Some questions on cell phone photography

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

GaryB
Posts: 521
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2016 12:18 pm

Some questions on cell phone photography

Post by GaryB »

Hey all, first off, I've never owned a cell phone so if the questions seem basic, that's why :)

So, off we go ...

After struggling to scrape cash together for a better dslr, I had to admit defeat. I just don't have the spare cash because of rising costs and fixed income, as a result I'm looking into something along the lines of a used samsung galaxy s5 for around $100 or so. It appears to take passable pictures, and from what i've been able to make out it has the ability to mirror to a computer which could provide a nice 'live view' on a bigger screen at a much better framerate that most other cheap options i've looked at and allow remote operation for capturing pics and video. can anyone verify this?

Has anyone here taken passable pics through the eyepiece with a phone, if so, would you be willing to post a couple of samples. I've looked around and it's surprisingly difficult to find phone shots taken through microscopes.

If I do buy a used and unlocked phone, do they still function fine as plain old wifi for apps and camera use? As I said, never owned one so I don't know the limitations of 'non-carrier phone' use, I just want remote camera operation through a PC or tablet and file transfer. I'll be making my own phone caddy for the eyepiece.

thanks for any help on this.

Tom Jones
Posts: 326
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 2:05 am
Location: Crestline, CA

Post by Tom Jones »

GaryB,

Here is a Micscape article I wrote on using your cell phone camera for high quality still and video microscopy: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/art ... omicro.pdf

Hopefully it will answer most of your questions. As you will see, the results can be surprisingly good. The Galaxy S5 is what I used to take the photos in the article. I still have it.

Tom

GaryB
Posts: 521
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2016 12:18 pm

Post by GaryB »

Thank, Tom

That looks pretty good, the quality is better than I'm getting with anything I currently have. Do these phones work for photo purposes without a carrier? Like I mentioned, I just want it for photo use and some wifi functionality. If so, I'm in! :D

Smokedaddy
Posts: 1953
Joined: Sat Oct 07, 2006 10:16 am
Location: Bigfork, Montana
Contact:

Post by Smokedaddy »

... just my 2 cents. I'm totally happy with my Canon 50D. Over the last year I've been lucky to find a few 50D's with super low shutter count for less than $250. You can probably find one cheaper with a higher shutter count.

Tom Jones
Posts: 326
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 2:05 am
Location: Crestline, CA

Post by Tom Jones »

GaryB,

No carrier needed that I know of. You can download the photos via WiFi or USB, or just show them on your phone.

Tom

Pau
Site Admin
Posts: 6052
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:57 am
Location: Valencia, Spain

Post by Pau »

A good camera phone can be a real alternative. The main issues are the very wide angle objectives and their inherent limitations as cameras: no raw, all auto...
Here you have a quick hand held test I did few months ago when I got a Samsung A5 2017. I was really surprised
Full frame
Image

100% crop
Image

Ditoms prepared slide. Leitz PL Fluotar 40/0.70 with Leitz Periplan 10x eyepiece. Zeiss Standard DIC microscope

A compact camera with a short zoom can be more adequate
Pau

GaryB
Posts: 521
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2016 12:18 pm

Post by GaryB »

Thanks guys!

Just ordered a used Galaxy s6 and looking forward to having much better success taking pictures than before :D

GaryB
Posts: 521
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2016 12:18 pm

Post by GaryB »

Supposedly with an upgrade to the OS you can get photo apps that allow full manual control of the camera as well as RAW shooting, so that should help a lot. Combined with tethered shooting and RAW processing I think it should be quite a good solution for me so long as the phone itself works ok 8)

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic