Microscope Forums .com

Hi All,

I'm looking for a digital eyepiece or similar which will enable me to transfer live images to a monitor or pc.

I'm using my Nikon YS100 at x1000 (x100oil) for haematology, so being able to differentiate white blood cells using this equipment is vital.

Antone any experience? Advice? Still images as an example of quality?

S

Disclaimer - what follows is merely a report. The author makes no recommendations, suggestions or claims regarding the effectiveness of this method, and will not be held liable for any injuries, damages or death resulting from attempts to reproduce this procedure. Be aware that modification of equipment will most likely void all warrantees.


Here is what I did some time ago in modifying an old webcam to fit a standard educational level microscope.
Note that this method differs from afocal photography ( i.e. holding a compact camera up against the eyepiece) in that the light path from the objective falls directly on the sensor of the webcam. In other words, there are no lenses inbetween the objective and the sensor. Therefor the microscope's eyepiece as well as the webcam lens were removed for the technique to work. In my experience the sensor gave a higher magnification than the 10x eyepiece, perhaps as high as double (the equivalent of a 20x eyepiece). I suspect that the smaller the sensor, the higher the magnification will be.

Pic 1 - The microscope with normal eyepiece attached.
Pic 2 - The sensor of an old webcam removed and encased in plastic, and a piece of pipe of suitable diameter.
Pic 3 - A rubber band was attached to the pipe and slung over the cam so that the chip faces down the barrel.

Attached Images

   

(Continued)

Pic 4 - Swopping the eyepiece for the cam
Pic 5 - The "electronic eye" now attached to the microscope and PC
Pic 6 - The gory part

Attached Images

   

(Continued)

Pic 7 - The result as obtained from the webcam software.
Pic 8 - Another pic somewhat enhanced with a photo editor. The biconcave shape of the red blood cells becomes decernable.

Attached Images

  

The MiniVID USB eyepiece camera made by LW Scientific (I work there--so just being transparent) is a nice, fairly inexpensive option. It takes 3MP pix and retails for about $549, though you might find it cheaper online. The nice thing is that you can use it with a binocular microscope -- you don't have to have a trinocular tube. Other companies have similar products, too. I'm impressed with the homemade version, though--nothing like ingenuity!

If you're interested, I can send you a brochure and some sample pix. Good luck--whichever route you go!

Nice work.


If 1/3" sensor is the equivalent of a 20x eyepiece, what would be the equivalent magnification of other sensors? Say:

1/4"
1/5"
1/6"

Is there a formula to figure these?


Thanks.

Hi Raz. Well it's been 6 months since you posted this, but I'm a new member and just came across it. At any rate, if the magnification is directly governed only by sensor size, it should be a simple inverse proportion. It's inverse because the magnification goes up as the sensor gets smaller. So, simply eliminate the numerator (1) and it becomes a direct proportion. For the 1/4 sensor: 20/3 = M/4. 20 is to 3 as your answer (M) is to 4. Cross multiplying gives us 4 x 20 = 3M or 80 = 3M. Divide both sides by 3 and we get 80/3 =M or 26.666etc = M which is 27 when rounded. See what I did? When 20 exists with 1/3 then what (M) exists with 1/4?

So, the equivalents would be:

1/4" = 27x

1/5" = 33X

1/6" = 40X

To check our work, we can ask: 1/6" is only half the size of 1/3". If magnification increases as sensor size decreases then a 1/6" sensor should be twice as powerful as a 1/3" sensor. Indeed it is. 40X is twice 20X.
Garry DeLong

The 1/6" sensor is really only 25% the size of the 1/3". Have a look at the respective areas in this table.

Image sensor format - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But your calculation is not nescesarily wrong. For one thing, I'm not quite sure if magnification is inversely proportional to sensor area or the length of its diagonal...

Why not just slap a micrometer slide on there and take a picture?

WHAT?! And miss out on all this speculation?