How to match my microscope's eyepieces with the trinocular lens camera? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Kahenraz
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 26, 2025, 07:31:05 am
content: I bought a trinocular microscope kit with an articulating arm for micro soldering. The issue I'm having is that the camera is zoomed too far in compared with the eyepieces I want to use. The camera matches if I use the WF20X/10 eyepieces, but these are far too zoomed in. I prefer the WF10X/20 eyepieces. But then what I see is out of sync with the camera, which is still zoomed in.I know that I need an extra adapter for the camera to have it zoom out, but I don't know what that adapter is. When in focus, I have a 55mm working area with the eyepiece and about 28mm with the camera. What do I need to add to my trinocular lens to match my eyepiece?If I could add another 0.5X adapter lens to my camera, that would give me an effective reduction of 0.25X and provide me with a closer approximation of my 55mm working area. However, I can only find reduction lenses up to 0.3X. Is this the best I can do to get close to matching my eyepiece working area?

author: jfiresto
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 30, 2025, 02:19:09 pm
content: What is theEakinscamera'ssensor size(or its diagonal in mm)?

author: Kahenraz
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2025, 11:03:41 pm
content: It's a Sony 1/2.33" 55 megapixel camera.

author: jfiresto
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2025, 07:31:23 am
content: A 1/2.33" sensor would have a 7.66mm diagonal. Divide that by your present 0.5X camera reduction lens and the camera is already viewing a 15.32mm diagonal of the intermediate image projected by the microscope's camera port. To make its view match the eyepieces, the camera would need to view twice that or a 30.64mm diagonal of the intermediate image – which I bet is larger than the inner diameter of the camera port.I tend to the notion the port was designed to match a camera to 20X eyepieces, quite possibly to reduce the cost of the microscope.

author: jfiresto
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2025, 01:12:15 pm
content: I found this in Amscope "User's Manual for the SM-4 Series" stereo microscopes, page 12:QuoteYour microscope's camera port may also crop half the diagonal (75% of the image area).

author: Kahenraz
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2025, 06:58:27 pm
content: I really like the viewing distance with the 0.5X Barlow lens paired with the WF10X/20 eyepieces. What alternative pairing of microscope, camera, and lenses would get me a consistent picture between the two at the working area I would like?

author: jfiresto
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2025, 07:48:12 pm
content: Quote from: Kahenraz on July 05, 2025, 06:58:27 pmI am afraid that there is no such combination for your present microscope. A microscope camera does not have it easy. It generally views the same image that goes to one of the eyepieces. While your eye can refocus as you look from the middle of the view to the side, the camera sensor can not. The sensor is also flat whereas the image the microscope projects on to it is curved. The upshot is the sensor goes out of focus away from the center of the view. Rather than waste pixels, a microscope designer will arrange the internal optics to crop the image and project the flatter, well focused center to the camera. (Your eyes use the same trick and massive, neural post processing, as their optics are even worse.) In this case, apparently the designer(s) decided to project to the camera, the same cropped area that 20X eyepieces will view.

author: Kahenraz
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2025, 09:47:46 pm
content: Thank you for the detailed explanation. However, my question is whether there is an alternative combination from another brand or company that would allow me to get the matching output that I want. What you're suggesting is that it's impossible with this particular microscope head; but is there an alternative that I can use instead?

author: jfiresto
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 08:31:14 am
content: Hope springs eternal.I expect the best you can do would be to add 20X eyepieces at one end of the microscope and an 0.3X auxiliary objective at the other – but that combination will worsen the images and may:limit the total, tolerable magnification to roughly 4.2–18X (a 4:1 zoom range), possibly lessraise the microscope too far above the work, or in some cases, beyond the top of the standrequire you to more carefully hold your head above the eyepieces.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2025, 09:37:57 am
content: Keep in mind that the microscope image is round and this is what's coming out the trinocular port.The max image you can get on the camera sensor is always going to crop out a lot when turning that circle into a 4:3 or 16:9 rectangle.If you go too far with adaptor lenses you will get 4 black areas cutting off each corner with an arc. (edges of the circular image).Exactly how far you can go with your microscope I'm not sure.But I think you will get better results with a single lens of the correct power rather than trying to stack them.

author: Kahenraz
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2025, 07:55:11 pm
content: I would actually prefer to see the round border of the optical boundary rather than have it cropped out. At least then I can crop it however I want in post.

author: jfiresto
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2025, 07:28:44 am
content: +1In the fairly early days of micro four thirds, after Panasonic and Olympus had gotten rid of the mirror and were redefining the mirrorless camera, Panasonic created an image sensor with supernumerary pixels that had the sameangle of viewwithin the image circle when capturing/cropping with a 1:1, 4:3, 3:2 or 16:9 aspect ratio. They used it in their DMC-GH2, a camera independent filmmakers loved and modified, like teenagers souping up their car.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2025, 10:10:26 am
content: Quote from: Kahenraz on July 14, 2025, 07:55:11 pmYou will get less effective image resolution doing that, but yeah, you get the advantage of being able to crop how you want.