General explanation of Photomicrograph.

Beyond the microscope, there is the new world that you have not seen. The limit of resolution of the human eye is about 100 μm, and with an optical microscope, it is possible to see up to about 200 nm. In the optical microscope, observation methods of bright field, dark field, phase contrast, polarization and differential interference contrast are available for transmitted illumination. Observation methods such as bright field, dark field, polarized light, differential interference contrast, and fluorescence are available for reflective illumination. Each method has its own features so that you can see what you cannot see with the naked eye.
Observation using microscope is fun, you might willing to taking photo or video. I will show you the best way to shoot photos and movies with a microscope.



There are several ways to take photo and video using a microscope.

Collimate shooting (method of shooting by placing the camera lens on the eyepiece)
* The image quality is not good.
* Setting takes time and effort.
* In order to fix the camera, ingenuity is necessary.

Using a USB camera with a small sensor.
* Almost all sensor USB camera is a small number of pixels.
* Almost all USB camera could not shoot movies. In some USB camera could shoot movies but in SD quality of low frame rate.
* PC for controlling the camera is necessary.

Using microscope camera for research grade. 
* The price is very high (few thousands to few dozen thousand dollars).
* The pixel numbers are not high.
* Most research microscope camera does not support movie shooting.
* Often the file format is special.
* PC is necessary for controlling the camera.

Using an interchangeable-lens camera.
* The image quality is sufficient, and there is no problem shooting movies in full HD or 4K resolution with high frame rate.
* You can use any camera you like.
The only problem was that there are few adapters to attach the camera to the microscope. We developed a microscope camera adapter so that you can easily take a microscope with your favorite camera.

This blog introduces a method to attach an interchangeable-lens camera to a microscope.

  In the eyepiece part of the microscope, there is what is called a trinocular head, there are parts to attach a lens for photography in addition to two eyepieces. Attach the camera to this port. Major microscope manufacturers in Japan are Olympus and Nikon. Both are camera makers, so I thought, "It would be easy to install the camera", but it is not so. Strangely, the adapter that simply attaches an interchangeable-lens camera on a microscope is not currently on sale from microscope makers. The reason why the adapter of the interchangeable-lens camera is not released is probably that the mainstream of microscope photographing camera has become a small sensor size camera. Most microscope cameras sold by each company are small sensors less than 1” type. Nikon released a microscope camera (DS-Ri 2) of full-size sensor in 2014 and it became a hot topic, but since it seems that model change has not been done. Using the microscope camera adapter of the Institute of Small World you can easily take a microscopic photo and movies with an interchangeable-lens camera. I have spent a lot of time and wasted money before developing this adapter. In this article, we will introduce how to start microscopic photography that does not waste money and time.

  Please see here for the camera adapter that not good for microscopic photography.



What is necessary for microscopic photography?

Microscope

Trinocular head

Relay lens (photo eyepiece)

Microscope camera adapter

Mount conversion adapter (for not F mount camera)

DSLR or mirrorless camera body

I'll explain each in a separate article.



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