Alternatively....

Try using a DSLR camera instead of a microscope. By adding, in reverse, a short focal length lens to a longer lens you can get high magnification. The longer the prime lens and the shorter the reversed lens the greater the magnification(I think the formula is long/short = magnification. Thus, a 50mm lens reversed onto a 200mm lens will give x4 magnification.

The image right was taken with a second-hand 50mm lens reversed onto a 105mm lens and is of Mythimna unipuncta, from New Brunswick, Canada.

The reversed lens is used wide open(max aperture) and the prime lens is used to control aperture. In this case, a 50mm lens was at f1.8 and a 105mm lens at f11. As with every macro shot, shallow depth of field is a problem. The Mythimna image comprised of 21 exposures stacked with Helicon Focus.

To get 'microscope level' magnification simply use a low power microscope objective. I use Jessops extension tubes that fit my DSLR. I cut out a cardboard circle to fit the lens end, then painted the inside of the cardboard black; I then cut a hole in the carboard to hold the lens. For low powerI use just the 21mm tube, and for higher magnification I use all three tubes.

Tony Thomas

Using a DSLR

It is possible to use a DSLR with a microscope to produce high quality images, although you may need to search around for adaptors to connect the two. Image files will be huge, especially when shooting multiple images for stitching together in Photoshop, so you may need to reduce image quality (on the camera menu)unless you have a powerful computer with plenty of memory.

White Balance should be fine tuned manually on the camera(take test shots to give a grey background colour which, when checked in Photoshop, should yield equal RGB values, thus obviating the colour of the microscope lamp.

For larger subjects, such as noctuid genitalia, the microscope eyepiece can be removed, giving low power magnification and allowing the entire structure to be captured by four of five shots.

The camera may allow you to delay shutter operation until mirror vibration has ceased (=AntiShock)and a cable or remote release should always be used.

Right:: Olympus E410, OM microscope adaptor, OM - ESystem adaptor, video output routed through a tv to aid focussing.

B. Goodey

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