The Mesoscope V2 is the long awaited successor to the extremely useful aquarium tool which helped us to learn so much about the minuscule reef world and coral behavior. The original Ogles Mesoscope is by far one of our favorite niche products ever conceived and created for the enhancement of aquarium viewing pleasure. After a long period of quiet from Ogles, we’ve just come to learn that a new and improved second generation of the amazing mesoscope will be coming available to us in the near future.
Compared to the original Mesoscope the Meso V2 has a number of changes which are more than cosmetic. Whereas the original Mescope had a viewfinder perpendicular to the aquarium glass, the newer Mesoscope V2 has an angled viewfinder making it much more comfortable to sit down for long sessions of micro-coral watching. Also, the original mesoscope had a piston-actuated custom suction cup which actually encircled the front end but the new version has a much larger suction cup mounted above the lens, with what appears to be a much more robust and easily used actuating mechanism. The pictures in the gallery for the Mesoscope V2 seem to display a much broader field of view than the original provided, hopefully leading to even better pictures.
Speaking of pictures, a DSLR mount/adapter was always at the top of the list of requests for the original mesoscope and not only will Ogles be releasing an adapter specifically for DSLR cameras, but they’re also teasing a 5MP C-mount sensor assembly which will slap right onto the new generation mesoscope. Having used a C-mount sensor camera on the original Mesoscope we can tell you that this will be an extremely awesome tool for making in-situ photographs and video observations of the reef world going on right inside the aquarium.
No word yet on when the Mesoscope V2 will launch but it will still be priced at the same £295/400€/$500 of the previous version, give or take a few bucks. This kind of money is not easily spent on aquarium “toys”, we assure you the Mesoscope is built like a fine optical instrument, but this is precisely the type of device like PAR meters that Reef Clubs can buy and loan out to their members as a perk of being part of their community.
If you’re at all interested better get yourself or your club in on the preorders because they’re sure to sell out of the first batch quickly and it could take some time to produce a second round. We’ve spent countless hours playing, tinkering and discovering all manner of creatures with the first mesoscope and we have no doubt that the Mesoscope 2 will be a worthy successor which invites even more aquarists to enjoy and discover the micro world living within the aquarium.
