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#1
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(OT?) video card
Hey all. At the lab where I work we have a Nikon D50 camera attached
to a stereo microscope which we use for taking photos of human and animal tissue. We have found it extremely difficult to focus and compose through the microscope itself, so we would like to be able to link the D50 to the adjacent computer for real-time viewing to facilitate focusing and composition. So I am pretty sure what we need is a video card to which we can attach the RCA plugs from the camera. We need nothing fancy, as this is going to be the sole use of the video card. The computer is a Dell Precision 530 running XP Professional, with 1 gig of RAM and a Xeon 2.8 gig CPU, so I think this is more than enough to support what I need, but I know very little about such hardware. Any and all advice in this matter would be quite welcome. Thanks very much! -- YOP... Nicko |
#2
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(OT?) video card
"Nervous Nick" writes:
Hey all. At the lab where I work we have a Nikon D50 camera attached to a stereo microscope which we use for taking photos of human and animal tissue. We have found it extremely difficult to focus and compose through the microscope itself, so we would like to be able to link the D50 to the adjacent computer for real-time viewing to facilitate focusing and composition. So I am pretty sure what we need is a video card to which we can attach the RCA plugs from the camera. We need nothing fancy, as this is going to be the sole use of the video card. This won't work. Just like other DSLRs, the D50 doesn't provide a live preview. Even it did have live preview, the resolution of the composite signal is not anywhere near good enough for focusing. -- Måns Rullgård |
#3
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(OT?) video card
On 15 Feb 2007 11:55:42 -0800, "Nervous Nick"
wrote: Hey all. At the lab where I work we have a Nikon D50 camera attached to a stereo microscope which we use for taking photos of human and animal tissue. We have found it extremely difficult to focus and compose through the microscope itself, so we would like to be able to link the D50 to the adjacent computer for real-time viewing to facilitate focusing and composition. So I am pretty sure what we need is a video card to which we can attach the RCA plugs from the camera. We need nothing fancy, as this is going to be the sole use of the video card. The computer is a Dell Precision 530 running XP Professional, with 1 gig of RAM and a Xeon 2.8 gig CPU, so I think this is more than enough to support what I need, but I know very little about such hardware. Any and all advice in this matter would be quite welcome. Thanks very much! The D50, like most DSLRs, does not have a live preview that you can connect with cables to a viewer of any sort. So the idea of a video card with RCA inputs won't do you any good for focusing, unless you wan to download the images after they've been shot so you can adjust focus then; but that would be pretty hit-or-miss. -- The Dixie Chicks won the Grammy for Best Country Album on Sunday even though they are boycotted by country radio stations. You can tell the vote was held in Hollywood. The other nominees for best country were Cuba, Switzerland and Vietnam. |
#4
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(OT?) video card
On Feb 15, 3:22 pm, Bill Funk wrote:
On 15 Feb 2007 11:55:42 -0800, "Nervous Nick" wrote: Hey all. At the lab where I work we have a Nikon D50 camera attached to a stereo microscope which we use for taking photos of human and animal tissue. We have found it extremely difficult to focus and compose through the microscope itself, so we would like to be able to link the D50 to the adjacent computer for real-time viewing to facilitate focusing and composition. So I am pretty sure what we need is a video card to which we can attach the RCA plugs from the camera. We need nothing fancy, as this is going to be the sole use of the video card. The computer is a Dell Precision 530 running XP Professional, with 1 gig of RAM and a Xeon 2.8 gig CPU, so I think this is more than enough to support what I need, but I know very little about such hardware. Any and all advice in this matter would be quite welcome. Thanks very much! The D50, like most DSLRs, does not have a live preview that you can connect with cables to a viewer of any sort. So the idea of a video card with RCA inputs won't do you any good for focusing, unless you wan to download the images after they've been shot so you can adjust focus then; but that would be pretty hit-or-miss. I guess I wasn't very clear. I suppose the question should have been, if we were to have the camera in *video* mode, would this be feasible; i.e., could we view in real time in video mode, then switch to still mode to take the actual photos, or would what you two gents said still apply? Or would the resolution still be ****e in the video mode? Thanks much for your feedback. Nicko |
#5
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(OT?) video card
On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:00:36 +0000, Måns Rullgård wrote:
"Nervous Nick" writes: Hey all. At the lab where I work we have a Nikon D50 camera attached to a stereo microscope which we use for taking photos of human and animal tissue. We have found it extremely difficult to focus and compose through the microscope itself, so we would like to be able to link the D50 to the adjacent computer for real-time viewing to facilitate focusing and composition. So I am pretty sure what we need is a video card to which we can attach the RCA plugs from the camera. We need nothing fancy, as this is going to be the sole use of the video card. This won't work. Just like other DSLRs, the D50 doesn't provide a live preview. Even it did have live preview, the resolution of the composite signal is not anywhere near good enough for focusing. Agreed on the former, but not the latter. I used to work in a lab where we could focus our scopes based on the video feed off a Nikon Coolpix 990, which was hooked up to a video monitor (not a computer). It was actually easier to focus the microscope using the video screen than by looking through the eyepieces, especially when we were using the high-mag objectives (we were typically looking at thin wires ~300 nm in diameter; you couldn't resolve any details with the optical scope, but you could certainly see and focus on the wires). For acquiring stills, we took pictures with the camera and then used a card reader to bring them onto the computer. For video, we used the live preview and either a VCR or a firewire-based video digitizer thingy. This was 5 or 6 years ago, so I'm sure the particular model we used is long obsolete. -dms |
#6
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(OT?) video card
"Nervous Nick" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ups.com... On Feb 15, 3:22 pm, Bill Funk wrote: On 15 Feb 2007 11:55:42 -0800, "Nervous Nick" wrote: I guess I wasn't very clear. I suppose the question should have been, if we were to have the camera in *video* mode, would this be feasible; i.e., could we view in real time in video mode, then switch to still mode to take the actual photos, or would what you two gents said still apply? Or would the resolution still be ****e in the video mode? Thanks much for your feedback. Nicko Wish you good luck in finding "video mode" on a Nikon D50! As in other DSLR's the sensor is not built for video read out and is only powered after the shutter button is pressed. While nearly all compact digital cams do provide a video feature, that is not true for DSLR's. For autofocus they use a separate sensor system much like advanced film SLR's. The only DSLR which provides live preview that I know is the Olympus E-330 and that is using a second image sensor mounted in the viewfinder optical path. Some gadgets that have their own image sensor and can be mounted to the eye piece of a DSLR are available that allow live preview on a LED screen, but I am not aware of any of those providing an external Video output signal. |
#7
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(OT?) video card
Daniel Silevitch writes:
On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:00:36 +0000, Måns Rullgård wrote: "Nervous Nick" writes: Hey all. At the lab where I work we have a Nikon D50 camera attached to a stereo microscope which we use for taking photos of human and animal tissue. We have found it extremely difficult to focus and compose through the microscope itself, so we would like to be able to link the D50 to the adjacent computer for real-time viewing to facilitate focusing and composition. So I am pretty sure what we need is a video card to which we can attach the RCA plugs from the camera. We need nothing fancy, as this is going to be the sole use of the video card. This won't work. Just like other DSLRs, the D50 doesn't provide a live preview. Even it did have live preview, the resolution of the composite signal is not anywhere near good enough for focusing. Agreed on the former, but not the latter. I used to work in a lab where we could focus our scopes based on the video feed off a Nikon Coolpix 990, which was hooked up to a video monitor (not a computer). It was actually easier to focus the microscope using the video screen than by looking through the eyepieces, especially when we were using the high-mag objectives (we were typically looking at thin wires ~300 nm in diameter; you couldn't resolve any details with the optical scope, but you could certainly see and focus on the wires). The composite output has a resolution of no more than 720x480 pixels. If the sensor resolution is 5M pixels, the blur will be about 4x4 pixels before showing up on the video output. You can't argue with facts. -- Måns Rullgård |
#8
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(OT?) video card
On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 22:39:16 +0000, Måns Rullgård wrote:
Daniel Silevitch writes: On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:00:36 +0000, Måns Rullgård wrote: "Nervous Nick" writes: Hey all. At the lab where I work we have a Nikon D50 camera attached to a stereo microscope which we use for taking photos of human and animal tissue. We have found it extremely difficult to focus and compose through the microscope itself, so we would like to be able to link the D50 to the adjacent computer for real-time viewing to facilitate focusing and composition. So I am pretty sure what we need is a video card to which we can attach the RCA plugs from the camera. We need nothing fancy, as this is going to be the sole use of the video card. This won't work. Just like other DSLRs, the D50 doesn't provide a live preview. Even it did have live preview, the resolution of the composite signal is not anywhere near good enough for focusing. Agreed on the former, but not the latter. I used to work in a lab where we could focus our scopes based on the video feed off a Nikon Coolpix 990, which was hooked up to a video monitor (not a computer). It was actually easier to focus the microscope using the video screen than by looking through the eyepieces, especially when we were using the high-mag objectives (we were typically looking at thin wires ~300 nm in diameter; you couldn't resolve any details with the optical scope, but you could certainly see and focus on the wires). The composite output has a resolution of no more than 720x480 pixels. If the sensor resolution is 5M pixels, the blur will be about 4x4 pixels before showing up on the video output. You can't argue with facts. Well, the Coolpix is a 2 or 3 MP camera (I forget which), so it's more like 2x2. I'm speaking from direct experience on one particular microscopy system, that it was easier to do precise focusing on a 13" video monitor than it was using the eyepiece.[1] And, as I said, we were looking at objects with dimensions comparable to the wavelength of visible light, using objects with very little depth of field, so good focusing matters. For serious imaging, we used an electron microscope, but we could do a pretty reasonable job with just optical stuff. -dms [1] And yes, before you ask, it was a pretty good microscope. One of Nikon's reflected-light scopes. |
#9
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(OT?) video card
On Feb 15, 2:55 pm, "Nervous Nick" wrote:
Hey all. At the lab where I work we have a Nikon D50 camera attached to a stereo microscope which we use for taking photos of human and animal tissue. We have found it extremely difficult to focus and compose through the microscope itself, so we would like to be able to link the D50 to the adjacent computer for real-time viewing to facilitate focusing and composition. So I am pretty sure what we need is a video card to which we can attach the RCA plugs from the camera. We need nothing fancy, as this is going to be the sole use of the video card. The computer is a Dell Precision 530 running XP Professional, with 1 gig of RAM and a Xeon 2.8 gig CPU, so I think this is more than enough to support what I need, but I know very little about such hardware. Any and all advice in this matter would be quite welcome. Thanks very much! -- YOP... Nicko OK a couple of basics, where is your camera, on an eyepiece or on a dedicated port? Do you have an eyepiece with a reticle? If not get one, your camera won't be parfocal without it. I looked at our D70s and there is a miniplug for video on the side, this can go directly into a monitor. Get Nikon Camera Control Pro so you can grab full res images from the camera. We use an ophthalmic biomicroscope (slitlamp) for photography all the time. It isn't hard but you need to set it up right. Our camera is on a dedicated port we focus the microscope via eyepices with reticles. We have it set so we know what is in focus for us is in focus on the camera i.e. parfocality. Tom |
#10
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(OT?) video card
On 15 Feb 2007 13:28:58 -0800, "Nervous Nick"
wrote: On Feb 15, 3:22 pm, Bill Funk wrote: On 15 Feb 2007 11:55:42 -0800, "Nervous Nick" wrote: Hey all. At the lab where I work we have a Nikon D50 camera attached to a stereo microscope which we use for taking photos of human and animal tissue. We have found it extremely difficult to focus and compose through the microscope itself, so we would like to be able to link the D50 to the adjacent computer for real-time viewing to facilitate focusing and composition. So I am pretty sure what we need is a video card to which we can attach the RCA plugs from the camera. We need nothing fancy, as this is going to be the sole use of the video card. The computer is a Dell Precision 530 running XP Professional, with 1 gig of RAM and a Xeon 2.8 gig CPU, so I think this is more than enough to support what I need, but I know very little about such hardware. Any and all advice in this matter would be quite welcome. Thanks very much! The D50, like most DSLRs, does not have a live preview that you can connect with cables to a viewer of any sort. So the idea of a video card with RCA inputs won't do you any good for focusing, unless you wan to download the images after they've been shot so you can adjust focus then; but that would be pretty hit-or-miss. I guess I wasn't very clear. I suppose the question should have been, if we were to have the camera in *video* mode, would this be feasible; i.e., could we view in real time in video mode, then switch to still mode to take the actual photos, or would what you two gents said still apply? Or would the resolution still be ****e in the video mode? Thanks much for your feedback. Nicko Sorry, no DSLR has a video mode, either. -- Anna Nicole Smith's family and friends converged on the late model's seaside mansion in the Bahamas on Monday. It's chaotic. Hundreds of people are waiting outside the mansion's security gate, and that's just the line for the paternity test. |
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