# advice asked on EOS for a microscope



## sulla (Dec 3, 2014)

Dear community!

I have an Olympus microscope and I want to take images with it, to be precise through it's camera port.
So I attached a microscope ==> T2 converter to it and further a T2 ==> EOS converter to it.

My EOS 5D shows vignetting, as expected, but my 60D works superbly, I can shoot perfectly through EOS utility.

I now need a dedicated EOS body for this. Can you recommend one that is well suited? Is one particular camera especially fast for live-view USB-tethering? (I also have no experience in tethering...)

I consider 1200D or 100D, but I also think of an EOS-M, however, I have no idea how well the EOS-M is up to this task. Are there any particular downsides to the M that need to be considered?

I lean towards the DSLRs, since they might have an advantage when I want to take the camera off the microscope and take pictures with all the rest of the available EF-S lenses lying around... But then, there's already the 60D for this.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Sulla


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## dcm (Dec 3, 2014)

No USB tethering for shooting in the EOS M might be considered a downside. You can only download images and control a few camera settings (like copyright, owner, picture styles).


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## sulla (Dec 3, 2014)

Ha, that's a showstopper then! Strange, no tethering on a camera that practically askes for it... I somehow assumed this would be a given feature.

Thanx!


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## RustyTheGeek (Dec 3, 2014)

Saw this... (They confirm EOS M is a disappointment for this.)
http://www.lmscope.com/produkt22/Canon_eos_m_en.shtml

Here is a link to an article saying that PhaseOne supports EOS M Tethering but I'm not sure how...
http://tethertalk.com/2013/01/14/tethering-canon-eos-6d-eos-m-with-capture-one-7-0-2/

And here is a link discussing how PhaseOne _doesn't work_... 
http://forum.otelescope.com/post/eos-m-how-has-capture-one-done-it-7132230

And here is a large list of software the supports tethering in general...
http://www.tethertools.com/plugging-in/software/

Magic Lantern might come to the rescue...
http://www.diyphotography.net/hackin-canon-eos-m-firmare-port-on-the-way-from-magic-lantern/

I could swear (because I like to swear) that I saw something on YouTube about tethering the EOS M. Oh well. Please keep us posted on what you discover. This is something that everyone wants. Good luck!


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## dcm (Dec 3, 2014)

sulla said:


> Ha, that's a showstopper then! Strange, no tethering on a camera that practically askes for it... I somehow assumed this would be a given feature.
> 
> Thanx!



Agreed. It would be more useful for astrophotography as well if it had tethering, particularly since it supports an external power supply. Maybe the next version.


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## niteclicks (Dec 3, 2014)

The SL1 is very compact and light, I have always thought it would be great on a microscope or telescope


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## privatebydesign (Dec 3, 2014)

My understanding is because the EOS-M screen refresh rate is higher than the DSLR's it caused issues with the USB tethering, so rather than move it to USB3 or slow the refresh rate down when tethered, Canon killed it completely.

I was disappointed as I use the CamRanger for other cameras and hoped to use the M as a remote via that, it works superbly with practically anything with a USB port, but it is a complete no go and I believe ML have also put it off the table due to the core issue that causes the incompatibility.


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## keemikpoiss (Dec 3, 2014)

We are using both 50D and 5DMk3 with Leica stereo zoom (S8 APO) microscope photoports with reasonable success in the biochemistry undergraduate teaching lab. Instead of using microscope converters, we use telephoto lenses with a custom-made threaded piece of aluminum in the front of the lens to drop it into the photoport. Not using tethering but shooting with timer or remote trigger to minimize vibrations.

The first picture shows one of the first setups involving 180 mm internal focusing Tamron lens mounted on Canon 50D. This covers nearly the full view thanks to 1.6x crop sensor on 50D. Another setup consists of EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM with Canon 5DMk3, zoomed to 200 mm. With this setup, the walls of the phototube are in the frame so about 60% of the pixels are wasted; after cropping there is no significant vignetting.

The protein crystals, taken with Tamron/50D combo are in the range of 40 to 70 microns. I was using a polarizer here as these protein crystals are colorless under normal light but appear colored here due to birefringence. I happened to play with HDR when taking these shots; they look pretty also in a single exposure. The spirogyra is shot with EF70-200/5D combo. The first picture is down-sampled full view, second crop into a more-or-less focused area.

I am not sure if this is anywhere helpful as Olympus compound light microscopes may not play along with telephoto lenses the way the Leica stereo zoom did.


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## sulla (Dec 14, 2014)

so, this is my setup now. It still has the existing EOS 60D on it, which I find useful due to the articulating screen.

Thanx for your input, guys! (This includes all the girls as well... ;-) )


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## RustyTheGeek (Dec 15, 2014)

I can contribute nothing except that this is interesting to read about and it seems that this is an ideal situation for the articulating screen of the 60D or 70D. Of course, that's moot if tethering is involved but then again, tethering would require a LOT more work, equipment and desk space. Thanks for sharing!!


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