The best way to attach a camera to an eyepiece

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dtrinh
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Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2022 8:18 pm

The best way to attach a camera to an eyepiece

#1 Post by dtrinh » Sat Mar 04, 2023 10:33 pm

Hi everyone,
From your experience, what is the best way to attach a camera to one of the two eyepieces (no trinocular head) while still be able to navigate easily the sample?
I have a Leica DM750 (phase contrast), and a Leica trinocular head on ebay is much more expensive that what I paid for the microscope.
I wonder if someone has a trick to view the whole sample easily, like looking through the other eyepiece.
Thank you very much!

Scarodactyl
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Re: The best way to attach a camera to an eyepiece

#2 Post by Scarodactyl » Sat Mar 04, 2023 11:13 pm

I don't think that can be done practically unless you navigate with a screen tethered to the camera.

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imkap
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Re: The best way to attach a camera to an eyepiece

#3 Post by imkap » Sun Mar 05, 2023 12:21 am

Before getting a trinocular head, I have attached mine with a telescope t2 adapter over the eyepiece. It worked ok, looking to the screen to navigate, not the other eyepiece

PeteM
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Re: The best way to attach a camera to an eyepiece

#4 Post by PeteM » Sun Mar 05, 2023 3:58 am

If you don't want to do everything on a screen or pay a high price for a Leica trinocular, another approach is to get an intermediate teaching piece. These are sometimes fairly inexpensive. I've seen several Reichert Microstar teaching heads under $100. Leica DM ones are harder to find.

With a teaching head you can view through your binocular head and adapt a camera to the other port. I've also just cut off the end of Reichert teaching heads and attached a camera in direct projection. It's not perfect - the Leica microscopes want a bit of correction.

Reichert Microstar teaching heads expect the male dovetail to be around 50.5mm at max diameter. Leica DM heads are just under 44.75mm at max diameter. So the Reichert teaching head dovetail must be turned down (the piece easily detaches) to fit a 44.75-mm Leica DM stand. A Leica DMt head must then be wrapped with something to increase its effective diameter to securely fit into the Reichert teaching head.

Using a monocular setup or a camera phone attached to an eyepiece is easy. The phone camera is quick and easy to swap if you have an old phone and a third eyepiece. You don't get simultaneous viewing, but the only time you might really need that is when trying to track and take a movie of something like protists. It's not much of a distraction to take out an eyepiece and insert another one with a camera attached.

A teaching head is a decent option to simultaneously view and take photos or movies -- at least until you find a cheap trinocular head. You'd still have that teaching head to share the experience if you later added a trinocular head and kept the binocular one.

Phill Brown
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Re: The best way to attach a camera to an eyepiece

#5 Post by Phill Brown » Sun Mar 05, 2023 10:35 am

Would be useful to include what camera you have if any.
NDPL2X for DSLR or micro 4/3 with live view works well.
I have a Panasonic G3 which will do 1080 video and is light enough.
It's a practical solution that can be put together for a reasonable budget.
Live output video to PC needs a 1080 video capture adapter which adds a little more.
Full size DSLR are fairly bulky to add to an eyepiece.
I don't own a microscope specific camera, Clean video out is something to look into also.
Good luck with whichever way you go.

dtrinh
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Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2022 8:18 pm

Re: The best way to attach a camera to an eyepiece

#6 Post by dtrinh » Sun Mar 05, 2023 7:57 pm

Hi everyone,
Thank you for your replies!
As PeteM said, the only situation when I would need a whole field of view is when I chase some protists.
For this microscope, I am using the Sony A5000 + an 2x microscope adapter from Bresser (easy to insert into an eyepiece). I would love to upgrade to a Sony A7S but not possible right now. I hope the A7S or Sii is not too heavy for the eyepiece.

The reason I need a wider field of view is that with this 2x adapter, only a quite small region is projected to the camera's sensor.
The A5000 does not allow me to use the other eyepiece. Instead of buything expensive microscope parts, I am thinking of attaching a webcam to the other eyepiece to have a larger field of view. A thin webcam is needed because of the space constraint.
It is cumbersome, yes, but cheap!

Image

I will buy a webcam and keep you guys updated.
Cheers,

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