Homemade Microscope Photography
Micro photography can be an interesting hobby, creating pictures that reveal a world much too small for viewing with the naked eye. There are commercially available microscopes with integrated camera systems. However, a homemade attachment can be used to place a camera in the proper position to take pictures of the images created by the microscope.
Microscope Photography
Good results can be obtained using amateur or hobbyist microscopes and low-end digital or film cameras. The process involves mounting the camera above the eyepiece of the microscope in such a way that the camera can focus on the image while all other light is excluded from the image. The system utilizes the eyepiece of the microscope as part of the focusing process.
In its simplest form the microscope camera adapter is a tube that can be attached to the microscope eyepiece and to the camera lens. The camera's focusing mechanism is used to maintain the sharpness of the image. The tube gives some distance between the camera and the image, allowing the camera to focus. The tube also excludes outside light, creating a circular image of the item under the microscope set against a black background.
Select a camera with a lens housing similar in size to the physical size of the eyepiece of the microscope. This often makes lower-end digital cameras easier to use with a microscope than more expensive digital single lens reflex cameras (DSLRs). The adapter can be constructed from plumbing parts and even salvaged parts. The parts need to fit together closely to prevent light from entering the adapter.
The English Web site Microscopy on a buBdget has plans for a more complex coupling between the camera and microscope. This plan uses a salvaged lens from a video camera to enlarge the image of the microscope. This increases the size of the image and may create a full-frame image of the item under the microscope.
By using a lens to enlarge the image before it reaches the camera, this type of system works better with larger cameras such as DSLRs. The mounting system and housing of this assembly will still need to exclude all external light from the lens.
Digital cameras have several advantages over film cameras in micro photography. The image can often be previewed in the electronic viewfinder before the shutter is tripped.
In some cases digital cameras can be directly connected to a computer and images displayed on the screen. Digital images can also be manipulated for brightness, contrast and sharpness.
Tags: eyepiece microscope, Microscope Photography, microscope This, between camera, camera focus, enlarge image, film cameras
