Manual vs. autofocus cam

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medicus
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Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2021 5:54 pm

Manual vs. autofocus cam

#1 Post by medicus » Sun Oct 24, 2021 5:05 pm

Greetings all:

This is my first post. I have a basic question that I need your help with, and I’ve already viewed all the threads before asking. My question is, I am selecting a trinoc camera of the HDMI/USB webcam type (e.g, Hayearr,lapsun, Eakins) most often used for PCB inspection. In your experience, should I select an auto focus model or one with manual focus? Am I going to be disabling the autofocus frequently? It seems like it’s a major factor in pricing differences. I’m a med student using an Amscope 610 plan infinity for pond water, general bio, with a focus on video. My budget’s ~500 US.
For example, Theres a 4K 60 FPS from Risingcam that has everything I’m looking for except it’s manual focus. But if autofocus is pretty important I’ll go w/the Lapsun 1080p 60fps.
Advise, feedback, suggestions?
Thanks!

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patta
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Re: Manual vs. autofocus cam

#2 Post by patta » Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:31 pm

I'd vote for NO autofocus.
compound microscopes are designed to have camera fixed, focus only by varying the distance objective-specimen.
Autofocus will be detrimental for low-mag objectives and ineffective for high-mag.

If you really desperately want autofocus, the way to go is to put an electric motor on the microscope focus knob!

Instead, the autofocus cameras (sensor moves up and down), I think are used for low-magnification digital microscopes and/or automated machine vision - not your case.

You may also consider a used old DSLR intstead (Canon 500D?), a bit of hassle to mount and use, but price/performance for photos is by far the best. Video, they're likely slower.
See the nice article linked at this thread (for still photos)
https://www.microbehunter.com/microsc ... #p87502


Important extra: make sure to get the right camera adapter that fits in your tube.

Dubious
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Joined: Sun May 09, 2021 7:55 pm

Re: Manual vs. autofocus cam

#3 Post by Dubious » Sun Oct 24, 2021 11:00 pm

I'm doubtful autofocus would ever work well enough to use with something like pond life, where focus is often a judgment call as to which organism or part of organism you want to be in sharp focus. Still, if the price difference were not too great, and if the feature could easily be turned off, I might get the camera with autofocus just to see if I could find situations where it would work.

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