Hi,
I've been investigating upgrading the camera included with a (cheap) microscope. It is a VGA USB device, thus around 0.3Mp. Its really just about useless for microscopy, al the details are just blocky and non existant, though the visual image from the microscope is surprisingly good.
The best USB webcam I can find is 1.3Mp, though obviously there are far bigger sensors in even a cheap digital camera. Thing is I just cant find any to buy.
Ideally I would like a 5Mp sensor on a PCB, with USB out, I could bodge into the existing housing. I've just done this by disassembling a 1.3Mp webcam and gluing the PCB into the modified housing. I don't have the microscope here, but the housing does work as a hand held microscope, having built in lenses, but the image is still rather poor for this kind of application.
Question is, what's with the 1.3Mp limit? Is it not possible to get more than this on USB? Why can't you get a 5Mp or greater webcam using a sensor from a digital camera?
I've been Googling without much success on this matter, time to ask someone who knows.
Cheers,
Gareth.