Right camera for a lab microscope - Looking for a good camera (Mar/03/2008 )
Hi,
My lab adquired a microscope (Nikon Eclipse e200) but it has a common 6MP Sony camera, the photos taken can't be published because are blurry.
Could you tell me what the model of cameras that you have in your microscopes?.
A seller recommend us a Nikon 5.000u$s camera but I think maybe it's too much for a camera, since my Nikon D80 costed me 1000u$s.
Best regards,
Carla
why dont you contact several companies such as Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Zeiss, and so on, to come to your lab to do demo, and pick the one you like.
some of those optics are very nice but sometimes difficult to use or need additional software or whatever, you know.
or call Sory and ask repair guy to come to your lab and tell your problem and make them fix!! that's might be cheaper 
Hi
Not sure if this will help at all - but we have a departmental eye-piece camera (called miniVID) that is really useful as it will go on any microscope with a standard eye-piece. You just remove the eye-piece and pop on the camera!! Simple. We bought it before the software had video capability, but I'm told that you can get a patch to allow live cell capture.
you can see the camera here:
http://www.microscopesusa.com/MiniVID.html
Cheers!
I wanted to comment on your note about camera prices. The CCD sensor in research digital cameras is much different from consumer/prosumer digital cameras. The megapixel of a research camera is usually low in MP (around 2) compared to 10MP DSLRs, but it is much more sensitive and the organization of the CCD sensor gives you much better detail. You may be able to get a used camera through a reseller. One I know of is ibisoptics. But with an older camera, from my experience, the software that comes with it leaves something to be desired, compared to a new microscope of Zeiss or Nikon. Just my thoughts.
- Eli
I wanted to comment on your note about camera prices. The CCD sensor in research digital cameras is much different from consumer/prosumer digital cameras. The megapixel of a research camera is usually low in MP (around 2) compared to 10MP DSLRs, but it is much more sensitive and the organization of the CCD sensor gives you much better detail. You may be able to get a used camera through a reseller. One I know of is ibisoptics. But with an older camera, from my experience, the software that comes with it leaves something to be desired, compared to a new microscope of Zeiss or Nikon. Just my thoughts.
- Eli
Is this true (about the CCD sensor being different)? Do you have a refrence for this? Sounds like the kind of thing a salesperson says one time, and it proliferates. One would hope they are different with such absurd price differences, but it may be like buying lab grade dried milk and dried milk from the store - they're the same, even made at the same place.
maybe the pictures are blurry because you haven't adjusted the focus yet. with a 6 mp resolution camera you could print a poster of 110 x 90 cm without getting a pixelated image, i don't see why it shouldn't take pictures to be published.
Have a look here: http://www.lmscope.com/produkt22/digi_sony_e.shtml
Here, too: http://www.scientificcomputing.com/ShowPR....p;CommonCount=0
Many thanks, I'll check the links.
My lab adquired a microscope (Nikon Eclipse e200) but it has a common 6MP Sony camera, the photos taken can't be published because are blurry.
Could you tell me what the model of cameras that you have in your microscopes?.
A seller recommend us a Nikon 5.000u$s camera but I think maybe it's too much for a camera, since my Nikon D80 costed me 1000u$s.
Best regards,
Carla
Hey!
In my lab we use a Nikon e600 microscope and a regular Nikon digital camera and NO capture system! The quality of the pictures obtained is excelent and we have been using this system to take picture for publishing in the last years (if you want I can send you a list of publications, so you can check them out)... I agree with someone that said that your camera may not be adjusted to the focal distance of the microscope. You should do some tests and and try to adapt your camera's support. But be sure that you have a specific camera support for the e200 model!
ago
