Intel Play Microscopes

Intel Play QX3/ Digital Blue QX5
& Other Digital USB Microscopes

Intel Play logo from 1999 to 2002

The Intel Play QX3 Digital Microscope

These neat little scopes are an affordable way to start viewing and capturing images
of the circuitry on your chips without spending a fortune on a high-end microscope!

image of the Intel intelplay qx3 Microscope

Item #355 (#356 & 357 similar)

Item #358

The Intel Play QX3 Model is no longer being manufactured.
However, their are Intel Play QX3 Microscopes for sale on Ebay

Intel Play QX3 Microscope: Software, Drivers & Manuals

Intel QX3 Microscope - Activity Book

Intel QX3 Microscope - Drivers & Support

Intel QX3 Microscope - Users Manual

Intel produced its Intel Play line of child learning devices from 1999 to 2002

The Intel Play QX3 Computer Microscope was developed as the result of a creative partnership between computer chip giant Intel and the innovative toy designer Mattel. Having a $100 price point, this electronic video toy was Intel's attempt at entering the science education market using optics, digital imaging, and the latest computer technology at the time.

The QX3 microscope connected easily to a Windows based PC via it's USB cable which also powered the microscope and its lighting. It featured 10x/60x/200x lenses and had both upper and lower adjustable lighting and focus height adjustment. The microscope could be removed from its base stand allowing it to be used as a hand-held microscope. The microscope came with software that enabled the user to snap images, make time lapse movies, import and export images, lighting control, and image effects and titling.

The microscope used a CMOS CIF sensor - ideal for use in a microscope that focuses on a small image area. CIF resolution is 352x288 pixels, but the microscope software only uses a central region of interest (ROI) of the image - 320x240 pixels to be exact. The image is interpolated to 512x384 pixel resolution for display in the Microscope software's Live View window. The microscope used optical (not digital) magnification.

Digital Blue & Other USB Digital Microscopes

After the Intel Play line of toys were discontinued in 2002 a company called Digital Blue bought the product line and continues to sell clones of the Intel Qx3, now it is know as the Digital Blue QX5 Microscope and it has some improvements over the earlier Intel QX3 models - upgrades include a 640x480 image capture device and brighter light source.

Konus makes a nice educational USB microscope called the Model #5022 KONUSPIX-4. This unit has slightly better magnification than the QX3 or QX5 series scopes with magnification up to 300X.

For an even better magnification option Konus also offers a 1.3 megapixel digital camera microscope eyepiece adaptor for use with many models of higher quality microscopes. This computer video set enables you to view microscope or telescope images on your Windows compatible PC or laptop. It fits in the eyepiece holder of any standard microscope.