Camera for Macroscopy

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 10:51 am

I don't know what the magnification of your lens is, so the following comment may be irrelevant....

If the magnification of that lens is on the low end for the kind of FOVs you would like to have, a mirrorless bridge camera with a small high-density sensor may be able to put more pixels under your subject than an APS-C camera. Some bridge cameras that I have tried (Sony HX400V, Panasonic FZ300) gave excellent results. And the Panasonic (maybe also the Sony) has a fully electronic sensor (no first or second curtain) and very flexible internal focusing that does not move the entrance pupil. This means you could stack without a Stackshot and avoid some of the problems Rik has mentioned in his posts about whether to move the camera or the focus when stacking.

I think it can be run wirelessly by Android devices. So it can have absolutely zero camera- and user-caused vibrations.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 11:07 am

habusho wrote:I prefer the flexibility of using my own digital camera. This also pretty much negates the need for the Leica Application Suite.

Do you plan to do focus stacking?

If so, then be sure to check that whatever controller steps the focus can also trigger the camera.

--Rik

habusho · Post by **habusho** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 12:20 pm

I don't plan on doing photo stacking. A single shot has been adequate until now.

I spoke to my Leica rep. They're obviously trying to push their own microscope cameras. He didn't have any new information to give me as far as a camera goes. He recommended the 2.5x objective for a FF camera but no recommendations.

A friend of mine seems to think that the slightly lower pixel density of a FF camera would come in hand with this microscope.

The Sony a600 is also an option I think.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 2:24 pm

habusho wrote:I don't plan on doing photo stacking. A single shot has been adequate until now.

Interesting...

When I asked the question about focus stacking, I thought it was probably rhetorical. I was using it mostly to raise an issue that I had not seen mentioned.

In my experience with photographing minerals and gems, simply getting everything I care about in focus makes more improvement in image quality than any aspect of lens or sensor.

So now I'm curious.

What I'm hearing is that you're planning to spend lots of money to buy a high end scope, and struggling to decide what's the best camera to put on it, while ignoring the one aspect that in my experience would give a large -- not marginal -- improvement in image quality.

I'm sure I've missed something here.

What is it?

In other words, what is the nature of your application that makes it critical to have low noise, high resolution, apochromatic image quality in a single plane of focus, while making it OK for the image to be out of focus elsewhere?

--Rik

habusho · Post by **habusho** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 2:28 pm

rjlittlefield;

This item is going to be used in a commercial capacity.
I would just say that a gemologist using this item to produce macro artwork might have slightly different goals from a person using the same item to sell products.

I've settled this once and for all and have place the order for all of the items including the 2.5X objective from Leica for a FF camera. I'll keep my fingers crossed and see how things turn out.

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 2:47 pm

Hmmm....mysterious....

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 3:03 pm

..mysterious....

But it's art. Mystery and sentiment may well sell better than prosaic things like getting a sharp image.

g4lab · Post by **g4lab** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 3:26 pm

Rik you have missed nothing , as is usual.