*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****
A DSLR and some L-series glass might also do the trick, at somewhat more cost than a coolpix, but probably still less than a specialised scientific offering. Canon and Nikon both have SDKs if you want to control from the computer, although they are pretty messy and would incur a fair bit of pain before you got anything working (I had a look at the canon SDK last year, and concluded it'd be a ~ 2 week job to get it working nicely). That said, the remote control software that they come with isn't half bad, and we used one of them extensively as a sighting camera on the side port of one of our microscopes. If only they offered monochrome sensors ..., then again with 18+ Mpixels you might be able to get away with just binning. Are you looking to do fluorescence, or just brightfield/transmitted? The commercial DSLRs also tend to have IR blocking filters which make them pretty useless in the far red, although there are a couple of outfits which sell modified
cameras where they've removed the filter. There are also a few tales on the web of people removing the bayer mask from a DSLR to get a monochrome chip, but you unfortunately have to remove the microlenses first to get there. If you have a good light budget, and are prepared to sacrifice one camera to experience it might just work.
Best wishes,
David
________________________________
From: Guy Cox <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, 3 March 2013 8:51 PM
Subject: Re: Cheap scope components
*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****
Sounds to me like you need a camera rather than a microscope. I recently bought a Nikon Coolpix L310 which when set on macro will easily get down to 2x2 cm. It has a 21x zoom range and has 14 MP. Cost $149.
Guy
---Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Andrew York
Sent: Monday, 4 March 2013 2:59 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Cheap scope components
*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
*****
I'm looking for some advice about buying or building my own low-mag brightfield microscope. I want the following capabilities:
* Brightfield illumination
* Cheap ccd or cmos camera with as many pixels as possible (>10 MP ideally), no eyepieces required, acquiring to a computer.
* Large field of view, ~2x2 cm
* Adjustable zoom would be nice, over a moderate range (maybe a factor of 4)
* Resolution limited by camera pixel size rather than aberrations or diffraction (if possible)
* Manual controls, no automation required in the optics
* Room between the objective and the tube lens for a dichroic, which I might want to insert later, for free-space coupling of illumination beams.
Is there an obvious commercial solution that is good and cheap? If not, any advice on where to buy the components is appreciated.
|
