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Hey everyone,

I am wondering if anyone knows a professional microscope that can be used to photograph microfossils. I need to make pictures of fossils such as bonefish teeth, ptychotrygon teeth, etc, that are 2-3 mm big. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks for any help.

“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” ― Mikhail Tal

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You could try AmScope. You don't want something too powerful in magnification for fear that it will be zooming in on the crystalline structures of the fossils and not the fossils themselves! There are more affordable setups in the digital microscope category that plug in via USB, such as Carson. You still may need to invest in some stacking software to resolve depth of field issues.

...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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I agree with Kane and a number of my friends use AmScope.  Affordable and fits your requirements.  Lots of models to select from.

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I take lots of pictures of microfossils.  I have used lots of different cameras and microscopes over the years.  I currently use a Dino-Lite AM4815ZT digital microscope.  This isn't inexpensive but I take so many pictures that it made it worthwhile for me.  I used another Dino-Lite model previously but upgraded to this model because it has built in stacking software.  Even for small (2mm to 3mm) non flat microfossils stacking software helps bring everything into sharp focus.  Unfortunately my more recent posts here on TFF for which I used this Dino-Lite model were on terrestrial microfossils mostly.  Below is a TFF post that contained pictures of a large number of specimens in the 2mm to 3mm size range.  The post also contains larger and smaller specimen sizes.  Note when taking a lot of pictures for a TFF post I take them very quickly.  I can get a much higher picture quality if I take a little more time with each picture.

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/66138-oligocene-micros-from-the-mm-ranch-in-nebraska/&tab=comments#comment-692680

 

Below is a picture of a Ptychotrygon tooth from the Cretaceous, Turonian, Blue Hill Shale Member of the Carlile Shale Formation of Kansas that I took with my previous Dino-Lite model.

 

59d16ce3c9dec_Unknownray1e.jpg.b32ed063284928135c7e24876eb877ac.jpg

 

EDIT: Note Dr. David Ward and Dr. Bruce Welton purchased Dino-Lite digital microscopes to take pictures for their papers after seeing some of my pictures.

 

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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Thanks a lot for the very informative reply MarcoSr. I will have to try that microscope.

On 10/1/2017 at 6:38 PM, MarcoSr said:

I take lots of pictures of microfossils.  I have used lots of different cameras and microscopes over the years.  I currently use a Dino-Lite AM4815ZT digital microscope.  This isn't inexpensive but I take so many pictures that it made it worthwhile for me.  I used another Dino-Lite model previously but upgraded to this model because it has built in stacking software.  Even for small (2mm to 3mm) non flat microfossils stacking software helps bring everything into sharp focus.  Unfortunately my more recent posts here on TFF for which I used this Dino-Lite model were on terrestrial microfossils mostly.  Below is a TFF post that contained pictures of a large number of specimens in the 2mm to 3mm size range.  The post also contains larger and smaller specimen sizes.  Note when taking a lot of pictures for a TFF post I take them very quickly.  I can get a much higher picture quality if I take a little more time with each picture.

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/66138-oligocene-micros-from-the-mm-ranch-in-nebraska/&tab=comments#comment-692680

 

Below is a picture of a Ptychotrygon tooth from the Cretaceous, Turonian, Blue Hill Shale Member of the Carlile Shale Formation of Kansas that I took with my previous Dino-Lite model.

 

59d16ce3c9dec_Unknownray1e.jpg.b32ed063284928135c7e24876eb877ac.jpg

 

EDIT: Note Dr. David Ward and Dr. Bruce Welton purchased Dino-Lite digital microscopes to take pictures for their papers after seeing some of my pictures.

 

Marco Sr.

 

“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.” ― Mikhail Tal

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  • 1 month later...

I have used several USB cameras of varying resolution and quality on my microscopes and none of them come close to the quality of the Canon DSLR Rebel XS (D1000).
The 10MP RAW images, Canon Live View Utilities, Micam microscope software and Picolay stacking software have given me consistent results.

And the biggest feature: cost. A used Rebel XS is approximately $140.00CDN and all of the software is free.

 

_1020314.jpg.8d410579321972029a7ed865d034b996.jpg

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