Cheap Laptop to run remote control, image stacking/editing?

Have questions about the equipment used for macro- or micro- photography? Post those questions in this forum.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

SutherlandDesmids
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2018 6:07 am
Location: Sutherland, Scotland

Cheap Laptop to run remote control, image stacking/editing?

Post by SutherlandDesmids »

In the new year I will be looking for a laptop to relay digital camera photographs from a microscope to a screen. I would like to try and learn image-stacking and editing. I know that one gentleman uses a Samsung netbook only a little younger than my 10-yr-old Compaq with a highly sophisticated setup.

I see no need to spend more than I need, although I do worry that electronics companies are notorious for ‘planned obsolescence’. Unfortunately I know absolutely nothing about computers (apart from word-processing, graphs and museum cataloguing programmes). If anyone can recommend a good used example I’d be grateful, no more than £500.00, and less if possible.

The programmes suggested to me are Paintshop Pro, one of the proprietary Remote Control programmes, Zerene Stacker and Microsoft ICE. A CD drive would be necessary, I think, as Nikon's programme comes on a CD if I remember correctly.
Patrick J.K.C. Gray

microcollector
Posts: 261
Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2007 7:19 pm
Location: Port Orchard, Washington

Post by microcollector »

You may find it difficult to find a laptop with a CD drive. They seem to be a dying breed as most folks download programs from the internet.

A couple of years ago my desktop died a hard death and the laptop I had at the time was not up to stacking efficiently and running a Stackshot rail. I opted for a gaming laptop from the Microsoft store. I needed one with plenty of USB ports. The camera and the Stackshot each needed a USB port as well as each of the external drives I use for image storage. I believe the price was about $1800.00 US. This system is able to handle stacking large numbers of images in a timely fashion and allows for computer control of the Stackshot through a module in Zerene Stacker.
micro minerals - the the unseen beauty of the mineral kingdom
Canon T5i with Canon 70 - 200 mm f4L zoom as tube lens set at 200mm, StacK Shot rail, and Mitutoyo 5X or 10X M plan apo objectives.

My Mindat Mineral Photos
http://www.mindat.org/user-362.html#2

Troels
Posts: 600
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2016 11:06 am
Location: Denmark, Engesvang
Contact:

Post by Troels »

You can buy an external CD/DVD drive for USB connection to your laptop for $30 or less. so don't worry about that feature.
Troels Holm, biologist (retired), environmentalist, amateur photographer.
Visit my Flickr albums

ChrisR
Site Admin
Posts: 8668
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:58 am
Location: Near London, UK

Post by ChrisR »

My several-year old Windows 7 i7 laptop is slower than my fast, gaming-spec desktop, but not all that much; it's perfectly usable for 200 shot stacks.

If you use a 40MP camera with 1000 shots in a stack, then "several minutes" would turn into an hour, which wouldn't be good, but there's no point spending twice as much for something 10% faster.

There are posts here about PC requirements.....
Chris R

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic