Comparison of two budget cameras - RisingCam (need help in choosing)

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branislav990
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Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:35 pm

Comparison of two budget cameras - RisingCam (need help in choosing)

#1 Post by branislav990 » Tue Jan 05, 2021 5:46 pm

Hello everyone.
I am in the process of choosing a camera for my microscopes, a single camera for both my stereo (Euromex NexiusZoom EVO) and compound microscope (Reichert Biovar). I am using the cameras for entomological research, species identification, etc. Good image quality is very important to me because I need to capture very small details in my samples. I use my microscopes approximately 90% for brightfield and only 10% for darkfield microscopy.
I was browsing a lot through the internet and narrowed down my choice to two cameras. They are very similar in price so that's not an issue. They can be found on the following links:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001358 ... 4492DMExgu
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001 ... 4492DMExgu

I know that it is usually assumed that sensors with larger pixels produce images of better quality, but these two sensors use different technologies so I am not convinced. What I like about IMX485 is its sensitivity and it should be very good for low light conditions with very little noise. On the other hand, I like the squared shape of the IMX533, which would be much more convenient for use with a microscope. Also, IMX533 has larger pixels than IMX485 but significantly lower sensitivity, which I don't know how would represent in terms of image quality. IMX533 is widely used in astrophotography and users usually like it very much, but I wasn't able to find any sample images taken with a microscope. Images taken with IMX485 with a microscope look pretty good and some samples can be found on this link - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001 ... 890bj6rZDA
IMX533 has a higher dynamic range, full well capacity. On the other hand, IMX485 has lower read noise and much higher sensitivity.
Some of these parameters can be found on the links of cameras used in astrophotography (see below), but I believe they are based on their sensors' characteristics and don't differ much in these two microscopy cameras:
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-ca ... amera.html
https://www.baader-planetarium.com/en/q ... amera.html

I need help in choosing the camera that will give me the best image quality possible for my application. So any advice is very welcome.

jfiresto
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Location: Northern Germany

Re: Comparison of two budget cameras - RisingCam (need help in choosing)

#2 Post by jfiresto » Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:16 pm

My impression, from the description of your application, is that you will be predominately taking high resolution stills. Is that right?

Will you also be shooting video? If so, what resolution and do you need to see it live on a monitor before or while you are recording?
-John

branislav990
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:35 pm

Re: Comparison of two budget cameras - RisingCam (need help in choosing)

#3 Post by branislav990 » Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:24 pm

You are right, I will be using the camera predominantly for high resolution stills. I don't have any plans for taking videos, if so, it will be only sporadic. What interests me is which one of these two cameras would be better for stills image quality and why do you think is that?

jfiresto
Posts: 342
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2019 8:19 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Comparison of two budget cameras - RisingCam (need help in choosing)

#4 Post by jfiresto » Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:01 pm

For shooting stills, I might suggest something else: a used, mirrorless APS-C or micro four thirds system camera. It gives you a first rate sensor and a lot of camera for the money. I have been happily using various Olympus PEN models and a couple months ago won a very clean E-PL8 body on ebay.de, with a 720 shutter count and one year guarantee – for 124 euros, shipped. It is hard to argue with that. Here is a quick image I took of an old, Soviet 2716-class EPROM, just to make sure nothing was terribly wrong with the camera (click to enlarge):

Image

I think the image is limited more by the lighting, microscope and the EPROM than the camera. Tomorrow I plan to give it a good workout testing a photo tube that recently came to me not at all well packed.
-John

branislav990
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:35 pm

Re: Comparison of two budget cameras - RisingCam (need help in choosing)

#5 Post by branislav990 » Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:17 pm

I did consider purchasing a DSLR or mirrorless camera, but it would make it very painful if I wanted to take some measurements of my specimens (which is also one of my priorities that I forgot to mention). These dedicated cameras come with very handy software that allows easy measurements and many other functions, such as live extended depth of field, live stitching, etc.

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