Hello from sheffield UK

janm · Post by **janm** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 12:16 pm

Hi,

Recently got myself a microscope and found this forum looking for information on how to use it. At the moment its just a brightfield setup but i hope to add phase contrast and darkfield bits to it. Would like to work upto taking pictures if i can figure out how to attach a camera, my microscope does not have a dedicated phototube.

Hope I can get some tips from you guys... :)

Jan

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 12:37 pm

janm, welcome aboard!

What cameras do you have available? And can you post a picture of your scope?

--Rik

janm · Post by **janm** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 1:07 pm

Hi,

I can post a pic or two tomorrow, its packed up at the mo.
Its a Zeiss Axiostar Plus with CP-10x, CP-40x and a CP-100x oil objective, the eyepeices are 10x i believe.

It looks like this one

[img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/3 ... AA300_.jpg[/img]

The cameras i have are

Nikon D1x

Astronomy cameras are a bit different and the ones below are monochrome. These are from my other hobby but i'm hoping i might be able to use
one or two of these with teh microscope.

lumenera skynyx
Sbig STL-11000M
ARTEMIS 285
Philips toucam webcam

ChrisLilley · Post by **ChrisLilley** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 6:29 pm

The Nikon D1x is somewhat old now, but is well built and 6MPx is not necessarily a drawback especially at higher magnifications. Noise could be a bit of a problem though.

The SBIG STL-11000M with 11MPx monochrome in a 35mm format sensor should give pretty good results. It seems to use a T mount, is that right? Also, is this one cooled? Should give a low noise image. Using it with three filters could give a very good quality RGB image, too.

The others that you mention look to be rather low resolution for macro or microscopy use.

janm · Post by **janm** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:09 am

Hi,

Yes the nikon D1x is a pretty noisey camera once you get to exposures more then 0.5 of a second.

The STL-11000m is a cooled camera, I usually have it at -15 and it gives very low noise images. It is a mono camera and i do have the LRGB filters...
It also gives out 16 FITS images which are uncompressed. A T mount would give vignetting (with light cones from telescopes not sure about microscopes) so it uses a 2" SCT pushfit mechanism at the moment but i have the ability to attach custom nosepieces.

Jan

janm · Post by **janm** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 2:42 am

I've managed to take a few quick pics of the setup, not the best quality due to it being evening here.

The objectives are not the best quality and the bino head is not really that well suited to taking photographs but i'm hoping to add bits over time.

Jan

Craig Gerard · Post by **Craig Gerard** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 3:37 am

Admin edit: to select "Disable BBCode in this post".

ChrisLilley · Post by **ChrisLilley** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 6:27 am

This page seems to show a Zeiss Axiostar Plus with a trinocular head, for mounting a camera. Perhaps this is available as an optional accessory?

Although, that assumes that either all correction is done in the objective and tube lens, or else that correction done by eyepieces is duplicated by optics in the camera port of the trinocular head.

The other thing that will need to be determined is what image circle is covered. This will affect what camera can be used.

However, I hope much better-informed people than I will chime in on this thread.

ChrisLilley · Post by **ChrisLilley** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 6:36 am

I see an operational manual that includes some technical specs, and a section on using a camera with the scope.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 7:25 am

Craig Gerard wrote:Jan,

I noticed your images were not displaying?

Admin, could you check that Image Upload Permissions for janm have been activated? (and then delete my post)

The image upload permissions were fine (as indicated by the fact that he was able to upload images). The problem was that "Disable BBCode in this post" was checked, as I have now done to your post for illustration.

janm, your profile was set to disable BBCode by default in all your postings. I have changed it to enable BBCode by default. You can set it back to disabled by editing your profile, but in that case please be sure to enable BBCode for any posts that include images or use any of the other tags that control formatting.

--Rik

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 7:30 am

janm, one option to consider is using a camera in "afocal" mode, which just means shooting through one of the existing eyepieces. See the discussion HERE.

--Rik

janm · Post by **janm** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 8:42 am

Hi guys,

I'm not well read on forum code and did'nt understand why the images were not displaying.

Thanks for correcting and providing an explaination Rik.

Chris the Axiostar does have a tri head available for it. I have had this scope for a while now and am contemplating upgrading to a new setup so holding off buying expensive addons for the moment.

Rik i am definatley going to start taking pictures afocally and familiarise myself with the basic workflow it from there.

Jan