Flash Setup Mk I
This is how I first set up my microscopes for flash. A fibre optic cable is used to route the flash from the camera into a lamp modified by removal of the lamp bulb. A microscope slide is used as a mirror, thus allowing normal use of the microscope's own light source. The lamp and mirror are set up by coupling the fibre optic cable to a white LED and adjusted in the normal manner for a lamp and mirror. Once alignment is complete, the cable may then be attached to the camera nest which has a port to take the cable such that it is positioned just in front of the camera flash. This setup can also be used for the Olympus FH. I obtained the fibre optic light guide from Electronics Surplus - C and H Sales Company - ONLINE STORE (OL9508 OPTICS 18” FIBER OPTIC LIGHT GUIDE).
The mounting for the mirror on the GFL was constructed using a globe-headed map pin to make a ball-joint which was the fitted with a clip from the scrap box. The slide is secured in the clip with super-glue. The whole assemble is bolted to a bracket that is secured to the microscope foot with double sided tape:
Flash Setup Mk II
This is the alternative, Mark II setup. It uses the same type of fibre optic cable as in th Mk I setup coupled to a mirror made from a coverslip set at 45° and placed directly on the optical axis of the microscope. The tip of the fibre optic cable is optically in approximately the same position as the substage field diaphragm. The far end plugs into a push-fit tube mounted opposite the camera flash on the camera holder. This setup gives less light loss than the Mark I setup and makes for a less cluttered bench. The mirror cannot be displaced accidentally and the whole setup is more robust. The mirror holder assembly is constructed from polystyrene sheet and mounted on a polystyrene ring with an aperture the same size as the fully open substage aperture. It was originally held in place by doublesided adhesive tape, but a better method proved to be to use metal clips retained by the screws on the surround of the substage light aperture. The clips are made from old solder-tags. With this arrangement, the mirror can be easily centred and then clamped in place. The coverslip mirror is not glued in place, but rests on two rails and hence can easily be removed for cleaning.
Alignment of the assembly is by plugging the far end of the fibre optic cable into a tube containing an LED. The mirror can then be placed such that the light is central to the field as observed through the eyepiece.
The same setup can be used on my Olympus FH microscope - see below.
Mk IIa Setup with centrable mirror assembly and removable mirror.
This is the Mk IIa setup with the Olympus FH microscope
Flash Setup Mk III
This is the Mark III setup.
The microscope is the Zeiss Standard GFL with Leitz ICT substage. Illumination
is via a fibre optic "Y" cable, one leg of which takes a 100
W light source, the other leg collects the flash from the camera (Canon
Powershot S50, not shown). The fibre optic feeds directly into the lamp
housing at the back of the microscope. I use Breeze Systems PSREmote
software for remote shooting with a mouse footswitch for release. This
software has a very useful preview feature, but because image transfer
and control of the camera from a laptop increases time between shots,
for rapid shooting I still use a pneumatic release with a home made
footpedal improvised from a 50 ml syringe (the original bulb soon split).
PSRemote gives me live preview, but I also use a small LCD video monitor.
The laptop is part of my home wireless network.