Re: Photomicroscopy

"Tom Wells" <tomers@xxxxxxx> pounded on the keyboard and wrote:

>This may be the wrong NG but I need some advice on using a Nikon Coolpix 950
>with a microscope to take photomicrographs. I have the proper hardware to
>connect the camera to the microscope, but I can't seem to take consistent
>pictures. Sometimes they are overexposed sometimes under. Any advice would
>be appreciated. Tom
>

Tom,

I forwarded your message to my cousin. He is a worldwide renowded
electronmicroscopy scientist. He has worked at NIST for over 20 years. He
is also a advanced amatuer photographer. Here is his response:
------------------------------------------

There are lots of possibilities:

My guess is that the camera metering is not properly set for the differing
exposures. He might need to experiment with the different modes available on
the camera. If he is photographing a high magnification of a stained section
where the image fully fills the screen he probably would get a good exposure
compared to say a picture where the majority of the field is open and bright
where a picture of say a diatom would be done.

He also might be swamping the exposure system since many of the microscopes
have a lot of concentrated illumination as compared to a standard picture.
He might need to use neutral density filters to reduce the illumination. But
longer exposures will result consequently vibration could be an issue.

Finally he needs to worry about the quality of the illumination across the
field. Koehler illumination should be done to make sure the brightness is
uniform.
-------------

Hope this helps.

Brian
--
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Brian J. Rueger | Hampton Div. of Fire & Rescue | "Who dares wins"
Lt./Paramedic | Fire Communications Officer | Hampton, VA.
B.S. Comm/I/SEL Pilot | MSgt, USAF (Ret.) 49199 | NREMT-P
Check out my home page: http://members.cox.net/brueger
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"Life's too short to drink LITE beer!"
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