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 Replies: 17 / Views: 2,432 |
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Pillar of the Community
872 Posts |
I decided to invest in some quality photography gear and break away from the 5 megapixel microscope camera that I was using. The pictures at 10X were a bit blurry, but manageable to get a point across. I have thousands of varieties and I want to shoot some quality pictures of these varieties and be able to show the acute detail when necessary. Mind you this setup is fresh out of the box, and has NOT been tweeked in for lighting or completely set up. Lighting hasn't been diffused and items remain on the table that are refracting light. I am using an AmScope stereo microscope along with a Canon Rebel T3i camera body, and an AmScope microscope camera adapter kit to shoot pictures like this at 3.5x and near 10x maginfications;     Edited by Collector-Corner
03/25/2014 12:14 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1300 Posts |
Very nice!! I am impressed!!!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
62064 Posts |
The images are too large. A max image width should be in the 600-1000 pixel size. At least they settled down. But when someone clicks on it, we can't see what is there.
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Valued Member
United States
355 Posts |
I'm with coop. When these forums resize them down for viewing in the thread they are very detailed and nice shots, but it took me about 60 seconds for them to all load. If you clicked on one to see it larger it is then too large. I found the same thing when I upgraded my DSLR last year that for uploading things to the internet, the resolution was simply overkill and I had to get used to downscaling when publishing to the Internets. Great if you even want prints or poster though. I'm sure you'll find a happy medium.
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Pillar of the Community
 872 Posts |
The point is, the clarity is getting there, and once its tweeked in, it will be better than this.
I dont see the need to click on a detailed picture that shows enough clarity, the entire picture is right in front of you. = )
These are hosted on my server. I have plenty of space and I don't have to stay below that 100KB size.
Sure these in the future will be sized down for the shopping cart and blog, but again the main point is invest in something that you can afford and works for you and it will make your life alot easier. People like clarity and focus and just enough lighting, so in the end, thats what they will end up getting on my sites. = )
On here, I don't mind cropping the shots and serving up just what is needed to show the variety for now on. = )
Edited by Collector-Corner
03/25/2014 06:53 am
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Valued Member
United States
281 Posts |
Very nice photos, I am working on a new setup using parts and pieces from a very old copy stand that was given to me.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4809 Posts |
Nice pics Gary! I look forward to your future postings. I'll admit I was wondering what I was looking at for the first minute or so, but it came into focus.
I'm impressed by many members here who publish detailed pictures for the community to leverage. Beyond interesting to look at, they help me dial in on what to look for and help to train my collector's eye. Yes, there are plenty of sites with pic's to reference and study, but getting specific shots with pointers; that adds to the learning for me. With that, I thank my fellow hobbyists here at CCF.
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
Pics are better then nice but way to large. It took forever and a day  to load. John1  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8516 Posts |
I'm on an iPad and nothing comes up.
Oregon coin geek.....*** GO BEAVS ! ! ! ***
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New Member
United States
49 Posts |
I have an AmScope microscope with the microscope camera that came with it. That one isn't very good at all. I've been considering the adapter for my olympus DSLR. Now that I'm seeing your photos, I may just go ahead and get it. Those look great. All of my photos are way too large anyway. I just resize them in paint. Nice setup. Thanks for sharing. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
62064 Posts |
Mike: Maybe the setup on your camera includes a "macro" feature. This will help to get closer images. I take my image with a camera through a microscope.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
632 Posts |
Question, does the camera mount onto the microscope with the adapter? Does the adapter replace the camera lens, or mount in front of the camera lens.
Very nice pictures by the way! I may consider going down this road. I already have a canon rebel xs.
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New Member
United States
49 Posts |
On the scope I have, you remove the lens and insert the microscope camera. I believe the adapter he's speaking about replaces the lens on the DSLR and also inserts into the microscope after removing the lens. I took the screw out that holds lens in place, so it's a rather simple process to insert the camera.
Edited by bhthib3381
03/25/2014 12:22 pm
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Pillar of the Community
872 Posts |
bhthib3381; They are on sale. I use the setup on the smaller 3.5x to 30x AmScope stereo microscope and the result is what you see above. Typically AmScope will send people the 1.5-2MP microscope camera with a package deal. I will keep the 5MP one I have, and utilize it at coin shows. I am not sure if the AmScope 10MP microscope camera was any better in quality, but I wasn't willing to take that chance for nearly double the price. The writeups on AmScope mention one of the cameras - either the Nikkon or Olympus may be a little loose, I thought I would throw that out there, but I don't know what they mean by that. AmScope ships quick and offers a money back guarantee. So far so good. As I stated above, it will take me a bit longer to tweek in the lighting, but thats simple. If your using the Micrscope software that AmScope has free on their website, it can be a bit confusing. If I remember correctly, there is a small rectangular box to the top right, near the picture that you can resize before you capture a picture. On the microscope camera software I got from AmScope, it had different percentage settings, making it a bit easier to modify. I think AmScope has recently upgraded their microscope software over the past 3-4 months, and the last version I tried was far better than any other releases. I use Ulead PhotoImpact for cropping and modifying the pictures, if required. Ulead was bought out by Corel, and an upgrade to The Corel version was pretty cheap. All I have to do is open up a pic, and the option to resize a photo is pretty cool, keeping the aspect ratio, colors and hue pretty consistent. A lot less complicated than Photoshop but more diverse than Paint. Its somewhere in the middle for complexity, ease of use and cost. I cannot wait to break out a roll of the 1960-D unknown RPM's I have and shoot my favorite - one with an extra thick Mint mark. Now maybe I will be able to identify if it is a D/D, D/D/D or worse. I'll forward the pic to John Wexler like I have promised him prior to sending it off to get them attributed now that the pics will show more definition. |
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Pillar of the Community
872 Posts |
I have two stereo microscopes. The small one is a binocular one that, yes I can remove a set screw, put in a collar and insert the miscroscope adapter/lends that fits on the front of the DSLR camera, in place of the lens. The microscope adapter is at 2.0x power and I don't need to use the macro setting on the Canon T3i - as a matter of fact there is a manual no flash setting on the camera and what yo see above are absolutely raw pictures with no editing what so ever.
The other stereo microscope I have is a Trinocular one, and that is OK, but the images through the trinocular port are upside down. It takes some getting used to centering the coin upside down, so its just simpler to do the same to that one as well - insert the collar/sleeve, insert the camera and attached adapter and shoot.
So in short, yes, you remove the DSLR lens, assmeble the microscope adapter and put in on in place of the lens. Then remove an eyepiece, place a collar for a snug fit in the eyepiece hole and slide the adapter into the sleeve, and there you have it. Adjust the microscope focus to get it as close as you can, and if it is a little off, the camera, if it is capable of doing so will adjust the focus and your ready to take pics.
The Canon T3i is a battery hog, so I ordered the power adapter for it. That will come in handy for continuous power when I am shooting the varieties, then getting them right in respect to size for the blog and shopping cart, and then categorizing all of them.
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New Member
United States
49 Posts |
I'm definitely going to get one. My next purchase, however, will be a copy stand. I bought a camera with macro mode, but I can't get good pictures due to lighting issues.
Thanks for the write up though. I was a bit skeptical about getting one of those. Now that I see what it can do, I'm all for it now.
Thanks again.
Congrats on the new imaging setup. It looks wonderful.
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Replies: 17 / Views: 2,432 |
Posted 03/25/2014 03:14 am
