Teslong Pencam Review
The camera i use to get inside pitcher plants is the Teslong MS100 pencam. Without it, none of this would have been possible. I found this shortly after I got my carnivorous plants. I wanted something that get closeups of the insects stuck to my drosera. A little googling around and i found the pencam and it's specs looked amazing:
The pencam packs 8 adjustable LED lights around 200 X magnification 1.0 Megapixel CMOS camera into a 7 mm stainless steel tube. (For comparison, a dime is 18 mm.)
Oh yeah, and it's waterproof too.
Specifications:
Sensor:1.0 Megapixel CMOS
Resolution:1280*720 Pixels
Focus Range: Manual focus from 10mm to 500mm
Magnification Ratio :10x to 200x
Interface:USB2.0/Micro-USB
I looked at the specs and I realized that it would work not only to photograph the unfortunate insects stuck to my drosera, but it should be able fit into the the mouth of a sarracenia pitcher plant. And when I stuck the pencam into the mouth of a S Luecophylia i saw dozens of panicked ants looking back at me. (My comment at the end of the first ant video was: “Well, that was disturbing”) From then on I was hooked. It is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Back to the review
It attaches to your PC or android phone via it's dual USB/ micro USB end. (When was my old phone died, I needed to get a USB to USB-C adapter.) (Teslong claims that it is not compatible with the the IOS/ Iphone . I am skeptical. I bet if you had a USB to 8 pin adapter, it would work. I haven’t had the chance to try yet. ) When it is plugged into a smartphone, the phone will recognize it and ask what video player to use. Teslong has a decent player, but I prefer MscopesPro from Zyepro on the app store. They have a free version, but the Pro has a lot of handy features like “Adjustable color parameters such as brightness, contrast, hue, gamma, sharpness, saturation and white balance” to quote the Mscopepro website. The Pro version also lets you easily change the camera resolution. Once it's setup, Mscopespro opens automatically every time you plug it in. Also, Google photos can be set to backup the Mscopespro folder. Which means you can easily see your latest pencam pictures on your PC nearly immediately. Very handy
I’ve found the camera to be very easy to operate. The magnification / focus is done manually with a dial at the end of the pencam. With it's adjustable stand, you can place it next to your subject (say an ant stuck on a drosera), adjust the focus once and watch the action.
The camera also includes a number of attachments, There is a angled mirror, a couple of tubes i’ve never used and a white cone. The cone is handy. It was meant allow you to set the pencam on a flat surface. I have used it to quickly focus on my drosera. I focus first on something flat. Now when you put it against a drosera filiformis leaf, the focus is set.
The camera is easily focused when inside the typical Sarracenia as the focus dial sticks out of the plant. That doesn’t work as well in a two foot tall S Leucophylia. The pencam is deep inside and can’t be further focused. My solution is to focus the pencam about an inch away from the lip of the PP and then putting it inside. You can adjust the focus on the fly by moving it up or down in the plant. It's a bit of trial and error, but you get the hang of it quick. The downside with focusing on-the-fly like this is that it's difficult to keep the cam perfectly still, but that's more my shaky hands than the pencam’s fault.
Here are a few images inside pitcher plants. Plenty more on the blog
The pencam's 200X magnification also reveals hidden detail in currency. For instance, there is a tiny owl hidden on the 1$ bill and Abe Lincoln is in the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the penny. Abe is 100 microns, for scale
And of course, the pencam comes in very handy studying small rocks and fossils.
More fossils
https://drmayhem12.wixsite.com/insidepitcherplants/blog/categories/fossils
There are a few cons to the pencam. It's connection to the phone is a little flakey at times. Occasionally, it will disconnect. It usually happens when i have moved the phone, so i figure the USB connector got bumped. I noticed that it happens a lot less frequently now that i upgraded to Mscopespro.
Also, be warned it's not completely waterproof. It's waterproof up to the focus dial. If you get water above the dial, the pencam will surely fail. I have taken some decent shots underwater and sometimes i’ve only filmed my frustrations. I’ve been trying to get decent pictures of the nearly translucent animals that live inside the pitchers and help the plant digest the insects, so far with limited success.
I would like to point out one of the best things about the pencam has been the Teslong customer service and their warranty. The MS100 comes with a 1 year warranty. I had one misbehave in the first month. I contacted Teslong and they immediately responded to my email and shipped a new one straight away. Good customer service is a rare thing these days so kudos to Teslong.
The Teslong MS100 pencam is a great portable microscope. It may be the only camera whose small size and excellent magnification that could record inside pitcher plants. It may not film in as high a resolution as an expensive DSLR, but can you fit that DSLR inside a 2 centimeter pitcher? Then go film underwater. I think not.
If you have sarracenia pitcher plants, you need a pencam. And if you need to get magnify your favorite fossil, mineral or coin, this is also the camera for you
Get it here (Get it through this link and i may get a commission from amazon.)