Camera Setup for Macs

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elaniobro
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:00 pm

Camera Setup for Macs

#1 Post by elaniobro » Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:10 pm

Hi,

I have looked high and low for reviews on microscope cameras and have not been able to find any. I and my friends, are only familiar with traditional cameras and brands. Does anyone know of a good website that has reviews on brands and such? I will mainly be using mine for fungi, and occasionally focus stacking of small insects. There are so many options out there I feel overwhelmed.

Lastly, I am 100% mac based, so I am also in need of some decent software that is mac compatible.

Thank you in advance for your comments and help.

nannoconus
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2020 8:44 pm

Re: Camera Setup for Macs

#2 Post by nannoconus » Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:15 pm

Hi,

I’ve had good results taking photos of nannofossils (<20um calcareous marine algae) using a Zeiss Universal and a Standard, with a 63x planapo objective, with an Amscope MU-633BI 6.3Mp microscope camera. The Mac software is more limited than the Windows version, but not in any way I care about. I got a usb-c to usb-b 3.0 (the usb 3 version of usb-b has a slightly bigger plug than regular usb-b) cable off eBay, so the camera connects straight to the usb-c port on my Mac. The camera is a Touptek camera from China, that Amscope label as their own, as is the software.

Cheers,

Richard

elaniobro
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:00 pm

Re: Camera Setup for Macs

#3 Post by elaniobro » Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:53 pm

@Richard: Thank you for your reply. Lots of info to unpack. I am still in the market for a camera. My main use will be for mycology. Below are the following things I wish to be able to do with my camera, they are in no particular order:

  • Ability to live stream what I see onto my computer.
  • I would like to get into focus stacking.
  • Ability to control focus/color correction etc.. via computer
  • Software that can take measurements for spores
  • Ability to capture video, preferably in HD (4k, 1080p)
I will take a look at the camera you suggested Amscope MU-633BI 6.3Mp microscope camera

nannoconus
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2020 8:44 pm

Re: Camera Setup for Macs

#4 Post by nannoconus » Sat Mar 20, 2021 8:09 am

Hi,

The setup I suggested can definitely stream what the camera sees to the computer. Because the camera connects thru usb3, it has a decent frame rate so the live stream looks good. It does pretty basic focus stacking, but something like Helicon Focus (which has a Mac version) would be better. The focus is controlled by the scope, not the camera. There are settings for color balance, exposure, etc in the software. You can set the scale for the particular microscope/objective combination you’re using with a graticule slide (which has a 10um grid on it, so you can tell the software how many pixels there are in 10um in the photo). A graticule slide came in the box with my camera, but you can get them on eBay or Amazon for about $US10. The software can capture videos no problem.

Hope all this help,

Richard

EYE C U
Posts: 288
Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2020 5:18 pm

Re: Camera Setup for Macs

#5 Post by EYE C U » Sun Mar 21, 2021 5:14 pm

SWIFT CAM 16MP

WORKS ON MAC WITH SWIFT IMAGING 3.0 APP

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