Testing A Microscope Camera

[Rumi]

I am interested in getting photos of microfossils, particularly ostracods and forams, through my stereo microscope. I have a 5 megapixel camera for my big microscope, that I use for fossil diatoms, and thought I'd try it on the stereo. It seems to work OK, although the "fit" is a bit loose. I'm attaching an ostracod image -- not a particularly interesting specimen, it was just handy for the photo. This is a stack of 4 images, using CombineZP. I think it will do.........

Rumi

[pleecan]

Welcome to the forum. Looks good... Stacking is a very handy technique to enhance imaging... I use Helicon Focus Pro 5.1 stacking ware and Foveon type camera to capture microfossil images.

PL

[Rumi]

Welcome to the forum. Looks good... Stacking is a very handy technique to enhance imaging... I use Helicon Focus Pro 5.1 stacking ware and Foveon type camera to capture microfossil images.

PL

Pleecan, I see you call yourself "The Arkona Mudcrawler". I am just picking my first (very small!) sample of Arkona Shale material, and I'm really impressed by the ostracods. Really superb preservation, and a rich lot of species. There seems to be a higher percentage of whole carapaces than I see in the coeval Silica and Plum Brook Shales. If you are able to collect at Arkona regularly, I truly envy you!!

Rumi

[Rumi]

Hey, really cool photograph, indeed. A number of years ago, I collected some super-duper, "huge" Leperditia ostracods from the lower middle Ordovician Wah Wah Limestone, Utah, and from an unnamed middle Ordovician unit in eastern Nevada, roughly correlative with the famed Kanosh Shale of Utah. Stunning specimens. Ostracods seems to be a truly underappreciated fossil group.

I've been considering purchasing a digital stereoscopic microscope, the kind that integrates fully with a PC (or a Mac, for that matter). With such a setup, one can view the magnified fossil specimens on the computer screen and then snap off images at will, as it were. I have loads of silicified three-dimensional arthropods (they are not flattened, but preserved in all three life-like dimensions)--primarily insects--that I've dissolved out of calcareous concretions (with a diluted acid solution) I collected from the middle Miocene Barstow Formation, California. So far, I haven't found such a microscope within my price range, but I'm still looking.

http://inyo.110mb.com/ammonoids/ammonoids7.html

An ammonoid--Parafrenchites meeki--I collected several years ago from a world-famous exposure of the Middle Triassic Prida Formation, Nevada--a specific place that yields some 41 species of ammonoids, in addition to five species of pelecypods and four varieties of belemnites. The Prida is roughly 235 million years old, and many paleontologists consider this specific site the single best Middle Triassic, late Anisian Stage ammonoid locality in the world. All told, the Prida Formation yields 68 species of ammonoids spanning the entire Middle Triassic age, or roughly 241 to 227 million years ago.

Thanks for the compliment! This was the first image I made, and I'm sure the photos will improve as I get accustomed to the set-up. My camera is quite similar to what you suggest: it mounts on the microscope with a 1X relay lens, plugs into a laptop USB port, and what you see is what you get. I have been making a lot of diatom photos with it, and am very pleased with the results. The software has measuring functions, so I can measure tiny diatom species to about 0.1 µm. accuracy. I've not yet calibrated it to work with the stereo microscope, but will do so today.

I have never seen Leperditia, except in books. Were the specimens free, or on matrix?

Your 3D insects sound way too cool!!

Rumi

[Acryzona]

Hi Rumi,

Nice picture. I also use CombineZ but haven't had much time to experiment with it. I could probably use a few pointers from you! :)My setup is an old Nikon 4500 with a threaded 10x eyepiece to mate the camera and microscope.

I collected a Wanakah Shale sample this summer and have started going through the sieved material. Found a few nice Bufina and Hibbordia along with a few head scratchers that make looking for microfossils so fun and addicting. If I get some time, I'll post some stuff in the Gallery.

Every year, I'm in PHX visiting family. Maybe we can meet up, next time I'm in town.

Matthew