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generally speaking, is it possible to simply attach a digital camera directly to the eyepiece of a microscope (say, with a piece of PVC piping or something) and get decent pictures? My gut tells me that the eyepiece should be removed for this. Are there any changes that need to be made to the camera?

Thanks,
Adam O.

ps.: I ask this because a family friend has recently told me she'd be happy to give me her microscope from her medical school days (late 80s) which she doesn't use anymore. How generous of her! I haven't seen it but I am very excited and will be sure to post pictures of it when I get it.

What you are thinking about doing is entierly possible. Much of what you will need to do depends upon the microscope and camera you are going to put together. Let us know as much as possible about your equipment when you get it and we can make some recommendations.

g2b2

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A pixel is worth a thousand words but it takes a thousand words to explain a pixel. g2b2

g2b2,

thank you for your replies (in my other thread as well). My camera is a Sony Cybershot just like the one in this link: Sony Cyber-SHOT DSC-W1 Digital Camera: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Though I suppose this doesn't help much yet, since I still have yet to even see the microscope. I might get it at some point this week.

Whatever the case, the camera I mentioned above is my all-purpose camera so I don't want to make any modifications to it. If any ghetto-hacking is required, however, I do have an old Olympus digital camera (~10 yrs old) that no one in my family uses anymore, so instead of throwing it out, I'd be willing to take my chances with ripping it open.

I also did some googling on this matter today and found a couple of DIY projects where people did this for threading their camera into a telescope or spotting scope. I also found one site where the guy made his own machined metal adapters for microscopes. It appeared to me that no changes were being made to either the camera or the instrument; just some form of tubing/piping that attached the camera directly to the eyepiece (or, I guess they call them oculars in microscopy?).

Well, anyway, I guess these are all just excited musings for now. I'll keep you guys posted and show pictures when I get the thing.

-Adam O.

Adam O

As you saw in your searches, there is no modification necessary to either the camera or the micrscope. Often, a simple plastic tube is a good starting point.

With the cameras you have you may be able to build a bracket that secures the camera to the microscope.

Let us know when you get your microscope.

g2b2

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A pixel is worth a thousand words but it takes a thousand words to explain a pixel. g2b2

All before is correct the focal length of the camera is critical if done with the ocular in place.
Take a squint at my post on digitizing and polarizing a microscope in this forum. As to pictures with the ocular in do a search on my "Rotating Stage" post somewhere here also. It shows the mounting.

geo1,

Thank you for the pointers. I will definitely check out your posts. I attempted to do what I described in my earlier post and in fact it worked pretty well. The biggest problem was getting the "adaptor" (just a PCV connector with a rubber connected glued on--the PVC connector slides onto the ocular, the rubber bit fits snuggly around the camera) to really line up the camera with the ocular perfectly. Just a little bit off and the field of view vanishes. I wrapped some masking tape around the ocular (to make it a little fatter so the fit is more snug) and that helped a bit. I managed to get some pretty nice shots which I can't share at the moment (I'm at school) but I'll post them when I get home. Mostly hydrazoans (some decent closeups of the nematocysts!) and other sessile predators (stentor, etc), some desmids, well, I'll post the pics. Unfortunately I can no longer take additional pictures...because my camera died but I think I can fix it.

In other news, I was fishing through the "e-waste" bin at school and found a USB webcam. I plugged it into my laptop and it worked, just couldn't record anything (I don't have the right software for that). Resolution wasn't great, but was better with higher light conditions. My next task is to create an adapter or bracket which can hold the webcam to the ocular so that I can watch the creepies in real time on my lappy screen and use the screen capture function to "take pictures" hehe. Pretty ghetto, I know. When I get it figured out I'll post some shots.

-Adam O.

I used an Olympus U770 SW shock and waterproof 7.1 megapixel camera. I did 5 hrs of microscopy and though of using the camera in the end These were all i took photos of. I simply held the camera by hand and sat it on the microscope lens (Beck and london model 47) These are the pictures and i would like it if someone could estimate my magnification.

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