Camera Adaptor

A forum to ask questions, post setups, and generally discuss anything having to do with photomacrography and photomicroscopy.

Moderators: MacroMike, nzmacro, Ken Ramos, twebster, S. Alden

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mvbrooks
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Location: Coburg, Oregon
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Camera Adaptor

Post by mvbrooks »

I have a Panasonic LUMIX FX9 digital camera that has a leica lens and takes just wonderful photographs. I also have a newly "discovered" Zeiss Standard 19 microscope with all of the phase objectives, the phase condensor, all of the "do-hickies for phase condensor" but #3 for the 100X oil (I believe the technical term is annuluses), the additonal setup for darkfield work, and quite a bit more. My problem is it is a binocular scope and no one makes a camerca adaptor for my microscope and desired camera. So, I reasoned that I could make one and simply stick it on one of the 10X occulars. Not so simple! What's the trick?

P.S. I make bamboo fly rods and am quite handy with tools plus I have a complete machine shop with Prazi and Sherline lathes, a Prazi mill, etc., so if I had some plans or the foggiest idea of what I was doing, I could get into a lot of trouble. No, no, no, I mean, I could make almost anything I might need.

I'm tempted to post a photo of the Zeiss jem, simply to show off, but I don't know how to do that either :(
Mike Brooks
mibrooks@mac.com

rjlittlefield
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Location: Richland, WA, USA
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Mike,

I'm assuming that your camera takes good pictures through the eyepiece when you hold it in the right place. If it doesn't, then you have a much harder problem, working around mismatched optics.

One possibility (a favorite of Ken's) is the Orion SteadyPix. It's a mechanical holder designed for telescopes but also works with microscopes -- clamps on the eyepiece tube and screws into the camera's tripod mount.

Does that help?

--Rik

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gpmatthews
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Post by gpmatthews »

- a nice microscope. Keep an eye open on eBay for a triocular head - they come up occasionally.
Graham

mvbrooks
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Joined: Wed Apr 26, 2006 9:21 am
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Lumic Digital Camera Mount

Post by mvbrooks »

Rik,
Almost anything I can say about this camera would be an understatement. I have had two Canon's, a G4 and one-of-those-fancy-ones-that-take-lenses-like-an-SLR I bought at Costco, and a Nikon CoolPix The Lumix is by far the best digital camera I have ever used. I shoot closeup's of rod finishing work, trout flies, feathers, reel seats I make, etc. and it shows up details with a clarity that is hard to believe. The Macro function is wonderful. The lens is made by Leica on these, so I suppose that has something to do with it. So...Iam loath to part with using something I know works. AS good first question might be: Can ou take good photo's through one of the binocular lenses or do you need a trinocular head?
Mike Brooks
mibrooks@mac.com

rene
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Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 4:14 am

Post by rene »

No problem with that, needs somemore light though, compared to most trino's (with 80/20 split). With some care you could get the 2 eyepieces parfocal for phototaking, almost a necessity for proper work.

Good luck, Rene

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Mike,

See also http://www.photomacrography1.net/forum/ ... php?t=3661. Trinoc would simplify your life, but you can get equally good results through a binoc eyepiece also. The key thing is to check that the optics in your camera play nicely with the eyepiece of the microscope. I have no personal experience with your type camera. Judging from its appearance in reviews, I would be surprised if it does not work well. You can get a good indication pretty quickly. Just hold it up to the eyepiece by hand, and confirm that there is some position where the camera sees all or most of the microscope field. (Some cameras have so much glass in front that they will vignette at all positions. Your camera does not appear to be one of these.)

--Rik

mvbrooks
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Joined: Wed Apr 26, 2006 9:21 am
Location: Coburg, Oregon
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Camera Adapter

Post by mvbrooks »

Unbelievable...I actually understand that. Thank you.
Mike Brooks
mibrooks@mac.com

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