Micro photography question

[Ian Gray]

Has anyone had any experience with this sort of thing

SSLR - Microscope Digital Camera Adapter - Sony SLR - Microscope World - Detail

which, in the right hands, can produce this sort of thing

Activities

I'd appreciate any info, thoughts or opinions on this one. I've got a cheapo microscope that connects to my computer, but the copy images are pretty poor. I have an amateur fascination for this sort of thing, and would have many happy hours "playing" with this on those dull, dark, damp days. But I don't want to throw my money away on a bad bit of kit. The camera adaptor shown is 10x magnification, but Mark Simmons' images, to me, appear greater than that. Any thoughts?

Regards

Ian

[matt_xyz]

I know absolutely nothing about this so I'm no help at all Ian, but I also think it looks very interesting. It seems it's the natural progression from my 5x MPE-65 lens

I suspect you'd have to spend a small fortune to get high quality images, but perhaps not that much to get reasonable ones.

Matt

[Ian Gray]

thanks for the input Matt. I've considered switching to Canon, purely for the MPE-65, the images you produce with it are amazing. But, the price of a body, batteries, lens and flash is hard to justify. I've been searching for the 3x Minolta macro, which is compatible with the Sony mount, with no success. I believe it's what the MPE-65 was based on, but I just can't find one. An Australian company had one for sale, but would not ship to the UK. I emailed them to name there price, they replied "WE DON'T SHIP TO THE UK". I emailed back, no, seriously, money's no object, name your price. They replied "NO, SERIOUSLY, WE DON'T SHIP TO THE UK". Even if I had this lens I think I would be exploring the Micro option, but I really need more information at the moment.

Ian

[BillyPilgrim]

I don't know anything about it either but I do know a bloke who has a microscope and is keen on getting in to it. He is in some club whose members have shown him some amazing images apparently. One thing that he did keep mentioning was focus stacking. Which makes sense as the dof will be minute.

He didn't say that you need to spend loads on a microscope to get decent images though. I'll have to ask him about it next time I see him. He did go into it in some detail but it was in the pub and it was a while ago...

I suppose there will be forums which cater for this type of photography which would tell you much more than you can get from here?

[ashgale]

You may be better off asking in the fungi forum, as many members use similar techniques for fungi identification, and with some very spectacular results too, judging by some of the images posted there,

a bit beyond my experience, so cant offer any advice other than that,

j.

[tom00_uk]

in the aquatic lab i last worked in we used a Fuji long zoom bridge camera hooked up to take gonad and other body part close ups through the scope. the fitting was strong enough to use out at sea on the research sip as well in storms, just had to switch to using the lcd screen as you would crash off a wave and get a view finder in the eye socket - i think this was mainly due to the costs involved but the pictures were all ways very sharp and could be then used by who ever had requested them

[stigofthedump]

Hi Ian. Sorry I cannot offer any guidance on the adapter but to answer your other query.

The adapter slots into the microscope eyepiece holder, the eyepiece is then used in conjunction with the microscope's objective lens to give a greater magnification. Thus the 10x adapter used with a 10x objective will result in a 100x magnification, with a 40x objective will give 400x etc.

Vince.

[Ian Gray]

thanks very much for taking the time to post Billy, Ash, Tom and Vince. I think what I have to establish first is whether my microscope is up to the job. Not sure how I would do this without the adaptor. For now, the whole idea has gone on the back burner, due to the fact I'm skint. For a change I'm happily skint I've finally tracked down and bought the aforementioned
Minolta 3x to 1x macro. I've have to wait a week or so for it because it's coming from New Zealand, but I've been searching for for a couple of years so whats another week. There's currently a thread ongoing in the Fungi Forum regarding the Microscope option which I will be keeping an eye on, ready for when I get funds together again.

Ian

[tom00_uk]

a cheaper method could be on this link
Watkins & Doncaster Microscopes

[Ian Gray]

thanks for that tom00-uk. excuse my ignorance but does the trekker give you a magnification of x350 (35 x 10) not sure how easy it would be to use though.

Ian