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Microscope Advice


John Hamilton

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Snolly and Marco,

Thanks for the feed back on the photos from the new scope. The pictures were taken using only the camera software and light that came with the scope. I will definitely look into a better lighting set up and photo editing software. Hopefully my next post will have better results.

John

Your current pictures are really good and you already have good results. Real good detail on your specimen which is the most important for identification. Shadows, hot spots etc. are only cosmetic. It took me hundreds of pictures to really understand the best ways to take my pictures with the different settings in my microscope software. You can make your pictures better, but you have already come a very long way.

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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Playing with the lighting, background and exposure on the new scope. Here are some test photos.

post-6248-0-51460900-1376440320_thumb.jpg post-6248-0-33909700-1376440322_thumb.jpg post-6248-0-06793500-1376440324_thumb.jpg post-6248-0-75263100-1376440325_thumb.jpg post-6248-0-29902500-1376440327_thumb.jpg

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John

Black backgrounds are really tough for me to take pictures on. I hate trying to take pictures of white or really light colored teeth. I have experimented with a lot of different materials for backgrounds. Most black backgrounds show the grain of the material or lint or light hot spots. I've tried black cloth, paper, plastic, clay etc. Nothing seems to work well or easily. I took these on a black garbage bag. I cleaned the lint off first with a lint free cloth. Then I put my microscope tip at an angle to reduce glare and hot spots. I then played with the exposure. There has to be any easier way. These pictures took a long time to take, 3 or 4 times longer than with a white background. I've also tried using software to color the backgrounds black but the black sometimes intruded on the specimen image.

post-2515-0-91616000-1376482111_thumb.jpgpost-2515-0-42233800-1376482139_thumb.jpgpost-2515-0-50531100-1376482168_thumb.jpgpost-2515-0-20438300-1376482207_thumb.jpgpost-2515-0-82599100-1376482239_thumb.jpgpost-2515-0-57600000-1376482273_thumb.jpgpost-2515-0-32038900-1376482299_thumb.jpgpost-2515-0-52902700-1376482317_thumb.jpg

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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nice pix , Marco!

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"_ Carl Sagen

No trees were killed in this posting......however, many innocent electrons were diverted from where they originally intended to go.

" I think, therefore I collect fossils." _ Me

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."__S. Holmes

"can't we all just get along?" Jack Nicholson from Mars Attacks

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You can complement that new scope with a stacking program , which helps with depth of focus problems. If you have problems with some of your picture being out of focus, it will bring it all into focus. Great pics.

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  • 1 year later...

Hi,

I am replying to an old topic but I don’t see the point of opening a new one with exactly the same subject.

May a please ask for an opinion related to microscopes?

I’ve just ordered an Amscope, 3.5X-180X Super Widefield Dissecting Zoom Stereo Microscope + 144-LED Ring Light: http://www.amscope.com/3-5x-180x-super-widefield-dissecting-zoom-stereo-microscope-144-led-ring-light.html

I am wondering if this is the right scope to use for small foraminifers (my smallest sieve aperture is 125 micron). I want to be able to zoom into and get a good image for identifying the species and also for taking some good photos. Would you think this microscope is enough?

I had a look at http://www.foraminifera.eu/AtoC.html website (amazing website, by the way) and the photos displayed are spectacular. But I guess I need a SEM for taking that kind of photos. I am curious what are the specifications of the microscope they use. Any ideas?

Also, I didn’t order a trinocular, thinking I can take photos using a binocular microscope, with a normal camera or a smart phone, through the eyepiece. Now I am starting to have second thoughts. Should I have bought the trinocular one to get better photos or will I manage ok with a binocular?

Thank you in advance,

Angela

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Hi, Angela!

I can't comment on your microscope or what you need to look at forminifera. I haven't worked with either.

On the camera question, I have tried using a digital camera through the eyepiece of my binocular scope. It's possible to get decent pictures that way, but its not easy! You have to take a lot of images to get one or two that are satisfactory. I was able to get better results using a homemade adapter (cardboard cylinder cut and taped into a truncated cone that fitted the camera + eyepiece), but it still needed to be steadied manually, and I didn't dare leave the camera attached--the adapter holds the camera by the lens assembly, which will retract if the unattended camera turns itself off. You really don't want gravity to take over.

An alternative is an inexpensive digital camera that fits into the eyepiece socket on your microscope. Mike Cable reviewed one a few months ago in this post: LINK. I bought one on his recommendation, and have had fairly good results. It's a lot easier to get good pictures when you don't have to touch the scope, and can see the pictures on the computer screen as you go.

Good luck!

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Thank you for your post Mediospirifer.

Yes, taking photos with a normal camera through the eyepiece is very time consuming and doesn't give great results on very small fossils.

I am looking to get a digital camera that can be connected to the eyepiece so thank you for the link to Mikecable's review, it is very helpfull.

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