Celestron Handheld Digital Microscope Pro

[VAB2013]

2) Take a test shot of a white index card and adjust histogram color channels to give approximate white balance. Save the settings for application to each subsequent image
3) "Darken" the shot by dimming the lights slightly, but not enough to cause the auto-exposure algorithm to set a slower exposure time
5) Apply the test shot / white balance adjustments to the image

This is the part I can't figure out. I did notice the light was fluctuating, but now that I have covered the LED's with tissue paper I am wondering if that is going to cause me to not be able to do what Ray is describing above.

[VAB2013]

Been having fun with this Celestron! Still a long way to go to be able to produce a photo as nice as Ray did with this microscope, but here's my first attempt at a full coin photo. Never been able to take a full coin photo for about five years so I'm pretty excited!

Edit: I looked all over the house for black paper LOL... finally found that my son had a bottle of cologne in a black box, so I tore the flap off the box! I think the black background helped. Now I need to find a better black background.

[TPring]

Been having fun with this Celestron! Still a long way to go to be able to produce a photo as nice as Ray did with this microscope...

LOL -- practice, practice, patience.


2) Take a test shot of a white index card and adjust histogram color channels to give approximate white balance. Save the settings for application to each subsequent image
3) "Darken" the shot by dimming the lights slightly, but not enough to cause the auto-exposure algorithm to set a slower exposure time
5) Apply the test shot / white balance adjustments to the image

I was thinking some of what Ray described [#2 & #5] was in his Canon software.
I think #3 is a timing issue with the LEDs and snapping the pic.

Hopefully he will be able to shed some light on this [no pun intended].

[VAB2013]

Hi Viv,

Are there any options that can be changed in terms of format of the saved image? It would be great if it could save in other than JPEG. Also, what about taking a print screen of the preview, will it be better than the actual saved image? Perhaps try to reduce gain or ISO format if there is any on the camera.

Mici

Hi Mici! Thank you for this information, part of it was very helpful and the other part is over my head! You gave me the idea to check photo formats and you are exactly correct, a png is higher quality than a jpg and that is easy for me to understand!

Now, when you start talking about reducing gain or ISO format, I get seriously lost

[VAB2013]

LOL -- practice, practice, patience.


2) Take a test shot of a white index card and adjust histogram color channels to give approximate white balance. Save the settings for application to each subsequent image
3) "Darken" the shot by dimming the lights slightly, but not enough to cause the auto-exposure algorithm to set a slower exposure time
5) Apply the test shot / white balance adjustments to the image

I was thinking some of what Ray described [#2 & #5] was in his Canon software.
I think #3 is a timing issue with the LEDs and snapping the pic.

Hopefully he will be able to shed some light on this [no pun intended].

you are right TPring, these things take time and patience! Today I moved my desk to a window because I am thinking natural light might be a good thing. We'll see!

Yep, right again, those settings ray is referring to must be in his Canon software. Should we try to get that software? Can we?

[makecents]

Very nice pics Viv!! It's always fun to get a new toy and figuring it out.

[VAB2013]

Very nice pics Viv!! It's always fun to get a new toy and figuring it out.

Thank you Jon! The most exciting thing for me is, I think I can do it! It's crazy... I rearrange furniture in my house all of the time... but I really don't like change. I was stuck with that old piece of whatever you want to call it, and it was easy. I was worried this would be too hard, but it's not.

[makecents]

Thank you Jon! The most exciting thing for me is, I think I can do it! It's crazy... I rearrange furniture in my house all of the time... but I really don't like change. I was stuck with that old piece of whatever you want to call it, and it was easy. I was worried this would be too hard, but it's not.

I totally understand the change thing. I can be a knucklehead about it, even when I know it's for the better. On the "natural light" factor, I personally do not think that there is anything that beats it but it is hard to manipulate the sun.... Depending on what you are taking pics of and for what reasons, shadows will sometimes show things that light will not. Lighting has always been my Achilles tendon.

[VAB2013]

I totally understand the change thing. I can be a knucklehead about it, even when I know it's for the better. On the "natural light" factor, I personally do not think that there is anything that beats it but it is hard to manipulate the sun.... Depending on what you are taking pics of and for what reasons, shadows will sometimes show things that light will not. Lighting has always been my Achilles tendon.

Thank you Jon! I didn't realize how much lighting matters until today. I had to take the filter I made off the LED's, raise the scope up as far as it would go, then started experimenting with different lighting. My son was helping me, we turned on all of the lights, opened all of the windows and I tried the rolled up index card "tunnel" thing Ray was talking about, but shooting it without it seemed to work better under the conditions the extra light helped. Now my desk is directly in front of a window so during the day I can experiment with natural light.

[MiciDragan]

Hi Viv,

What a magnification you can get on the details. It's crazy! I think this is the way to go in order to find RMP and other fine details.
ISO settings are used on digital cameras and they regulate sensitivity of the camera. Low ISO like 100 will require a lot of light in order to expose the image. High ISO like 800 or 1600 will need much less light but the image will be very grainy instead. I am suspecting that the camera might take the photo on high ISO value and because of that the image is grainy. (On some cameras one can adjust gain which should be the same as ISO). I am almost sure that there is some kind of gain setting in the software.

BMP format is very large but it's less compressed than JPEG and PNG and might be less grainy. Try to save one image in all three formats and let us know if there was any difference between the,


Good luck and have fun with the equipment.

Mici

[jfines69]

Been having fun with this Celestron! Still a long way to go to be able to produce a photo as nice as Ray did with this microscope, but here's my first attempt at a full coin photo. Never been able to take a full coin photo for about five years so I'm pretty excited!

Edit: I looked all over the house for black paper LOL... finally found that my son had a bottle of cologne in a black box, so I tore the flap off the box! I think the black background helped. Now I need to find a better black background.

Nice full image of a nice DDO... Slightly out of focus at 500% magnification and that is awesome... The grainy look may have something to do with light intensity and focus??? There are areas of the background on your pic that are in still focus at 500% with out any apparent grainy features close to the rim from the D of GOD around to the date!!!

[ray_parkhurst]

you are right TPring, these things take time and patience! Today I moved my desk to a window because I am thinking natural light might be a good thing. We'll see!

Yep, right again, those settings ray is referring to must be in his Canon software. Should we try to get that software? Can we?

The Canon software is a free download from the Canon website. There are many other programs that can do similar things, but I like the Canon software since it's fairly intuitive yet powerful. It also has a few cropping and adjustment features that are hard to find in other programs. For instance it has an auto white balance function that is very cool, though you must have a grey reference in the photo to work with. Without the grey reference, you must use the workflow I described to get accurate color.

[VAB2013]

Ray is this the software? http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/...rofessional.do

or do I need to go here and type in a model number? https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/p...iversdownloads

When you refer to "grey reference" could that be paper? Dark grey, light grey??

[ray_parkhurst]

The first link is a tutorial. Second link is the download site. Type in EOS Rebel XS or similar and then select whatever shows up. I think they only have the latest software available so it doesn't matter what you enter.

For grey reference, I usually just use a white index card. They are a pretty good reference.

[VAB2013]

The first link is a tutorial. Second link is the download site. Type in EOS Rebel XS or similar and then select whatever shows up. I think they only have the latest software available so it doesn't matter what you enter.

For grey reference, I usually just use a white index card. They are a pretty good reference.

Great, thank you Ray! Going there now to get it!

LOL... the index card I use to place Lincoln's on gets dirty in a hurry! But, my fingers are not getting as dirty I have plenty of index cards tho...