Setting custom white balance for photomicroscopy ?

[Thomas Ashcraft]

Does anyone have tips on setting custom white balance for photomicroscopy?

Do you shoot your microscope's interior light source directly or do you shoot a white surface?

In my case, I am using a koehler halogen illuminator but my photo/video backgrounds can look a little on the dull side, (like the color of hospital walls.)

Any clues or direction to FAQ resources appreciated.

Tom

[Charles Krebs]

Tom,

The various optical components in many microscope illumination systems seem to often require custom color balance.

First thing to do is be sure that the illumination "level" setting is always the same when taking pictures. (Different voltages "fed" into the bulb will drastically change color rendition).

For brightfield I simply find a section of the slide that is "clear" of subject matter, and use the procedure for setting custom color balance with my cameras. Works very nicely.

Frankly, for some unusual lighting (crossed polarizer, DIC) I have come to rely on shooting "raw" and choosing color on conversion. This is not an option you will have for video.