Trouble setting f/stop through dissecting scope setup

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Fri Nov 30, 2018 2:55 pm

That's a good idea, as long as our firmwares match. My firmware is 1.000 (never updated).

HollyR · Post by **HollyR** » Fri Nov 30, 2018 7:59 pm

Lou Jost wrote:That's a good idea, as long as our firmwares match. My firmware is 1.000 (never updated).

Sounds good to me too. My firmware is also 1.0.

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Fri Nov 30, 2018 8:02 pm

Might work. Write me a PM with your address and I will send you the file.

HollyR · Post by **HollyR** » Fri Nov 30, 2018 8:07 pm

Lou Jost wrote:Might work. Write me a PM with your address and I will send you the file.

I just sent you a PM. Even if it doesn't work, thanks for the offer.

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Fri Nov 30, 2018 8:39 pm

Got the PM, will send tomorrow. Worth a try anyway!

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Sat Dec 01, 2018 6:21 am

Holly, I have searched for that option to save all settings on the D90, and it doesn't seem to have that ability. It only allows me to save the Picture settings (white balance, contrast, etc).

Re-reading your post, it is not exactly clear to me what is the actual problem. Does the shutter not fire at all when you are in Manual mode, on the microscope?

HollyR · Post by **HollyR** » Sat Dec 01, 2018 10:03 am

Lou Jost wrote:Holly, I have searched for that option to save all settings on the D90, and it doesn't seem to have that ability. It only allows me to save the Picture settings (white balance, contrast, etc).

Re-reading your post, it is not exactly clear to me what is the actual problem. Does the shutter not fire at all when you are in Manual mode, on the microscope?

No worries, Lou. Even if we could figure that one out I am skeptical that it would work.
I will try to be more clear. My setup is...D-90... connector tube...eyepiece of microscope. I am shooting in "M" or manual mode although I did try S and A and neither worked. If that isn't sufficient I will take a picture of it and post.
In the past I would set this up and then choose an f-stop, as small as possible to get good depth of field. Then I would select an appropriate shutter speed and shoot. Now when I set these up, presumably with no changes although maybe I am missing something. the camera will only allow me to change shutter speed. The information on the screen shows the f/stop as "f--". The camera will still fire and image is made but I want to be able to control my depth of field.
thanks to all.

HollyR · Post by **HollyR** » Sat Dec 01, 2018 10:31 am

Let's see if I can figure out how to do this...

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Sat Dec 01, 2018 11:02 am

That's what I half-suspected but didn't want to jump to conclusions. Your camera is working just as it should. It can't possibly change the aperture if there is no camera-controlled aperture to close or open!

I don't know how you could have gotten better depth of field earlier, unless you were using a different lens.

HollyR · Post by **HollyR** » Sat Dec 01, 2018 11:26 am

Lou Jost wrote:That's what I half-suspected but didn't want to jump to conclusions. Your camera is working just as it should. It can't possibly change the aperture if there is no camera-controlled aperture to close or open!

I don't know how you could have gotten better depth of field earlier, unless you were using a different lens.

Okay, I'm showing my camera ignorance here but isn't the camera-controlled aperture inside the camera body itself?

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:06 pm

No, the aperture is part of the lens....

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:24 pm

In the past I would set this up and then choose an f-stop, as small as possible to get good depth of field. Then I would select an appropriate shutter speed and shoot. Now when I set these up, presumably with no changes although maybe I am missing something. the camera will only allow me to change shutter speed. The information on the screen shows the f/stop as "f--". The camera will still fire and image is made but I want to be able to control my depth of field.
thanks to all.

This is wrong. Maybe your memory is misleading you, this often occurs, I have experience!
The camera is able to control the diaphragm of a mounted compatible lens, but the diaphragm is inside the lens: no camera lens, no diaphragm to control.
"--" is logical, Canons show "00" in the same situation

Does the camera fire without a compatible Nikon lens? Does it fire when mounted at the microscope adapter? This is not clear enough in your posts.

The first test to perform will be to shot the camera without lens and without the microscope adapter, of course you wont get an image but a frame with defocused light.

You only can control the DOF with a setero microscope if it has its own aperture diphragm, most of them don't. Another approach could be playing with illumination but because the resolution on sensor with a stereo is pretty limited if you want more DOF the only viable option is focus stacking.

In a compound microscope you can do it with the condenser diaphragm, although closing it to have more DOF is not recommended for the former reason.

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Sat Dec 01, 2018 12:34 pm

Pau, although her first post was unclear, her post of a few hours ago is very clear:

"The camera will still fire and image is made but I want to be able to control my depth of field."

She just didn't understand where or what an aperture is.

HollyR · Post by **HollyR** » Sat Dec 01, 2018 3:39 pm

Okay, once again, thanks to all of you for your input. I will continue to play with my setup but i suppose the problem lies, as Pau so wisely stated, with my memory.

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Sat Dec 01, 2018 3:48 pm

Holly, also it is really important to learn the anatomy of your camera-lens system. In microphotography that knowledge will be necessary if you want to optimize your set-up.