[HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

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elaniobro
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[HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#1 Post by elaniobro » Wed May 19, 2021 8:58 pm

Looking for a way to use my cellphone and a phone mount on my trinocular port. When I put it up to it, on my stereoscope, nothing is in focus, all I see is a bright white light, but looking through my actual ocular ports, I see the specimen.

Have any of you used your stereo or compound's trinocular port with a cellphone with success? If so, please explain how. Do I need to buy reducers or something?

BramHuntingNematodes
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Re: [HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#2 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Wed May 19, 2021 8:59 pm

you may need to turn down the phone camera exposure manually
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

dtsh
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Re: [HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#3 Post by dtsh » Wed May 19, 2021 9:02 pm

What system are you using?
Are you using an eyepiece to project an image onto the cellphone or are you attempting to image directly from the phone itself? You may have to adjust the height of the phone to get it at the right point.

PeteM
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Re: [HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#4 Post by PeteM » Wed May 19, 2021 10:04 pm

In general, you might want to start by fitting your trinocular port with the same eyepiece (same corrections) as on your binocular tubes. Attach that third (photo) eyepiece to a phone / phone holder and you should have decent images.

There are other approaches, but this should work with a cellphone camera irrespective of finite or infinite optics and whether eyepiece corrections are/are not needed.

elaniobro
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Re: [HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#5 Post by elaniobro » Thu May 20, 2021 1:01 pm

Thank you all for your replies. Both of my scopes are Swift brands.

Swift Stereo Scope:
https://www.amazon.com/SWIFT-Profession ... B0899HVNB1

Swfit Compound Scope: 350T
https://www.amazon.com/Magnification-Si ... B07N7TN5S3

and the camera mount for the iPhone is this:

This is the iPhone attachment that I am using:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K7M0JEM

@PeteM: Sounds like I need to get a reduction lens for the trinoc port? something like: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XZ2TQ98/

@dtsh: I am using iOS on my iPhone 11 and attaching it via the phone holder to the trinoc port itself.

@BramHuntingNematodes: No, this is not the case, I am using moment app and I have complete control over the camera, exposure, iso, balance, etc.. as well as choosing which camera to use. Problem is, when its attached to the trinoc port on my stereo scope, the circle is about the size of an eraser head on a pencil. Even if I zoom in, you still do not see anything. Holding it the eyepiece works, but that defeats the purpose of the trinoc port :ugeek:


Pics taken from trinoc port (seems to be some obstruction? no clue what that is :( (never used the port before either), and eyepiece
Attachments
View from Eyepiece
View from Eyepiece
IMG_6489.jpg (108.89 KiB) Viewed 4954 times
View from Trinocular port
View from Trinocular port
IMG_6487.jpg (108.68 KiB) Viewed 4954 times

dtsh
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Re: [HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#6 Post by dtsh » Thu May 20, 2021 1:05 pm

The obstruction looks like it might be the prism, perhaps the switch to flip between the eyepieces and the trino port isn't all the way engaged?

elaniobro
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Re: [HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#7 Post by elaniobro » Thu May 20, 2021 1:21 pm

@dtsh: whoa.... there is a switch? I don't see antying, at least nothing that jumps out at me. I'll check the manual. Is this possibly a manufacturer defect?

dtsh
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Re: [HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#8 Post by dtsh » Thu May 20, 2021 1:31 pm

I'm not familiar with your scope, but all the trinocular heads I have used have a lever, rod, or switch of some sort which move a prism (or in some instances, a mirror) in or out of the lightpath to allow the trinocular to be illuminated. These usually redirect the light from one or both eyepieces to the trinocular port.

BramHuntingNematodes
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Re: [HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#9 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Thu May 20, 2021 1:46 pm

elaniobro wrote:
Thu May 20, 2021 1:01 pm

@PeteM: Sounds like I need to get a reduction lens for the trinoc port? something like: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XZ2TQ98/

No Pete is being quite literal. You need one of the eyepieces, just like the regular ocular. The camera has a lens in it already which will direct light towards the sensor in a similar way to your eye. SO take one of your oculars and put it in the tube, see if it looks right, then position the camera. Reduction lenses are better reserved for direct imaging i.e. using a bare sensor. What you are aiming for is afocal photography.
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

dtsh
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Re: [HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#10 Post by dtsh » Thu May 20, 2021 3:56 pm

BramHuntingNematodes wrote:
Thu May 20, 2021 1:46 pm
elaniobro wrote:
Thu May 20, 2021 1:01 pm

@PeteM: Sounds like I need to get a reduction lens for the trinoc port? something like: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XZ2TQ98/

No Pete is being quite literal. You need one of the eyepieces, just like the regular ocular. The camera has a lens in it already which will direct light towards the sensor in a similar way to your eye. SO take one of your oculars and put it in the tube, see if it looks right, then position the camera. Reduction lenses are better reserved for direct imaging i.e. using a bare sensor. What you are aiming for is afocal photography.
In case there's still some uncertainty; with the eyepiece in the trino tube, the view should be in focus, or close to it, when viewing from the eyepieces in the binos or the eyepiece in the trini tube; this must be established first. The phone adapter will then clamp onto the trino eyepiece with only a few mm of distance between the phone and eyepiece; the phone's autofocus will allow for some deviation, but experiment with slightly increasing and reducing the distance between phone and eyepiece until you're satisfied. At that point you should be able to start imaging with little to no change in focus.

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

Re: [HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#11 Post by elaniobro » Wed Jun 02, 2021 4:06 pm

Hey @dtsh, I have been trying unsuccessful to use the trinoc port with my cellphone. I have focused the specimen using the ocular ports. I can easily photograph through there and get nice images of the specimen, but as soon as I try to use the trinoc port, it looks the same as my initial image, despite however much I focus. I have emailed swift and am talking with them about it. Their technician says there is no issue with the scope... I also do not see any "lever" of any sort on the scope as you mentioned.

dtsh
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Re: [HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#12 Post by dtsh » Thu Jun 03, 2021 2:16 am

Can you provide some images or a sketch of your setup? It might help with figuring out what the problem is.

The microscopes I have experience with have a way of switching the illumination of the trinocular port on and off, but yours might not, I don't know. A quick look at the user manual for the Swift SW350T doesn't mention anything about redirecting for the trinocular port, so perhaps it's always illuminated?

With mine, I use an eyepiece in the trinocular port. When the subject is in focus for viewing, it is also in focus at the trinocular with an eyepiece there too. Are you using an eyepiece at the trinocular? Does it produce an image much like the view at the usual eyepieces.

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

Re: [HELP] Anyone attach their cellphone to a trinoc port?

#13 Post by elaniobro » Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:13 pm

I ended up taking a 10x eye piece from my compoundscope and placing it in my tube. This seemed to do the trick. @PeteM was right all along. I will now be ordering a spare eyepiece to use my cellphone on the trinoc port with. I assume the same would be true for the compound scope as well.

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