Stereoscopic microscope pictures taking: simple eyepiece camera, or DSLR?

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marekl
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Stereoscopic microscope pictures taking: simple eyepiece camera, or DSLR?

#1 Post by marekl » Wed Nov 06, 2019 7:56 pm

I'm about to buy a stereoscopic microscope Bresser Advance ICD. I want to take pictures, but don't know, which way to choose:

1) To buy simple Bresser eypiece camera. It is quite cheap and I know it works. It has only fullHD resolution (enough for my use) and picture quality could be just average.

2) To use my APS-C DSLR Canon 80D. I will need to buy T2 Ring and adapter, pictures could be better, but I've read there can be issues with focusing (different settings for camera and for ocular) and it's not so plug and play as with the eyepiece camera.

What option to choose?

Thank you

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75RR
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Re: Stereoscopic microscope pictures taking: simple eyepiece camera, or DSLR?

#2 Post by 75RR » Wed Nov 06, 2019 8:19 pm

Hi marekl, welcome

First I should say that that is quite a bit of money you are thinking of spending - you can pay a fair bit less for a good used stereo with a bit of patience.

As to imaging, I would suggest you start with the eyepiece camera (it will get you up and running quickly) and see how it goes.

If you feel at some point that you need better resolution, then you can think about using your DSLR

Do note that even though one sees in 'stereo' when looking through a stereo-microscope the photos you take will not be.

What are you going to photograph?
Zeiss Standard WL (somewhat fashion challenged) & Wild M8
Olympus E-P2 (Micro Four Thirds Camera)

Scarodactyl
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Re: Stereoscopic microscope pictures taking: simple eyepiece camera, or DSLR?

#3 Post by Scarodactyl » Wed Nov 06, 2019 8:46 pm

I think a dslr is a great option for a higher-end stereo microscope, but this is a standard lower-end Chinese meiji lookalike. I would guess the image it delivers isn't super high resolution, and a lower-res eyepiece camera should work just fine. That being said, I have one of those Chinese generic 2x DSLR eyepiece adapters, and have (with pretty basic informal testing) found it to be surprisingly decent on some systems (B&L stereozoom 4 for one) and pretty bad on others (Wild M400, Leica MZ95). So it's possible that would work fine in this context.
600 euros would definitely buy more than this on the used market, though I understand people's reluctance on that. An acquaintance just bought a Nikon SMZ-U for about that much.

marekl
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Re: Stereoscopic microscope pictures taking: simple eyepiece camera, or DSLR?

#4 Post by marekl » Wed Nov 06, 2019 9:01 pm

Hi, I've found very nice thread about Bresser microscope with APS-C DSLR: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7628 I think it will be the same with Bresser Advance ICT. The trioculare is tuned for full-frame camera and it needs many tweaks to get focused pictures with APS-C. The simple eyepiece camera could be a better solution for me for the start.

The my Bresser price will be lower than on the official page, Amazon has it for €427. I want a microscope for a lifetime, so I've decide to buy a better device than cheaper Bresser Researcher ICD I choosed first. I'm afraid to buy an used equipment which I can't check personaly.

My children will photo nature things for their school projects. And I will play myself, experiment. Photography is my hobby and I plan to extend it to microworld.

Hobbyst46
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Re: Stereoscopic microscope pictures taking: simple eyepiece camera, or DSLR?

#5 Post by Hobbyst46 » Wed Nov 06, 2019 9:19 pm

Based on experience, I would verify ahead of purchase that the color rendering and white balance options on the eyepiece camera are adequate. On my cheap USB camera, color rendition on the stereoscope is not so good, and white balance setting options are meager. And I know that it is not the software's fault.

Scarodactyl
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Re: Stereoscopic microscope pictures taking: simple eyepiece camera, or DSLR?

#6 Post by Scarodactyl » Wed Nov 06, 2019 9:24 pm

The Bresser scope he is using is a compound. Bresser doesn't make their own scopes, so there is likely no particular relationship between their stereos and compound scopes (or even one line of stereos to another), though they might offer the same solution. Honestly, I am not sure that it ended up being that perfect a solution--there is significant distortion towards the edges of the FoV in the test picture--maybe just from the objective, maybe not.

Any setup for full frame will work fine on APS-C as well, there will just be some cropping. It's a bit annoying, but honestly not a big deal to live with since it isn't that extreme.

This probably isn't the scope you'd want to last your entire career. It's really more a starter scope, and I am not sure I'd trust one of these to last a lifetime. I actually started on a similar scope myself--it's certainly not an awful way to get going but I didn't end up keeping it either.
Where are you located, broadly speaking? I assume in Europe, or I'd look through what I have on hand here in the US. We definitely seem to have a more lively used market here.

marekl
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Re: Stereoscopic microscope pictures taking: simple eyepiece camera, or DSLR?

#7 Post by marekl » Wed Nov 06, 2019 9:45 pm

I will ask Bresser for an advice with the APS-C DSLR setup. They should know what works with their stereoscopic microscopes.

I live in central Europe and here is almost no market with used scopes in my country. Especially with the stereoscopic ones.

Well, lifetime was too strong word :-) Men need to change their toys more frequently...

MicroBob
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Re: Stereoscopic microscope pictures taking: simple eyepiece camera, or DSLR?

#8 Post by MicroBob » Thu Nov 07, 2019 8:38 am

Hi Marek,
the Bresser ICD is advertised as being a 10x to 160x microscope. This is more a theoretical thing as the objective is only 1x to 4x. Stereo microscope objectives generally don't have a very high resolution so magnifying the image with eyepieces over 10x leads to empty magnification - bigger, but no more detail. For documentary photograpy stereo microscopes are fine but they can't offer the astonishing results that are acheived with special setups based on compound microscope objectives. So a simple but good working camera can capture all there is available.
According the camera choice: I would suggest a third option: Modern smartphones offer good image quality and are easy to adapt. For children they are the main medium to communicate and connect and they like it a lot to take pictures with their smartphone through the microscope. This might increase the attraction a lot.
Stereo microscopes are really useful to have and a great means to develop interest in nature in children.

Bob

marekl
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Re: Stereoscopic microscope pictures taking: simple eyepiece camera, or DSLR?

#9 Post by marekl » Thu Nov 07, 2019 9:21 am

Hi, thank you all for your replies.

Is there any adapter for smartphones for connecting them to standard ocular hole?

-------

I've asked Bresser what they recommend for APS-C DSLR with their Advanced ICD. They were very quick, it looks like the same advice as with compound Bresser. I like the creativity in second option:

1. You can use this adapter: http://www.bresser.de/en/Microscopes-Ma ... am=5942060

2. There is another solution, which isn’t very professional, but it makes much better results than the small adapter. It’s a combination of an adapter and an eyepiece:

http://www.bresser.de/en/Microscopes-Ma ... am=5942000
http://www.bresser.de/en/Microscopes-Ma ... am=5941700

This solution minimize shadowing and unsharp images at the edges. It is also possible the get the same focus in the camera and in the eyepieces.

See attached manual it shows how to combine this two parts.

For both adapters you need a T2-ring for your camera.

http://www.bresser.de/en/Binoculars/Acc ... am=4921350

Of course the second solution looks very primitive, but it makes much better images. Please see attached manual, how to combine.
Combination5942000-5941700.pdf
(134.45 KiB) Downloaded 211 times

Scarodactyl
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Re: Stereoscopic microscope pictures taking: simple eyepiece camera, or DSLR?

#10 Post by Scarodactyl » Thu Nov 07, 2019 1:19 pm

That first adapter will give you a tiny, nonparfocal image at the center of your camera. No offense to Bresser, but the eyepiece solution to that is the sort of thing you put together in a pinch when there is no other option. It will likely give you some pretty bad distortions. While Bresser does sell this stuff, they didn't have any hand in speccing or designing it, so I am sure they just played around with what they had to find something kind of workable. That's actually a step up from what most sellers would do for you and kind of cool, but in this case there are better options. If you have a third eyepiece that is in focus you can get a good image through it with a pancake lens focused to infinity on a dslr, for instance.

Smartphone adapters are basically a variation on the above method. You get an eyepiece in focus in the trinocular tube, then clamp the phone onto it so the camera lens is centered over the eyepiece. This will not entirely fill the image but it is a decent solution. There are many options available on eBay and similar for adapters.

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