This
page is always under construction
Last
edit: 16 February 2009 (GMT +1)
Live Microscope Webcam
I
am sorry to tell you (and myself) that, 2 days after I started this
page, my camcorder got some defects .
After a few days I decided to broadcast again in spite of a
few annoying side effects (see blog).
Please wait a few
moments for your mediaplayer to start automatically.
This webcam is not continuously available for 24 hours a day.
Best
chances are from 12.00 - 18.00 and sometimes also from 18.00 - 00.00
(GMT +1).
Water from a pond
- Framerate: 15-25 frames/sec.
- Stream: 2048 - 4096 Kbps.
- Resolution: 320 x 240.
- Enlargement: Totally (mostly) ca. 850x or 5000x (on a 17" monitor fullscreen
).
Enjoy!
p-faqs
(
presumably
frequently asked questions )
What microscope do
you use?
A "light-microscope".
My parents bought it for me, my brothers and sister 25 years ago for
about f 600,- (ca. 275 euro).
Possible enlargements of the microscope: 30x, 50x, 60x, 75x, 100x,
150x, 360x, 600x, 900x. Mostly, I will use 60x and 360x which seem most
suitable.
The enlargement caused by monitor and camera is about 14,2x. I measured and calculated this by using a ruler under my microscope with 30x enlargement.
With my camera on max. zoom (10x) and a 17" monitor (fullscreen), the
total enlargement is about 850x resp. 5000x.
Which webcam do you
use?
A (non-digital) Hi-8
Sony ccd-tr2000 camcorder, which is connected to my
computer with an 's-video'-cable.
How do you place
the camcorder?
I use a stand where
the camcorder is placed in. The camcorder is placed directly above the
microscope.
How do you adjust
all this? Good question!
I do not
remove the ocular from the microscope nor the camera lens. I maximum
zoom my camera (10x).
The focus and exposure are set by hand.
How fast is the
drop of water under the microscope vapourizing?
Normally I would
need to replace the slice every 30 minutes. However, I used some
(silicon) grease on the edges of the slice.
Now I need to replace the slice about once a week.
Are you always
behind the microscope to adjust the settings?
As you probably
expected, I am not, because i have a life too :-). That's one of the
reasons why you will not always see much of interest (although you can
be lucky).
Then also the picture can be unsharp sometimes. From time to time I
will try to check wether I have to adjust some settings or look for a
different object.
Most organisme move (sometimes very fast) so they get out of sight.
Once in a while I will try to follow one.
Is this your
profession?
No, it is only an
hobby. Therefore I often wouldn't be able to tell you what you are
looking at, or what is going to happen. Unless you are a professional,
I am probably (often) as surpised as you are.
blog:
- 28 november 2007: Webpage & Camcorder started .
- 30 november 2007: Only 2 days after I started this webpage, my
camcorder got some serious defects .
- 01 december 2007: Some strange bugs appear in my webpage after
uploading, that leads to annoying malformed texts. I will have to look
into that.
- 04 december 2007: I googled a bit and found that the annoying text
bug is already known but never fully acknowledged and fixed by the provider. For now I will use a workaround by editing the uploaded webpage.
- 04 december 2007: I did some tests with my camcorder. I cannot adjust
any setting by hand anymore like focus or exposure. As a result, the
camcorder can start autofocussing or adjusting the exposure any time.
Because of that, also some edges from the diaphragm will (more or
less) be visible. For now, I decided to start streaming again in spite
of these annoying problems, because it doesn't look like there will be
a completely satisfactory solution in the short run.
- 05
december 2007:
To improve quality, I changed the bitrate to 2048
Kbps temporarily, for testing.
- 06 december 2007: Bitrate set back to 512 Kbps.
- 17 october 2008: Resolution change: 400x300; Bitrate 2048 Kbps.
- 17 october 2008: 1000th visitor ( I was probably responsible for 800 of those visits :-) ).
- 26 january 2009: Resolution change: 320x240; Bitrate set to 4096 Kbps.
Disclaimer:
If:
- you forget to watch your favourite baseballgame;
- you get addicted;
- you forget to do your homework;
- your food burns, or your house and you forget to extinguish;
- you buy a microscope that you can't afford;
etc. etc...
please don't blame me. I cannot be held responsible for any physical,
mental, financial or whatever harm this page can do to you directly or
indirectly.
.
.
( I was probably responsible for 800 of those visits :-) ).