First try adapting astro gear for microscopy!

Here you can discuss everything related to taking light micrographs and videos.
Post Reply
Message
Author
Gasman
Posts: 153
Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2016 1:36 pm
Location: North East UK

First try adapting astro gear for microscopy!

#1 Post by Gasman » Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:05 pm

Hi guys
I stopped doing astronomy a while ago and still have all my gear and thought about combining it with my microscopy. I have a little toupcam which I like using but it never quite gives the resolution I wanted, neither did my Nikon D5500 dslr so the thought of using my 16bit cooled Atik ccd came to mind. It is a mono camera and so I need to take three shots of the same image using filters and fortunately my Atik filterwheel still performs well so had a try today using a slide of Betaine (I think it was).
Heres the setup in my somewhat messy study (I quite like it like that but not my other half;-))
20210409_143603.jpg
20210409_143603.jpg (114.22 KiB) Viewed 1635 times

First try with Red,Green and Blue filters
firstrgb.jpg
firstrgb.jpg (264.65 KiB) Viewed 1635 times
Room for experiment as I can cool the ccd down to -20degs to reduce noise.

Steve

User avatar
blekenbleu
Posts: 299
Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2020 5:55 pm
Location: South Carolina low country
Contact:

Re: First try adapting astro gear for microscopy!

#2 Post by blekenbleu » Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:35 pm

With such a monochrome imager and blue LED illumination, one can maximize resolution from modest objectives.
Metaphot, Optiphot 1, 66; AO 10, 120, EPIStar, Cycloptic

Gasman
Posts: 153
Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2016 1:36 pm
Location: North East UK

Re: First try adapting astro gear for microscopy!

#3 Post by Gasman » Sat Apr 10, 2021 6:40 am

Yes thanks although I'm not too sure cooling the ccd would help with microscopy as these exposures were Red 0.01secs, Green 0.01 secs , Blue 0.008 secs and I cant see noise being a problem with these exposure times. Onwards and upwards as they say 😊
Steve

Post Reply