Zooming in on your rocks and fossils

[Katelyn123]

I have a serious question. As.I was taking pictures of a few of my fossils, I decided to zoom in on my rock. I became so intrigued By what I was I continues zooming in on alot of my small fossils. Does anyone else being their zoom to a max and just inspect a rock? It looked like little dinosaurs everywhere. My questions are does anyone else do this? And also what are these things that look like little dinosaurs when I zoom? It's like I can see how many crazy things. Any answers or suggestions would be great. I'll take the negative and positive. Should I stay away from zooming in or what? 

[minnbuckeye]

I often take macro pics of my finds. My eyes are not what they used to be and I can appreciate fine structure of a find by doing this!

  

Mike

[daves64]

I do the same, using either a digital camera or a Dino-lite (digital usb microscope camera). My current Dino-lite allows me to do some photo stacking which works pretty good. These are a couple I've taken recently. 

This one is a photo stacked close up of some "root" amber from Indonesia.

 

 

This is some botryoidal mineral coating on a piece of common opal. Actual size of the area is about 1 cm wide. Also photo stacked.

 

So, yeah. Keeping on zooming in. You'll see whole new worlds that you never knew existed. 

Edited May 6, 2021 by daves64

[Katelyn123]

Thank you so much for your response. For zooming in on rocks nad fossils do you recommend I use a dino lite or a digital camera

[snolly50]

If you have not already done so; check out the "Micro-paleontology" sub-topic under "General Fossil Discussion." There should be a lot there to feed your interest. 

 

When you say "zoom" I assume you mean an electronic zoom effect. This provides poorer resolution than an optical zoom. Looking at your extreme close-ups they are obviously not as sharp as the other excellent images you posted. Two factors may be responsible, either alone or in concert. Every lens has a minimum focus distance. That is, you can only move so close before sharp focus is impossible. Try backing off a little and see if your images improve (you can always enlarge post-capture by cropping (which is what an electronic zoom is doing anyway). Secondly, depth of field in close photography is razor thin. Therefore exact focus is critical and even with that, desired portions of the subject may still be out of focus. With a camera that allow the aperture to be selected, a small aperture (larger number) will help. Of course, all settings being relative, that requires more light and/or a slower shutter.  Getting great images of tiny stuff is difficult, but is also a fascinating endeavor. Have fun.

[Mediospirifer]

3 hours ago, Katelyn123 said:

Thank you so much for your response. For zooming in on rocks nad fossils do you recommend I use a dino lite or a digital camera

 

Do you want to look at it, or take photos (or  both)? How much money do you want to invest in looking at micros?

 

Dino-Lites are expensive, compared to some other digital microscopes. They're also highly sophisticated instruments, and worth the investment for a serious hobbyist. I recently bought one, and have been using it a lot. But: if you're just beginning to explore micros (or if you have a limited budget), it might be worthwhile to get a less expensive digital microscope. Celestron makes some good entry-level scopes, as well as cameras that can fit into the eyepiece of an optical microscope. So do some other companies, and you can probably find recommendations on TFF. 

 

I'd recommend looking for a good stereo optical microscope, personally, to start with. You can find a lot of fascinating details through the lens of a good scope, and the stereo scopes allow you to see depth easily. An eyepiece camera will allow you to photograph those details, without too much extra expense.

 

The feature I was looking for when I bought the Dino-Lite was the EDOF: Extended Depth of Field. This feature collects multiple images at different magnifications and stacks them with one software button click. With a good stand (or focus rail for a digital camera), it's not difficult to collect images for stacking manually, but it can get tedious. I was working with a lower-cost standalone digital microscope, and an inexpensive eyepiece camera for my stereo microscope, and decided it was time to upgrade.

 

Good luck, and have fun with your exploring of micro-landscapes!  

 

[FranzBernhard]

6 hours ago, Katelyn123 said:

And also what are these things that look like little dinosaurs when I zoom?

At least I see one "dinosaur" . But I am not used to see dinosaurs everywhere, I see rudists everywhere . @Tidgy's Dad sees brachiopods everywhere . That´s our very personal pareidolia .

 

Seriously, you are mostly looking at various weathering and dissolution phenomena of various minerals. First and second pic could be limonitized pyrite, other pics could be various mixtures of calcite, dolomite, quartz. Such mixtures can result in strange shapes and patterns during weathering/dissolution.

 

Have fun exploring the mini-micro realm of natural stuff!
Franz Bernhard

[Ludwigia]

10 hours ago, Katelyn123 said:

Should I stay away from zooming in or what?

 I don't think that your mental health will suffer because of it, but if you happen to zoom in on a dust mite, you may at least be in for a shock 

 

[Coco]

Beurk !

 

Coco

[Katelyn123]

14 hours ago, snolly50 said:

If you have not already done so; check out the "Micro-paleontology" sub-topic under "General Fossil Discussion." There should be a lot there to feed your interest. 

 

When you say "zoom" I assume you mean an electronic zoom effect. This provides poorer resolution than an optical zoom. Looking at your extreme close-ups they are obviously not as sharp as the other excellent images you posted. Two factors may be responsible, either alone or in concert. Every lens has a minimum focus distance. That is, you can only move so close before sharp focus is impossible. Try backing off a little and see if your images improve (you can always enlarge post-capture by cropping (which is what an electronic zoom is doing anyway). Secondly, depth of field in close photography is razor thin. Therefore exact focus is critical and even with that, desired portions of the subject may still be out of focus. With a camera that allow the aperture to be selected, a small aperture (larger number) will help. Of course, all settings being relative, that requires more light and/or a slower shutter.  Getting great images of tiny stuff is difficult, but is also a fascinating endeavor. Have fun.

Thank you

11 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

 

Do you want to look at it, or take photos (or  both)? How much money do you want to invest in looking at micros?

 

Dino-Lites are expensive, compared to some other digital microscopes. They're also highly sophisticated instruments, and worth the investment for a serious hobbyist. I recently bought one, and have been using it a lot. But: if you're just beginning to explore micros (or if you have a limited budget), it might be worthwhile to get a less expensive digital microscope. Celestron makes some good entry-level scopes, as well as cameras that can fit into the eyepiece of an optical microscope. So do some other companies, and you can probably find recommendations on TFF. 

 

I'd recommend looking for a good stereo optical microscope, personally, to start with. You can find a lot of fascinating details through the lens of a good scope, and the stereo scopes allow you to see depth easily. An eyepiece camera will allow you to photograph those details, without too much extra expense.

 

The feature I was looking for when I bought the Dino-Lite was the EDOF: Extended Depth of Field. This feature collects multiple images at different magnifications and stacks them with one software button click. With a good stand (or focus rail for a digital camera), it's not difficult to collect images for stacking manually, but it can get tedious. I was working with a lower-cost standalone digital microscope, and an inexpensive eyepiece camera for my stereo microscope, and decided it was time to upgrade.

 

Good luck, and have fun with your exploring of micro-landscapes!  

 

Thank you for your response. I am new to this but I love it so much I am willing to invest as much as I need to. I literally have a whole room full of fossils and rocks and it's amazing. 

[Katelyn123]

3 minutes ago, Katelyn123 said:

Thank you

Thank you for your response. I am new to this but I love it so much I am willing to invest as much as I need to. I literally have a whole room full of fossils and rocks and it's amazing. 

Oh and I want to take better pictures. Because what I can see in my camera does not show when I take the picture. If that makes sense 

6 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

 I don't think that your mental health will suffer because of it, but if you happen to zoom in on a dust mite, you may at least be in for a shock 

 

Omg lol