[Histonet] Digital microscope camera

[Robert Chiovetti]

Nadia,

There are a couple of manufacturers that make adapters for the more popular "point-and-shoot" digital cameras.  With the proper adapter you can remove an eyepiece, insert the adapter (with camera attached) into the eyepiece tube and take pretty decent quality digital photos.

It helps a lot if your digital camera can be set to "infinity focus" (usually an icon with mountains) and if you can set the camera's exposure control to "aperture priority" or "shutter priority."  The exact terminology might be different, depending on what kind of camera you have.  You can use the camera's "zoom" settings to convert the circular field of view in the scope to a rectangular image for the camera.

The adapters cost about as much as (or a little more than) a decent digital camera, but it's still less expensive than a dedicated microscope camera.

I've had very good luck with the adapters made by Bobby Martin at Martin Microscope.  Take a look at: www.martinmicroscope.com.

Disclaimer: I have no personal or financial ties to Martin Microscope.  I just sell their stuff on occasion.

Good luck!

Cheers,

Bob Chiovetti


 Robert (Bob) Chiovetti, Ph.D.
Southwest Precision Instruments
See What's New on Our Website!
Arizona's Microscopy Resource
132 North Elster Drive
Tucson, AZ 85710-3212
Tel./Fax 520-546-4986
Member, Arizona Small Business Association
(www.asba.com)



----- Original Message ----
From: "Gale, Nadia" <Ngale <@t> bccancer.bc.ca>
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 9:40:00 AM
Subject: [Histonet] Digital microscope camera

I'm looking to adapt our lab microscope (Nikon Eclipse 50i) with a
digital camera for publication quality photos that can be taken quickly.
While I would love to purchase one of Nikon's cameras made for this
purpose, we just don't have the budget.  Does anyone have experience
with setting up a consumer-level digital camera with a brightfield
scope?

As an aside, I'm disheartened to hear about the negative aspects of
histotechnology in the States.  In Canada, as in many other countries,
histology is a division of the medical laboratory technology program and
is treated with the same respect as any other discipline in the lab.  Is
there any lobby to have histology re-integrated into the general MLT
programs?


Regards,
Nadia

Nadia Gale
Lead Histotechnologist
Centre for Translational and Applied Genomics (CTAG)
3427-600 West 10th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 4E6
tel 604-877-6000 ext 2426
fax 604-877-6089
ngale <@t> bccancer.bc.ca

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