video of rotifers

[Wim van Egmond]

My D300 stopped doing what it should do so I decided to by a new camera. It may seem a strange choice but I bought the D5100. The main reason is that it has a good sensor and it is really light weight. And it is fun to be able to shoot video.

For microscopy I still use the D3 since I don't have any eyepiece solution for the smaller sensor cameras. This is also the case with the D5100. It shoots video in full HD and with the eye piece you can only capture a small part of the image. So I have to find a solution for this. Or buy a full frame with movie function.

But I am not sure. Perhaps it is better to use a real video camera. The dust on the sensor is a problem and not as easy to remove in movies as it is in images. So I have mixed emotions about this.

I uploaded the video on vimeo. Made it smaller for web use.

Wim

http://vimeo.com/28608958

[RogelioMoreno]

Very nice video!

I would like to know the objective and illumination used.

Rogelio

[Pau]

Excellent video, Wim (as we would expect allways of your work )

For microscopy I still use the D3 since I don't have any eyepiece solution for the smaller sensor cameras. This is also the case with the D5100. It shoots video in full HD and with the eye piece you can only capture a small part of the image. So I have to find a solution for this. Or buy a full frame with movie function.

But I am not sure. Perhaps it is better to use a real video camera. The dust on the sensor is a problem and not as easy to remove in movies as it is in images. So I have mixed emotions about this.

What's your microscope photo setup?

If you're still using the Zeiss Standard I've found two good solutions for it with APS-C:
1.- The best one: the Zeiss camera adapter 0.25X (F.L. 63mm) 45 60 29 01 paired with a 6.3X eyepiece (total mag. 1.575X). With a Nikon body you'll need to use flash because all camera vibrations will be transfered to the microscope.
2.- The good one: Afocal with 10X WF eyepiece and a 50mm f1.8 lens over it. Here the camera is held without direct contact with the microscope. The magnification is higher and the image a bit more cropped but still nice. A 8X WF eyepiece or a 40mm lens would be ideal but I don't have them. Last images I posted in the Tech. discussions forum were done with this setup.
In both cases I use Leitz Periplan eyepieces because I use Leitz objectives and the image quality is similar. Because the camera has a real lens mounted on it no special dust problems are to be expected (but dust is allways a problem in microscopy)

[Wim van Egmond]

Thank you for the kind reactions. The movie I uploaded is perhaps bit too small to show the finest details.

I shot the movie with a zeiss microscope but with a leitz npl 6.3X 0.20. It is the sharpest low mag lens I can use. It is a rather big rotifer.

Pau, thank you for the suggestions. I use a standard microscope but I do still use a zeiss universal as well. I guess the 0.25X Zeiss adapter is hard to find. but I do use a M35 camera tube. Wait a minute.......

Wim

[Wim van Egmond]

Thank you Pau for this suggestion. I wanted to try something first. I just did and I think you gave me the solution. It is quite a story but I thought it might interest other microscopists.

When I worked analogue I used a Zeiss M35 camera. It worked great. It had a build in central shutter so there was no problem with shutter movement.

When I turned to digital I always had trouble connecting the camera to the microscope. I used an olympus eye piece but that created quite some chromatic abberations. One of things I did this year was to make a modified T2 adapter so I could put my digital camera on this M35 tube. The M35 has a relay lens in it and with a 10Xkpl eye piece it creates the right magnification for 35 mm cameras.

I measured the position of the analogue camera and discovered it was rather deep. In order to get the Nikon D3 mounted at the same distance to the relay lens I had to make the T2 very thin.

Sine I use flash I did not need the central shutter. (although it woudl be an idea to use it) But I place a very small ring in the shutter so it would be open. I did not want to demolish the equipment.

Now you mention this 0.25X, this is what is in the M35 tube. So I do have a solution for that. But now the 6.3X eye piece. I had a quick look through my stuff and guess what, I have a set of 6.3 kpl eye pieces. So I tried it and it seems to work. The only problem is the D5100 camera. The tip of the prism is rather close to the body so it does not fit on my modified T2 adapter. So I put a ring between it. It is higher than it should be and not parfocal anymore but the quick image I took looks good. I can now capture the full view. I hope I did not cheer to soon. :-)

But I guess this should be in the equipment section.

Wim

[Pau]

Wim, I think the M35 adapter may have the same optics inside than mine.

Perhaps some mechanical modification may allow to mount it parfocal. Another approach may be to raise a bit the eyepiece in the phototube, but it's less desirable as it will alter both tube lengh and magnification.

Moving this discussion to the tech forum would be very adequate, in special if you can show us your adaptation to T mount.

[Wim van Egmond]

Pau, wil see if I can find a solution to lower the camera but as long as the image quality is o.k. it is not so important to have it parfocal. I can use the screen on the camera. That works well.

I will try to make some pictures of how I modified the M35. But first I am going to try to shot some more videos. It is much more fun to sit behind the microscope than to write about it. Same with procesing images. I still have many images I could post on the forum but I need more time to process them. But I like taking the pictures more than archiving them.

Wim