The reason I don't mention it to people is that most of the camera's that are sold to be used this way are not very good. I have had email and also people have posted on this forum about the unsatisfactory performance of most of the ocular cameras sold on ebay.
Cameras with a higher megapixel count can become fairly pricey. But they are easy to interface to a microscope without a photoadapter. If you buy such a camera make absolutely sure that whomever you buy it from will allow a no questions asked return policy. Many of these cameras have software that appears to have been copied and hacked from competitors and often seems to not work well. I have also heard of reliability problems and image quality problems and distributors that are of no help nor refund.
There are two brand names I know of that should give satisfaction. On is Motic and the other the PaxCam (and its accompanying PaxIt software.) These will cost much more than the usual ebay cams.
There are probably other reputable suppliers of C mount camera heads but I have not kept up with this area that much. There are many eyepiece tube to C mount adapters available on ebay , if the camera vendor doesn't sell them. Again a no questions asked money back guarantee is what is called for. It might take more than one try to get the projective magnification (the ocular shooting the image onto the camera chip) right.
Decisions... Decisions... I'll get a price quote from both of them and go from there. It would be nice not to have to install/uninstall the mount all the time.
We'll see how much they are before I go that route though.
Thanks for all the input. All of you have been very helpful.
By the way... I love the new scope and have been having fun looking at my collection. It really opens up another world when you get to look at gems through quality optics.
Well... It doesn't look like I'll be going with a Paxcam or Motic camera. They are way out of the price range I want to spend. I got a quote for the Paxcam today and it is more than tripple the cost of my scope!
It would make things simple but at this point it's not a cost effective method for my needs. Maybe I'll just try to hook up my Coolpix and see how that turns out.
Although they are getting to be long in tooth from a pixel count perspective. The Coolpix 990 ,995 and 4500 are much beloved by microphotographers both hobbyist and professional because they are lightweight enough to mount onto an eyetube and the way they are made, zooming and focusing do not require the internal mechanisms to move the weight of the entire camera when they are stuck onto an eyepiece tube like that.
They also have numerous adaptations available on ebay. What model is your Coolpix? The models above are 3.34 mp and 4.0 mp and perform about as well as the PaxCam and the Motic. They probably have the same or very similar sensor chips.
Nobody ever got fired for buying anything from Nikon.
Either of those two would work OK. Get one of those telescope mounts that I linked to.
Or find a used coolpix 4500. The go for under $200 and get an eyepiece adapter for it. There are many of those available on ebay.
If you use the cameras you have you can try either or both cameras with and without the eyepiece in place. Without the eyepiece is called the afocal method. You might need to adjust the zoom.
Since the coolpixes that these fit are all getting older and there seem to be more competitors these have been coming down in price.
There are a couple of newer coolpixes that they will fit too using an extra adapter ring like the Coolpix 5000 and 5400. These also are not that much to buy anymore.
I checked it out and emailed them regarding this adapter and they responded saying that it wouldn't work with my camera and then pointed me to one of their other products here:
I mentioned that adapter in case you decided to get one of the legacy Coolpixes which would probably be the best course of action. Find a nice 4500 outfit.
I looked at that guys feedback and in March someone complained the software was infected and shut down his computer. Most of his other negative feedback related to those cameras too.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot post attachments in this forum