New Member Introduction

Starting out in microscopy? Post images and ask questions relating to the microscope and get answers from our more advanced users on the subject.

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Oldscope
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Location: Nashville, TN

New Member Introduction

Post by Oldscope »

Hello,

It has been three days since I downloaded CPZ and started playing with it. I am not new to macro, but pretty new to micro, and I am doing both, with minimal equipment on the micro side. Here is today's work/learning experience. I'll never make the big leagues, but I'm unashamed to post in beginners.

This first shot is a three image stack. It was shot with Nikon 125 Micro with 1.4 tele-extender and Plus 2x crap magnifer. F36, single flash. ISO 200, Nikon D90 Tripod and focus rail was sliding the camera on a glass table on a placemat with books and papers holding up the lens. LOL The subject is a male "Velvet Ant" wasp abdominal hairs.


Image

the second shot is a nine image stack of a Tortiose beetle wing detail. Nikon D50 on T-mount, B&L old 4x objective mounted on 80 year old Zeiss compound turret. ISO200, .3 second exposures. Lighting an Led array with tissue paper diffuser. Should have made a few more exposures. Unmeasured step.

Image

I have a lot to learn and try, so I'll be hopefully improving along the way. I need to figure out how to attach my D90 to my Meiji trinoc Stereo scope. The T mount does not work very well at all. All comments and suggestions are hereby solicited.

Oldscope

Chris S.
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Post by Chris S. »

Welcome to the forum, Oldscope!

Watch out, once you stack, there's no going back. I say this as someone who was also not new to macro, when, on a fateful day a few years ago, I downloaded CombineZP. Nice how the old DOF barrier is suddenly shattered, isn't it? :)
It was shot with Nikon 125 Micro
Probably this was a small typo, and you meant "Nikon 105mm Micro"? If you really have one of the 125mm Ultra-Micro lenses, this would be an unusual and interesting beast.

Your stacking efforts seem pretty good. I especially like your salt crystals in your other thread. Not sure what you mean by "being bumped" from this thread, though. Perhaps there was a momentary hiccup somewhere in the line--but you should definitely be able to add pictures to your thread, or other wise edit it.

Any chance you'd like to show us a closeup of the stinger on your velvet ant? I understand some of these wasps can pack a real wallop.

Cheers,

--Chris

--edited to fix reiteration of suspected typo
Last edited by Chris S. on Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

I assume that "CPZ" is a typo for "CZP", meaning "CombineZP" the freeware focus stacking program.

Do I have that right?

--Rik

Oldscope
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:13 am
Location: Nashville, TN

Post by Oldscope »

Yes, Yes, yes, and Yes. CZP, 105, Really powerful sting and there was a burp in the force.

Oh, and Yes..............totally addicted to no more DOF problems. Now I am struggling with sleep deprivation.

NikonUser
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Re: New Member Introduction

Post by NikonUser »

Oldscope wrote: I need to figure out how to attach my D90 to my Meiji trinoc Stereo scope. The T mount does not work very well at all. All comments and suggestions are hereby solicited.
Oldscope
I have a D90 and an Olympus trinoc. I simply have the camera mounted on a frame over the scope; not touching, no attachment needed.
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives

Oldscope
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:13 am
Location: Nashville, TN

Post by Oldscope »

Interesting, what do you have mounted on the camera, and how do you focus?

NikonUser
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Location: southern New Brunswick, Canada

Post by NikonUser »

Here is an image of an earlier setup. I now use the same stand but don't use the bellows.
I connect the D90 to a TV via a HDMI cable and focus using Live View.
Camera and microscope eyepieces are parfocal.
Image
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives

Charles Krebs
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Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:02 pm
Location: Issaquah, WA USA
Contact:

Post by Charles Krebs »

Oldscope,

The method NikonUser showed is a very effective way to work with a "compound" microscope where focus is achieved by the stage moving up/down. It is versatile, and it isolates the microscope from camera induced vibration.

Most stereo microscopes will focus by moving the entire microscope up/down on its stand. If this is the case with yours, then the "separate stand" approach will not work well.
need to figure out how to attach my D90 to my Meiji trinoc Stereo scope. The T mount does not work very well at all.
Need considerably more info. What adapters and photo-eyepiece are you using and how is it all setup? A picture or two would be a big help! What model Meiji?

Do you have the "official" Meiji arrangement as shown here:
http://www.meijitechno.com/camera_adapters.htm
... or are you using something different?

Oldscope
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:13 am
Location: Nashville, TN

Post by Oldscope »

Charles,

The Meiji link will fix everything, thank you. It is not a "compound" scope so the head and all that is attached moves. The suggestion above of using Live View to focus is also muchly appreciated. I'll play around and see what happens. I have had a lot to absorb in the past week, and much more to sop up, so I'll continue with questions in the appropriate forum as they come up.

Nikon User
, thanks for the excellent reply and advice. When I am not so tired, I'll figure out how to reply to individuals and quote and such. My scope is not the only thing that is old. Played with a 142 image stack last night, and the computer and I are pooped.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Oldscope wrote:Played with a 142 image stack last night, and the computer and I are pooped.
I'm guessing that you're running your Nikon D90 camera at full resolution, 4,288 x 2,848 = 12.2 megapixels.

One option that can greatly reduce your processing time is to set the camera so that it shoots smaller files, for example 3,216 x 2,136 = 6.8 megapixels or even 2,144 x 1,424 = 3.0 megapixels.

Processing time for stacking will be proportional to the pixel count, so reducing the resolution can cut the time way down.

Alternatively, with other software such as Zerene Stacker, you can capture at full resolution but process at lower resolution by reducing the pixel count, skipping some frames, or both of those at the same time. This allows getting a "quick look" that's probably adequate for posting at web resolution, while also allowing to reprocess at full camera resolution for other purposes that require that.

--Rik

Charles Krebs
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Post by Charles Krebs »

If you decide to hook up to the Meiji by using their components on that page I would suggest using the MA986 1.9X photoeyepiece and the plain tube MA150/50. (Stereos are not the greatest picture takers but if you keep the magnifications modest they are not too bad).
It was shot with Nikon 125 Micro with 1.4 tele-extender and Plus 2x crap magnifer. F36, single flash
Try to use a larger aperture (smaller f#). f/36 on an APS sized sensor is too small and your resolution will suffer due to diffraction.

Oldscope
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:13 am
Location: Nashville, TN

Post by Oldscope »

I'm guessing that you're running your Nikon D90 camera at full resolution, 4,288 x 2,848 = 12.2 megapixels.
True, but the stacking software was not the problem. I did some batch operations before stacking, and those took the longest. For stacking, I got better results by processing batches of 12 and then stacking the 12 outputs. The best result was then processing the 12 outputs in groups of three and stacking the 4 outputs. Since I am learning, I was investing time into trying almost anything I could think of, and that took quite a bit of time, but some procedures were actually faster than I had assumed they would be.

Oldscope
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:13 am
Location: Nashville, TN

Post by Oldscope »

I would suggest using the MA986 1.9X photoeyepiece and the plain tube MA150/50.
That is one of the problems as the only photoeyepiece that was provided with the scope is a 5x and it is waaaay too much. I'll be looking to find a 1.9 ASAP. The stereo is definitely not the best photo choice, but I am trying to use what I currently have as a teaching tool for stacking. I do have the right angle focusing tube, but will replace it with a plain tube to reduce the amount of glass in the light path.

Try to use a larger aperture (smaller f#). f/36 on an APS sized sensor is too small and your resolution will suffer due to diffraction.
You were the second person to recommend that, and even though I had noticed the effect, I hadn't thought of the problem in those terms before. I had been chasing the hand-held DOF demon, but now that it is being caged with stacking, I'll drop back on the aperture. It will also be nice to get the focusing rail in. The sliding placemat solution offers problems of its own! Imagine that.

Thanks for all the recommendations, I am entralled with the kind enthusiasm I have encountered in my short time on this forum.

Oldscope
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:13 am
Location: Nashville, TN

Post by Oldscope »

I'm guessing that you're running your Nikon D90 camera at full resolution, 4,288 x 2,848 = 12.2 megapixels.
It just dawned on my feeble mind after writing the first reply that I was using my D50 not the D90, so I was in the 5 megapixel range to start with. I'm including the result to illustrate the late night haphazard attempts -- nice, completely dust covered specimen, absurd lighting source (harsh LED bank) and resultant halo effects, uncropped tube vignette, dottery optics, low shutter speed, complete stacking novice -- hey, what could possibly go wrong with all that? The hair scales to the right foreground are nice.

Image
Great Purple Hairstreak wing detail.

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