First shots with DSLR, first shots stacking

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biptunia
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2020 6:34 am

First shots with DSLR, first shots stacking

#1 Post by biptunia » Thu Apr 16, 2020 12:20 pm

Hi, dig the YouTube videos!

Here's an album of 5 stacked shots I did:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/153895602 ... 3913363287

There's one of them embedded on this post at the bottom.

I've had a scope (AmScope B120C-E1 Siedentopf Binocular) for about 5 weeks, and had a DSLR for about 4 weeks. I took these pix of commercial prepared slides with
--my scope
--Canon T4i Rebel camera
--This 60 dollar DSLR-to-Scope adapter (I don't know who makes it): https://www.ebay.com/itm/CANON-EOS-CAME ... 4194758457
--and this $13 Macro Extension Tube:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Movo-25mm-AF-M ... 1353898740?

Most of the pix are stacked in Photoshop from 2 or 3 shots, one is not stacked. My question is this: do I need to spend 250 bucks and buy a dedicated AmScope camera, or can I get pix as good as that would get if I keep working with this setup. Also what can I do to get better shots with this setup?

Thank you!

Image

MichaelG.
Posts: 3976
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2017 8:24 am
Location: North Wales

Re: First shots with DSLR, first shots stacking

#2 Post by MichaelG. » Thu Apr 16, 2020 6:11 pm

That looks a great start
... but, as you are inviting comments:

It does look like you have rather a lot of curvature of field
... The edges are very soft compared with the central area

This might be due to the objective, or to the adapter [or the combination]
My first move would be to experiment with a nice flat artificial subject, like a stage micrometer: Check to see how the image behaves across the field as you adjust the focus. ... If the edges do focus, but not at the same time as the centre, then it’s curvature, but if the edges are never sharp then it’s a quality issue.

Oversimplified ... but it should start you investigating.
Don’t just throw money at it.

MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'

biptunia
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2020 6:34 am

Re: First shots with DSLR, first shots stacking

#3 Post by biptunia » Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:57 pm

MichaelG. wrote:
Thu Apr 16, 2020 6:11 pm
That looks a great start
... but, as you are inviting comments:

It does look like you have rather a lot of curvature of field
... The edges are very soft compared with the central area

This might be due to the objective, or to the adapter [or the combination]
My first move would be to experiment with a nice flat artificial subject, like a stage micrometer: Check to see how the image behaves across the field as you adjust the focus. ... If the edges do focus, but not at the same time as the centre, then it’s curvature, but if the edges are never sharp then it’s a quality issue.

Oversimplified ... but it should start you investigating.
Don’t just throw money at it.

MichaelG.

Thank you for the info! I'll hold off on buying more gear.

I do have a couple plastic stage micrometers. I'll try photographing those, maybe between two slides.

I assume I could do image adjustment of curvature in Adobe Lightroom. But obviously it's better to get it right rather than "fix it in the mix."

I really like my DSLR, and like my work flow with it. So if possible I don't want to buy a microscope-specific second camera. So if I can't fix it with what I have, I think I should buy a different adapter, not a different camera.

Which adapter do you use to connect your camera to your microscope?

Thank you again for the detailed answer.

MichaelG.
Posts: 3976
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2017 8:24 am
Location: North Wales

Re: First shots with DSLR, first shots stacking

#4 Post by MichaelG. » Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:15 pm

biptunia wrote:
Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:57 pm
Which adapter do you use to connect your camera to your microscope?
.

That’s a tricky one ... and probably not too relevant to your situation

As you will see from my sign-off line : I suffer from ‘too many projects’
Lots of semi-junk microscopes and adapters, and I’m an incorrigible tinkerer :oops:

Mostly I use either a micro 4/3 body with a projection eyepiece;
or a c-mount Toupcam with a 16mm lens attached [for afocal imaging]

Always learning, and always happy to chat about your difficulties, or mine !!

MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'

biptunia
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2020 6:34 am

Re: First shots with DSLR, first shots stacking

#5 Post by biptunia » Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:37 pm

MichaelG. wrote:
Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:15 pm

That’s a tricky one ... and probably not too relevant to your situation

As you will see from my sign-off line : I suffer from ‘too many projects.....

Always learning, and always happy to chat about your difficulties, or mine !!

MichaelG.
Thank you!

I ended up throwing some money at it, but not much money, details in this post:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9127&p=78457#p78457

I got the same 55 dollar ebay camera a forum member took this diatom with. I can probably figure out how to deal with the fringing in Photoshop or Lightroom:
Image

I also suffer from too many projects.
lol. We know it's not suffering and would suffer if we did NOT do it.

Image

Scarodactyl
Posts: 2775
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 9:09 pm

Re: First shots with DSLR, first shots stacking

#6 Post by Scarodactyl » Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:39 am

I think what you have been sold as a dslr adapter is actually a reducing adapter designed for a c mount camera with a further c-mount to eos adapter screwed on (and the price more than tripled.)

If so this adapter is meant for a camera with a small sensor and with a small flange focal distance (distance from sensor to lens mount), not a big (relatively) sensor and a long flange focal distance like a dslr. So you'll tend to get a small image with black around it and it won't be parfocal with the eyepieces.

If so the adapter is likely a big part of the problem--it's being pushed way out of spec.

Note the large majority of microscope camera adapters are aimed at these small sensor cameras--an amscope camera would be easier to adapt for that reason, but they're low resolution and generally not going to give as good results as your dslr.

There isn't really such a thing as a truly universal dslr adapter but there are ones that will do fine across a range of systems as long as they don't need special corrections (I assume your scope's optics probably don't). This one just popped up on eBay that is aiming to be in that class, though I had never heard of this company before. The adapter is about 700 bucks new, which is nuts but nuts is normal in this ecosystem https://www.ebay.com/itm/143582547917. There are other brands of this kind of adapter in a range of prices--generic '2x' ones from china often sold by amscope (one's up on eBay now for 50 bucks https://www.ebay.com/itm/264699170365. I have found this adapter to be good on some systems and unusable on others) or higher end diagnostic instruments, lmscope, martin microscope, varimag etc etc, all very expensive unless you get lucky and can find a used one.

There are other good options for attaching a camera too--I don't want to make this a big wall of text with redundant info, but there are a number of approaches to this problem which might give you improved results.

Hobbyst46
Posts: 4277
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 9:02 pm

Re: First shots with DSLR, first shots stacking

#7 Post by Hobbyst46 » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:38 am

biptunia wrote:
Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:57 pm
I do have a couple plastic stage micrometers. I'll try photographing those, maybe between two slides.
A few more remarks:
1. Plastic stage micrometers ?? a stage micrometer is supposed to be a precision device. There are fairly inexpensive glass-slide stage micrometers (around 10$ +/-) on eBay. Sandwiching anything between two slides will give unpleasant results, probably.
2. The Canon Rebel T4 is ranked very high for microscopy by the LMscope site. Perhaps you could try afocal photography, with a prime 40-50mm camera lens, just to see what happens.
3. Fringes can be specific to the imaged specimen, and arise from the illumination. For example, phase contrast images of diatoms are a complex consequence of non-monochromatic (plenty of colors) light beam, refraction by the glassy skeleton of the diatom, and the halos that are intrinsic to all phase contrast images. I would suggest to judge the performance of the photomicrographic setup according to "easier" specimens. Stained cells, insects wings, plant parts...

biptunia
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2020 6:34 am

Re: First shots with DSLR, first shots stacking

#8 Post by biptunia » Fri Apr 17, 2020 5:32 pm

I lost my job because of the pandemic, and don't have ten bucks to spend.

I have a 50 mm prime, and will try that. Thank you.

Here's my plastic micromoter between two slides. No de-fringing. More concerned about the warp on edges, especially on one edge. is more pronounced on one side. Isn't my camera, so I think it's my adapter. It had this issue no matter where on the slide I looked and same in either direction, up down, left right. This is the same thing I'm getting on various samples.

Image

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