Hi,
I am using darkfield microscopy to count individual spirochetes in a counting chamber. I wanted to upgrade our lab microscope to just be able to display the image on a screen in order to improve our records (putting a picture in the lab notebook).
I talked to microscope central and they advised me to buy the View4k ($1400) + trinocular head ($950) + C mount ($500). But I found a thread on this forum talking about using a tube lens camera and getting a good image.
I have since realized how little I know about microscopes. Can anyone point me towards the tube lens camera/mounts? I am very overwhelmed with all of the options.
CX31 Microscope Trinocular vs Tube Lens camera
Re: CX31 Microscope Trinocular vs Tube Lens camera
Your CX31 is a fairly modern infinity microscope, and Olympus makes an infinity tube lens for it -- it's basically the lens at the bottom of a binocular or trinocular head fitted to a cylinder.
Or perhaps you meant the sort of cheap camera that inserts into a microscope tube??
Do you already have some sort of camera you hope to use?
Generally speaking - a "handy" hobbyist might find an infinity tubelens (instead of an infinity trinocular head) for around $200 and mate it to a used digital mirrorless camera for another $200 or so and achieve your objective and achieve pro-level results. Somewhere on this site is an example of a finite Olympus scope converted to infinity (Olympus BX/UIS objectives and an Olympus tube lens) and mated to a Sony Nex camera for digital imaging and automated counting of dust particles on solar cells. In this case, a broken Olympus binocular head was scavenged for its tube lens.
Or perhaps you meant the sort of cheap camera that inserts into a microscope tube??
Do you already have some sort of camera you hope to use?
Generally speaking - a "handy" hobbyist might find an infinity tubelens (instead of an infinity trinocular head) for around $200 and mate it to a used digital mirrorless camera for another $200 or so and achieve your objective and achieve pro-level results. Somewhere on this site is an example of a finite Olympus scope converted to infinity (Olympus BX/UIS objectives and an Olympus tube lens) and mated to a Sony Nex camera for digital imaging and automated counting of dust particles on solar cells. In this case, a broken Olympus binocular head was scavenged for its tube lens.
Last edited by PeteM on Wed Sep 07, 2022 9:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Scarodactyl
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Re: CX31 Microscope Trinocular vs Tube Lens camera
Do you need to be able to see the image through the eyepieces at the same time, or is camera only acceptable?
I assume you mean an ocular camera rather rhan a tube lens camera. That said it is possible to get a standalone tube lens which takes the place of the head and a camera can be mounted to directly. I have one converted to take a dslr which I could sell you if that's what you want.
You really, really don't need to spend 2k on this, and if you do you should be getting top notch stuff.
I assume you mean an ocular camera rather rhan a tube lens camera. That said it is possible to get a standalone tube lens which takes the place of the head and a camera can be mounted to directly. I have one converted to take a dslr which I could sell you if that's what you want.
You really, really don't need to spend 2k on this, and if you do you should be getting top notch stuff.