Time to ask for more help.

[Greg Howald]

Ok. Now that I have tuned up all the scopes to their peak performance, and now that I realize I have some really good images in the eyepiece, and now that I realize that all these microscope cameras I own are inferior and unable to match what I see with my eyes, I am finally aware that I probably need a dslr camera. I know absolutely nothing, nada, not-a-ting about them.
I don't know what to buy. I don't know what to look for.
They all seem very expensive.
Please fill me up with suggestions.
Greg

[75RR]

.
There you go.

https://krebsmicro.com/

https://www.quekett.org/resources/advan ... icrography

Do note that vibration is one of the big bugbears of photomicrography, so you may want to look into one with Electronic Front-Curtain Shutter.

[Greg Howald]

Thanks. That's very informative and I appreciate it. Greg

[TonyT]

2 very useful features:
- mirrorless, expensive; or the ability to temporarily 'disconnect' the mirror from the shutter.
That is, mirror moves up and a second or two later the shutter opens; method removes any vibration from mirror movement.

- Live View. My camera connects to a TV via a HTML cable. So I see on a 18" screen (could be any size) exactly what the camera sees in real time;
perfect for critical focusing the microscope subject

[apochronaut]

If you are planning to use the camera for any video and want to capture the movement of fast and fleeting organisms or structures, you will need a global shutter, rather than a rolling shutter. Global shutter equipped cameras always have fewer mp, than an equivalently priced rolling shutter camera, so do not weight your choice on megapixels too heavily.

[Roldorf]

Canon EOS 4000d. 18 mega pixel, Shutter lock up live view. HDMI out Usb out, can be connected through WiFi. Low priced DSLR due to plastic body but not important as it is sitting on a microscope.

[iconoclastica]

Shutter lock up live view.

What's that? Is it something else than an electronic shutter?

[redash]

I use Samsung nx500 mirrorless camera. After applying a mod to the firmware i could able to do silent shutter which is very useful. The drawback is samsung is out of DSLR business 7 years ago, so one have to find it in ebay.

[SWmicro]

Shutter lock up live view.

What's that? Is it something else than an electronic shutter?

On Canon (mine is a 60d , I think it is similar to the 4000 ) "Live View" raises the mirror and enables the LCD as a viewfinder screen.

While in live view mode a shutter press takes a shot without the vibration probs of mirror movement, especially good if you have a remote control.
Also good in movie mode, you can be watching your critters at leasure, (set no auto power off) then press "record" and release as desired.

[SWmicro]

They all seem very expensive.
Please fill me up with suggestions.

Older dslr models [ used/preowned, I have two Canon 60d, one is astro-modified, that is another long story ! ] are reasonably priced and are ok for microscopy. You dont need big numbers of pixels as resolution is limited by the objectives we use. Nor do we need all the advanced features of the newest offerings.

Look for models with "live view" and with articulated LCD screens - - very good to avoid neck ache when peering at the screen atop a mic. ! Else use hdmi to aux. monitor or tether via usb to a computer screen, however the usb method can lead to a little lag,

[Harold]

I own an Olympus BH2 trinocular microscope and a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. The camera is connected to the microscope with the black version of the Olympus U-PMTVC that has a c-mount with a 0.3x reducing lens. The adapter fits the 38mm circular dovetail on the photo port of the microscope and a Canon -> C mount adapter connects the camera to the business end of the adapter. A WFK 2.5x LD eyepiece is mounted in the photo tube. This gives a manageable FOV and since the U-PMTVC can be "focused" a bit, this set up is near parafocal with the view in the eyepieces. The camera is connected to my laptop via a USB cable and controlled using the EOS Utility software from Canon. The laptop is connected to a 32" Samsung monitor vai an JDMI cable to give a large, easy to focus image with the camera in live view mode. This set up works well for me, but I'm still very much a beginner so every photographic session is a learning experience.

This effort was largely supported by the information from Alan Wood at http://www.alanwood.net/olympus/digital ... scope.html. Hope this helps.