Re: NON-Stereo microscope - photography

[threed@xxxxxxx (Bob Mannle)]

A few years ago I picked up a rather expensive microscope for
a good price and thought I'd try my hand at some 3-D images. 

I was using an SLR (can't imagine using a Realist) along with
various adapters, and bases.  One of the most intersting things
I found out about this sort of photography is the use of Polarized
light on crystal structures.

Under the right conditions, with polarized light, the crystals
take on vibrant colors... much like an abstract painting. I've
also seen some wonderful examples of this in 2-D.

3-D is a whole different story... because you have to move the object,
you can't move the camera... the light changes... and as you can imagine
the second image is significantly different than the first. Mine was
NOT a stereo microscope... Perhaps things would have worked out better
had it been stereo. I had to devise a "tilt" stage to actually tilt
or even shift the object I was photographing.

Another problem I had was trying to get good depth of field,
and/or good 3-D out of something that didn't have much depth to begin 
with. And if you did use something that had some depth... you could 
pretty well kiss off a sharp backgound. Even the thin crystal 
stuctures were a problem.

The point is... and it all depends upon your level of magnification...
but your either wind up with a 3-D image that had a soft background,
or a sharp image that had no depth... I shot many rolls of film trying
to develop various procedures... but never really did come up with
anything I'd brag about.Pretty colors was about it :-)

After a few months of playing around I was finally able to sell the
microscope to a person that really needed it.

Hope you guys have better luck than I did.

Best Regards,
Bob Mannle

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