin as the subject. Now, let’s see how much detail we can see with this cheap microscope. We’ll focus on the drone's camera, as identified by the red arrow below.

Macro photography of the drone from 2024.

Now for the microscope images:

The microscope really gets you a lot deeper in there compared to a macro camera, and it's easy to throw into an inspection kit and bust out for filaments, materials transfers, speedo slap, etc.

I’m really impressed with this little fella and will be on the hunt for a higher-quality version, something with a bigger sensor from a reputable company. If you happen to know of a candidate, please let me know.

Thanks for reading, keep learning!

Lou Peck
​Lightpoint | JS Forensics​

P.S. Whoa, I nearly blew a fuse!

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