More, CloseUp Tablet Photos

After thinking about the photos taken for the previous post, I was wondering how photos compare; when taken with the Tablet "Magnify App", and when taken through the Microscope Lens with a Tablet or Cell phone Camera?

Here is a photo taken with the Cell Phone Camera (at the Eyepiece Lens) through the Microscope at 15x Power (30x Eyepiece and with a 0.5 Diopter Object Lens).

Cell Phone Photo
through the Microscope Lens
(2.6MB)

The following photo shows the same area, taken with just the Tablet Camera with the "Magnify App".

Tablet Photo using "Magnify App"
(1.5MB)

And the same area with just the Normal Tablet Camera.

Tablet Photo using Normal Camera App
(2.5MB)

The following is the set up, as can be seen, I am just holding the Tablet, using the Microscope LED Ring Light for lighting. The photo was taken with a Cell Phone. The mouse-PCB (the photo subject) is in the spot light.

Set up Configuration
Photo take with Cell Phone
(3.7MB)

By the sizes of the saved photo files, it is obvious that the Magnify App is using Digital Zoom. but for my blogs the photos are large enough and have enough resolution.

Conclusion: I think until I get a better Microscope Mounted USB Camera, I will be using the Tablet with the "Magnify App" for most of my blog photos.

To make taking photos easier, I plan to build a stand to hold the Tablet steady. The Microscope Ring Light works fine for my photos.

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Macro Lens

In recent months all of by Blogged photos have been taken with my HTC Droid Phone Camera. But it is lacking a little for the small project that I enjoy. Very close-up photos can not be taken with the standard (almost pin hole) style of lens.

I found on eBay a Magnetic stick on Macro Adapter for phone cameras. If you search on ebay, the same lens can also be purchased for less than $10.00 (with shipping) . I decided to give it a try.

The lens comes with a Sticky Back Metal Ring which is placed on the phone camera. The lens has a similar strong magnetic ring that make it easy to attach/remove to/from the camera. When installed, the lens stick out about 1/2 inch.

The following are some of my initial test photos. The shooting stage is a paper towel backdrop on my bench, and the lighting was supplied via overhead florescent tube fixtures about 3 feet away. I think more light from each side would make for better results - I will have to work on that.

This new photo is of a previous (failed) Audio Amplifier project. The macro lens distorts the image a bit, and the near focus (depth of field) could be better, but it was not obvious there was a problem when I took the photo, the camera was trying to auto focus and does not always get it right.

This is a photo of my attempt to create the smallest traces that I could with the Toner Transfer Method. This coil and variable capacitor resonates at 10.14MHz. This photo is planer and therefore did not distorted.

The next photo is of my very early attempts to use solder paste and oven re-flow soldering, the board 1 x 1/2 inches.  This board has been stored with other examples for a long time. Under close full photo inspection, it is obvious the solder paste has flattened and now would short-out if used.

Click on the images, to see the raw camera image detail and photo size.

And of course, this is a test photo of my Partner in all my adventures, Tess my Dog, she is on the work bench next to the computer (Macro not necessary here). She would rather we be outside playing ball.

Tess

(5 years old)

It will be fun trying different staging and light set-ups for the photos.

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