Cameras... 011001Cameras... 011001(This article reflects my own experiences, and so should not be taken as an endorsement or otherwise of any particular product)
I've been using a mains powered digital camera positioned over my microscope, and coupled to a video capture board inside a computer for a couple of years now, but this is a complicated installation (wires everywhere!) and not really portable. It's true I've dismantled it, loaded it - PC, monitor, camera and all, and taken it to a number of meetings, but it's always a relief when I get home, reconnect everything and find it still works.
So I was attracted by the idea of a self-contained digital camera when these first began to hit the market some 18 months ago. However prices for what I felt was the minimum specification - 640 X 480 (standard VGA) were very high. But as we all know, the computer you paid thousands for only a year or so ago, is now worth hundreds or less. And so it is with most electronic products, including cameras. When I saw a camera, which had been previously well-reviewed at £400, advertised at just under £200, I took a deep breath, and bought it. It was a Fuji DX7, although there are many similar models available these days. It features
A fixed focus two position lens - normal and
macro, with two stops: f3.2 and f8
An optical viewfinder and LCD screen for focusing - this gives
it true TTL capabilities
A credit card-sized memory card on which the pictures are stored
- 24 normal or 30 economy
Built-in flash, including red-eye correction
Software and a cable to connect and download your pictures to
a computer
It's a little bulky compared with some - you wouldn't want to put it in your shirt or blouse pocket, but seems well-made (in China!).
You use it very much like any other camera, although the lack of a click or much feedback when you press the button is a little disconcerting at first - and the provision of a self-timer doesn't really make up for the lack of a cable release! A light flashes and a beep sounds if the wrong aperture has been selected. However you can now 'postview' the picture, and if you don't like it erase it. When you are ready you download the pictures to a computer, print them on a colour printer, send them to friends or family via email, or post them on the Internet in my case. In common with many similar cameras you can select a light balance for fluorescent, tungsten or daylight, and the CCD sensor seems to have much greater latitude than film. You can also switch off the flash to economise on batteries.
FOR
AGAINST
...AND THE MICROSCOPE?
I had this usage in mind when I bought the camera, opting for a fixed focus model, rather than the complications of autofocus and the microscope. The idea was simply to position the camera over the eyepiece and use the LC D screen for focusing and composition as one might do with an SLR. Two snags came to light: the lens is set back into the body of the camera behind a protective plastic cover, so a high eyepoint eyepiece and the use of the wide (f3.2) aperture is necessary, and the CCD which the camera uses to record the image is too sensitive! A heavy filter is needed somewhere in the light train. But it's excellent on on incident illuminated images. I took a slide of forams along to my local Natural History Society meeting, together with a Meopta portable and a mini Maglite torch , which strapped to the side of the Meopta. The results were surprisingly good, and may have converted a few people there to microscopy.
To see the setup I've been using, and some results click here