mikecable Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DVP7CE/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I hate proprietary software. I like good cheap hardware. This little digital microscope imager is almost in the right place. Only 30 bucks on the big river. Most of the complaints in the reviews are about software. I didn't install any on an old XP box. Just let it recognize the drivers, and used the cam from within My Computer. In the reviews they argue over the objective magnification of this camera. At least on my gear the camera acts like a 20X ocular. I wish that was a lower number. But the only way I can get the camera close to parfocal with an optical eyepiece is with a 20X eyepiece. Quick and dirty pics of a penny and a dollar bill. Mag range is 7X to 120X. Using a Bausch and Lomb StereoZoom 4--with 0.5X objective to obtain the lower mags, and 2.0X objective for the higher mags. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xonenine Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 very nice Mike. Celestron made my scope, but as far as I know, they don't make the cameras, a third party does, vimicro in my case, and that'd be a good possible source of better software updates. "Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun; so is your crocodile." Lepidus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squali Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Some nice clarity there. Could you get a shot Of A 1 and a couple of zeros? Working on making some money lol. I went with the windows camera driver for the motic Camera. I'm posting in whiskey bridge breakdown. It's hard to remember why you drained the swamp when your surrounded by alligators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Wow, that's impressive. However that 4th picture of George's eye has some kind of optical illusion going if I stare at it, and it looks like it's moving, and it kind of freaks me out. Guess I should stop staring at it. Ramo For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun. -Aldo Leopold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mediospirifer Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 That looks very useful! Thanks for posting about this scope. That looks like an excellent addition to my setup. I'd just have to get some 20X oculars to go with it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecable Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 That looks very useful! Thanks for posting about this scope. That looks like an excellent addition to my setup. I'd just have to get some 20X oculars to go with it... You wouldn't need the extra oculars. I just compared to try to figure out the magnification of the camera. You can't really see through both at the same time anyway. You use the computer screen to focus the camera. Far from perfect, but quite functional for the price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecable Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 (edited) Pics of dollars and cents are all well and good. But the proof is in the fossil pudding. First I wanted to test my maximum field of view. I added a 0.5X objective to my StereoZoom 4, and cranked the stand up to the max. I cranked my zoom down to the minimum of 0.7X. Assuming I'm right that the imager has a 20X magnification, I'm working at 7X magnification. But the imager only captures a rectangular portion of the field of view from the ocular. I used a Schizotoma? from the Finis Shale of Jacksboro, TX for this experiment. It measures just shy of 1 cm on the longest axis. Here are the results. The largest field of view you are going to get with this camera is 1 cm. Your mileage may vary. I'm able to add a 0.5X objective to my scope, and get the final image down to approximately 7X. A lot of stereo scopes only go down to 1X, and if you can't lower that mag on the objective end you will be at 20X minimum, with a much smaller field of view. That being said, I'm happy with this pic. The colors pop. I tried to focus just below the top end of the specimen and I'm fairly happy with the depth of field focus. In fact, I want to go and do some micro-prep on this pretty thing--get rid of that ugly matrix that shows up in high def. Edited March 13, 2014 by mikecable 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecable Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 Still diddling and piddling with my new microscope camera. Right now I'd grade it at a solid B. A+ for price, B- for the built in 20X magnification. But overall I'm happy. Bryozoan from Jacksboro. 7X magnification. Schizotoma?--a smaller one from Jax. 7X magnification. Shark teeth from Green Mill Run, NC. 7X mag. Rattlesnake Creek, FL. The first pic is 10X, the second is 7X mag. I added the vignette effect using Google + photo editing. I like my pics to look like they came from a microscope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecable Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 Time to turn up the volume a bit. A 3 mm specimen at 20X. I dumped the 0.5X objective, and I am using a 1X zoom with the presumed mag of 20X for the camera. The specimen is what I presume to be a Trimerorachis insignis amphibian tooth from the lower Permian, Ryan Formation, Waurika, Ok. Definitely needs tweaking at this mag. Fuzzy and depth of field isn't great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecable Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 2 mm Xinacanthus leuderensthis shark tooth from the lower Permian, Ryan Fm., Waurika, Ok. Same problem. At 20X a bit fuzzy, and depth of field isn't great. I'd downgrade the camera to a B-, but I think the problem may be human operator error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herb Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 It can be hard to focus sometimes using your computer monitor, at least for me. "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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecable Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 (edited) This unfortunate creature wandered across my kitchen counter and soon found the killing jar. About 1 cm long. Edited March 15, 2014 by mikecable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Looks like a rove beetle! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecable Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 I just thought it was an unfortunate bug that wandered into my field of view while I was playing with one of my scopes. But it does seem to be a rove beetle now that you bring it up. The rove beetles are a family (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra that leave more than half of their abdomens exposed. With approximately 58,000 species in thousands of genera, the group is currently recognized as the largest family of beetles. It is an ancient group, with fossilrove beetles known from the Triassic, 200 million years ago, and possibly even earlier if the recently described Leehermania proves to be a member of this family. They are an ecologically and morphologically diverse group of beetles, and commonly encountered in terrestrial ecosystems.--wikipedia I do believe they can date back to the Triassic or earlier. This was a tough bug. My quick and dirty killing jar was a 10 ml glass vial with a cotton swab soaked in 100% acetone. It took several minutes of the "Raid dance" and several more minutes of kicking slowly before it was dead. But 15 minutes after I put him under the scope he was doing the slow kick again. I thought about crunching him at this point, but put him back in the killing jar instead. Supposedly this is a common problem with insects and killing jars. But I'm not going to stock up on cyanide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sélacien34 Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 Hello, i have tried Digital microscope for Macro and I was not satisfied with the result. Here 3 mm Spiders in Baltic amber shot with Nex 5N + Canon MPE 65 mm 4/5 x + Focus stacking. It would have been much better with a focus rail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 I received a Celestron deluxe handheld digital microscope last December...I just opened and used it last night...it's pretty cool! I took a few more photos of my tiny ammonites... ...Just wanted share. "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 ...a few more. "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 ...a few more. Image34 (1280x1024).jpg Image38 (1280x1026).jpg Image42 (1280x1024).jpg You're having wayy too much fun. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 You're having wayy too much fun. I am! "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Looks good, Mike! Thanks for sharing. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 ...a few more. Image34 (1280x1024).jpg Image38 (1280x1026).jpg Image42 (1280x1024).jpg Those are some sweet looking little things! and nice pictures also! Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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