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Blog Microscope Photography and Video with Raspberry Pi HQ Camera
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  • Author Author: fmilburn
  • Date Created: 18 Jul 2021 11:42 PM Date Created
  • Views 13937 views
  • Likes 15 likes
  • Comments 13 comments
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Microscope Photography and Video with Raspberry Pi HQ Camera

fmilburn
fmilburn
18 Jul 2021

I bought an AmScope trinocular microscope several years back and find it handy (but not a necessity) for the electronics I do.  Another reason I bought it was to entertain the grandkids and perhaps interest them in the natural world.  I like to use it with the eyepieces because of the stereo but the kids can't really get it adjusted correctly and from time to time it would be nice to capture an image or take a video.  A decent microscope camera costs $200 USD and up so here I look at DIY.

image

I've tried various things like making a holder for my iPhone and playing around with the original Raspberry Pi camera but wasn't satisfied with the results.  Here I present results using the Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera and an adapter lens made for microscopes.

 

3D Printed Parts and Assembly

 

The lens I'm using is the 23.2mm AMA050 adjustable eyepiece adapter which can be obtained for around $50 USD on Amazon.  My microscope uses 30mm eyepieces so an adapter is necessary.  A way to hold the Raspberry Pi in place on the microscope is also necessary so the following pieces were 3D printed in PLA.

image

The blue part on the left fits over the trinocular tube and is glued to a surplus 3D printed bottom of a Raspberry Pi case.  The blue part on the right is the adapter for the eyepiece lens.  The enlarged collar at the bottom of the adapter holds the lens in place.  The depth of the collar was determined by moving the lens back and forth prior to printing.

 

The following images show the lens and adapter apart and then mated together.

image

image

Here we see the Raspberry Pi mounted on its holder.

image

After removing one of the eyepieces the camera can be placed on the microscope and is ready for use.  A Raspberry Pi Pico 2040 has been placed on the microscope stage for viewing.  As can be seen, one of the nice things about this microscope is it has good relief between the microscope and stage.  It has been fitted with a LED ring light that gives even flat light.

image

 

Results

 

The image below is quad-ruled graph paper with 4 squares to the inch (each side of a square a bit over 6mm). The microscope has 1:4.7 zoom and is set at the lowest magnification. Raspistill was used to capture the JPEG image and it is straight out of the Raspberry Pi without sharpening or other manipulation.

image

A couple of observations:

  • The lens does not quite cover the sensor.
  • There is practically no pincushion
  • The image is sharpest in the middle with a visible reduction in the corners
  • There is visible vignetting in the corners

 

The loss of image quality in the corners is to be expected.

 

In the next image, the microscope is zoomed to the highest magnification and is somewhere around 6mm across horizontally.

image

Below is a shot of an edge of the Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller chip with greater than 2x zoom.

image

These stills are plenty good enough for what I do.  The 1-minute video below demonstrates the quality of the image in real-time on a monitor.  There is minimal delay but I wouldn't use it for soldering given the lack of stereoscopy and I normally stick to larger size SMD anyway.

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image

This is good enough for looking at flowers and bugs with the kids.  I don't expect to use it much for electronics.

 

Summary

 

 

This quick project turned out pretty good and suits my needs.  It is not expensive if a Raspberry Pi HQ Camera and board are readily at hand.  A downside is that it uses one of the eyepieces and not the trinocular tube as the lens is too large in diameter.  Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

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Top Comments

  • fmilburn
    fmilburn over 4 years ago +4
    I originally thought about using this project for the photography challenge but ended up using the thermal camera instead. Both projects are easily done on a weekend. Modifications to fit other microscopes…
  • javagoza
    javagoza over 3 years ago +4
    Frank, I love this project. It is very well done. Is there room to put a second camera in the other eyepiece? It would be great to use it with a virtual reality headset, returning the original stereo use…
  • genebren
    genebren over 3 years ago +4
    Love it! I have been sitting on the fence with the purchase of a camera adapter for my microscope. I really like your approach to creating your own adapter to capture images. This is something that I will…
  • wildcatgeo
    wildcatgeo 11 months ago

    Your issues with the edges of the image are strictly to do with the microscope adapter lens, the AMA050.  You need another 2x or so lens added to that and itll focus in the center of that lens. I also have an amscope and it does the same on my high end camera because its not focusing beyond the edges of the sensor. Those are built for smaller CMOS sensors.  You won't get those same issues if you find a better lens combination for the pi camera.

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  • kmikemoo
    kmikemoo over 3 years ago

    fmilburn  That's brilliant!  I love the adaptation.  So practical.  imageimage

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  • fmilburn
    fmilburn over 3 years ago in reply to three-phase

    Thanks Donald,

    I think so. Years ago I was able to take good photos with my 35mm camera and a telescope using a “T adapter” designed so as to get the right distance for the film plane and manually focusing.

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  • three-phase
    three-phase over 3 years ago

    Nice Frank. I presume with the right sense, a similar approach could be used for attaching the Pi camera to a telescope.

     

    Kind regards

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  • fmilburn
    fmilburn over 3 years ago in reply to shabaz

    Hi Shabaz,

    "Robot Summer Camp” is coming up so I will go hunting for stuff to put under it with the kids next week.

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