I’m looking for suggestions for a decent camera to attach to my Leica A60 bench microscope, or what specifications I should be looking for. I understand the camera will not be looking through my microscope’s field of view, but can be aimed at the same place. Looking for something to take pictures and do short video for a website.
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There’s lots of cameras possible, even a smart phone will work. You need something that can shoot close up stills and video. I’m not sure what’s best for you? It really depends on your budget and how much you’re going to use it. If you’re just going to use it a little bit, your cell phone might be the most cost effective solution.
There’s lots of flexible tripods that hold cell phones. On my bench I use something like this to film with my iPhone. I can get it in close to my microscope to give a feeling of what I’m looking at.
https://www.amazon.com/Overhead-Tripod-Flexible-Accessory-Recording/dp/B07X3KMYW2/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2CRUEXGCEI8HF&keywords=iphone+table+mounted+tripod&qid=1688083502&sprefix=iphone+table+mounted+tripod%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-3
Depending on whether your Leica has a swing arm or GRS stand you can also probably find a camera mount for it.
For instance here’s a camera mount for the GRS acrobat stand.
I know this doesn’t completely answer your question, but I hope it helps!
Jeff
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I bought this and adapted it to an iPhone holder. The magnetic base allows me to move it around the studio.
Loc-Line Coolant Hose Accessory, 6" x 8" Quick-Set Small Shield Kit, 3/4" Hose ID - 60525 https://a.co/d/edhkBtL
Adam Savage has a video making a version he uses. Pretty slick.
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I’d found this mount, which I’m pretty sure I can jig up to my acrobat stand: Camera Mount for Leica A60F - Precision Artistry LLC. I’d rather not tie up my cell phone doing this, as it is at the behest of the company owner (I’m the benchie), and I don’t think budget is a problem. They might want it to be sent to a video screen too, so I was thinking something with an HDMI out, but I’m not sure what features I should be concentrating on looking at.
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For my personal set up I’ve got a Canon 70D with a regular telephoto lens and a close up macro lens. I got the 70D because it has ports for an external microphone and mini-hdmi. It shoots excellent video and portfolio quality stills. At this point, this camera is a few years old and there’s newer models. I haven’t kept up with it. I like the 70D a lot. I also have an iPhone 14 pro.
I will say that taking video with a DSLR camera is more complicated than using a video camera or an iPhone, especially with depth of field.
Another option is a video camera.
Here’s a couple that should work. Again, they’re not the newest ones or the most expensive, but they take good close up video.
Canon VIXIA HF R800 Portable Video Camera Camcorder with Audio Input(Microphone), 3.0-Inch Touch Panel LCD, Digic DV 4 Image Processor, 57x Advanced Zoom, and Full HD CMOS Sensor, Black
Sony - HDRCX405 HD Video Recording Handycam Camcorder (black)
At the school that I teach at we have a number of Canon R800’s on our demonstration bench. We also have a Black Magic Mini to act as a camera switcher to connect all of the cameras to a 55" TV monitor. I love the Black Magic box! It’s so cool. It’s like being in a TV studio. I can press a button to go back and forth between up to 4 cameras. I don’t use a microphone, but you can transfer sound through it.
This is a bigger topic than what you asked, but cell phones, DSLR cameras and video cameras aren’t designed to be webcams. If you want to project live on the web, (with Zoom or whatever ) you need a web capture device. There’s less expensive web capture devices than the Black Magic mini, but the Black Magic acts as a web capture device as well for DSLR cameras, cell phones or video cameras. (you can also get a 4K webcam for web streaming, but they’re not generally good for close up)
With the Black Magic mini, I can transmit live in the classroom and out onto the web (via Zoom) at the same time. In the remote teaching era, it’s fantastic!
Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini Pro HDMI Live Stream Switcher
To be clear though, all of these cameras have HDMI out, so they’ll go to a TV monitor without a web capture device. You only need a web capture device if you want to stream live on the web.
Anyway, that’s what I’ve got and is all that I know! Hope it helps!
Jeff
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I don’t think we will be doing live streaming, just shooting video to demonstrate techniques or to point out issues to our factory partners.
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I’m definitely not a camera expert. When I bought the Canon 70D, I did a pile of internet and YouTube review research. The 70D got a lot of good reviews. Because it was not the most current Canon model at the time, it was easy to find on sale.
For the Canon and Sony video cameras, I went to Best Buy and tried a bunch of cameras out in the store. Since my goal was to buy an affordable video camera that had the necessary ports and could also do good close up shots, I focused the cameras on a penny. It was an easy, low tech test for me to get the information that I needed.
Best of luck!!
Jeff
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