Fortunately, a lot of USB video cameras now use the "UVC" protocol, which is plug-and-play on Mac, PC, Linux, Android, and probably most anything else. Mac applications like Photo Booth and QuickTime can capture images and record video from just about any camera. The microscope I got is just OK, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it. (It's one of the alphabet-soup-seller-name imports from Amazon.) Let's see if anyone else can weigh in.
@Mammothtooth …check out offerings from Celestron. They have a MicroCapture Pro w/5MP. It’s what I use. If you do Large coins like Morgans or British Crowns you need to get a 12 inch stand for height/full view…imo…Spark
If what you are thinking about buying is a camera that is tied to a computer, forget it unless you use it with a laptop that NEVER TOUCHES THE INTERNET. I wasted over $500 on two cameras that are worthless. I may as well throw them in the trash. As soon as Microsoft does an update, they won't work. Don't waste your money.
I bought two scopes over the years. The first had poor quality lens. The second one would not work with my laptop or PC. I gave up at that point. I had better luck with my old Canon DSLR. They actually had new software that let me tether the camera to my PC. I'm able to view the coin on the monitor in real time before taking the image. I can play with the lighting and other settings and see the results. Once I have it right I take the image with a click of the mouse and the image is saved to the PC. This was a big thing for me. In the past I would take many images of a coin and transfer them to the PC and hope one of them was the true look of the coin.
