Introduction: Raspberry Pi HQ Tv camera Microscope - a Minimalist LEGO Version

In the following I would the like to name a very minimalistic version of a microscope, using the recent Raspberry Pi HQ camera mental faculty and the "microscope lens" offered past Pimoroni. The current version of the microscope rig is selfsame much attenuate to the negligible, and just consisting of LEGO pieces that were at hand.

I had been working on microscopes supported the Raspberry Private eye photographic camera few old age ago, at the time using a WaveShare PiCam faculty with a small macro lens. Parallel to the relase of the new Military headquarters Razzing Pi photographic camera, Pimoroni released a super-macro "microscope" lens trying on to the Military headquarters camera.

I wanted to check the capacity of the camera/lens combination. But, as I had not ordered with the lens system with a microscope bandstand, I needed to generate one by my own. I select to try to build one using LEGO parts, as a simple, cheap and flexible solution to setup and optimise layouts for different applications and objects to glucinium analysed. So the layout used given Hera started just a quick fix, and on that point is still much elbow room for improvement. But I found the quaity of the images very impressive for such a sagittiform and inexpensive result, and decided to share the project and some of the images with you.

I would like to see your layouts, ideas and images.

To have a better impression of the quality of the images attached here, please click along the example picture and zoom into them.


Edit Dec. 2022:
Since publishing this instrucable I wrote a Python script to simplify treatment of the microscope based on the picamera module. In combination with a Pimoroni Cutaneous senses pHAT it allows to preview the total area covered away the camera as well as to focus happening a Region Of Interest (ROI) in the center of the image.
Have a watch the video.

Supplies

Hoot Operative High Quality Television camera - GBP 49.50 at Pimoroni Britain

Microscope lens for the Raspberry Pi Superiority Camera - 0.12-1.8x - GBP22.50 at Pimoroni UK

Raspberry Private investigator 4 Model B – 4GB Chock up - GBP 54 at Pimoroni UK. Other Pi versions should knead too.

SD card w/ Raspberry Operative Bone, power supply, HDMI - little HDMI cable, monitor, keyboard &A; pussyfoot

1m Razzing Pi photographic camera cable

An assortment of old LEGO pieces for the microscope rig

M2.5 screws, nuts and fictile washers

As objects to be analysed:

  • Some worn microscopic slides with stained sections of various tissues
  • A fruitfly and an other tiny worm, freshly catched and intoxicated with 70% isopropanol
  • µRuler - Microscopic rulers from a Kickstarter project
  • several light sensor breakouts from Adafruit: TCS34725, TSL2591, VEML7700 and VEML6070
  • a WaveShare eInk (B/W) video display I have used in a previous project

Elective: Pimoroni Touch pHAT

Step 1: The Microscope Rig

Using LEGO pieces to build a microcoscope rig for the tv camera mightiness not equal a good long solution, just it gives you the chance to try several layouts and to optimize the layout for different application cases. Lego set parts have the benefit to be produced with precise full precision and are available in many households. In gain the layout can be changed rapidly, e.g. by adding another layer of bricks of either air-filled size of low profile units to tune the aloofness of camera and targe.

I used a medium sized humble plate and build a very simple tower to house camera and crystalline lens. The images will give you an estimate of the layout. In the forward layout, the camera was not really fixed, but just dangling on two beams of low-profile LEGO strips that are several millimeter wider as was common. This was significantly improved by fixing the tv camera on a (6x14 deep profile) LEGO plastic plate with four M2.5 screws, washers and nuts. Hereto 3 mm holes were drilled into the (red) plate at a square of about 30 x 30 mm. Luckily I was able use cavities at the back of the plate,. American Samoa spacers between camera breakout and home I used (white) cylindric LEGO parts, which had been a bit shortened at the lower side (2nd image above). To improve stability, 2x2 flat squares (gray) were placed on the top of the plate (4th image).

I also build a holder for microscopic slides and other objects (5th image).

For illumination I just used a LED spotlight at my desktop and is some cases a Light-emitting diode torch Eastern Samoa second light reference. For approximately transillumination images I likewise used a LED backlight module (3rd & 6th image).

More images of the rig are institute in the inalterable step.

Step 2: Taking Images

Initially, images were taken just victimisation the console as folllows:

  • "raspistill -k -o filename.jpg"
  • focus by turning the lens
  • take pictur aside press enter
  • match image, in case modify sharpen and take image again
  • end with Ctrl-C

operating theater

  • "raspistill -t 0"
  • centerin, then stop with Ctrl-C
  • "raspistill - t 10000 -o filename.jpg"

Python scripts

In late December 2022 I developed a Python script, supported the "picamera" module, to improve the summons.
For details, please take up a front on the succeeding step and the video recording.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Microscopic images connected first page:

  • An electronic sunlit receptor: light detector TSL2591
  • A biological light sensory receptor: fruit tent flap - eye

  • Some tissue slide - non annotated in my skid collection (suggestions anyone?)

  • Fruit fly - broadside view

  • Microscopic ruler (0.05 mm - 5 mm), with sugar crystals

Images on this page:

  • Stamina of the peteals of a tiny bluebell, dried between microscope slides
  • A fruitfly, settled on a microscope slide
  • Weave section: finger point (scrape)
  • Tissue section: an arterial blood vessel, cross department

Stride 3: Picamera Scripts for Microscope + Touch Phat

To improve handling and simplify modification of parameters, the microscope was conjunct with a Pimoroni Bear upon phat, which has six touch responsive fields and LEDs. Python scripts were developed that allow the preview and taking of images and videos using the Mite phat as control.

The scripts are founded happening the picamera module and are parameters are optimized for the Military headquarters television camera only might be used for other RPi cameras as well. They should also easily all-mains to be victimized in co-occurrence with physical or virtual see buttons, e.g. by applying the gpiozero or guizero libraries.

The '...hispeed' script is optimized for videos with a lower resolution but upward to 120 FPS applying for HQ camera mode 4 (1012 x 760).

The "...image" hand is optimized for hires images, applying HQ camera mode 3 (4056 x 3040) which is limited to 10 fps.

While changing camera modes in a moving hand seems generally to be possible, changing mode 4 => 3 was resulting in problems. Then exploitation two scripts for the different use cases seems to name sense. Some scripts start with a preview of the total area, allowing thereby to optimize object placement and focus. Pressing the 'Enter' button activates a trailer focussed on the central field, allwing to fine-melodic line position and focus. Pressing Buttons A and B takes images of the total area and the Return on investment (1/8 of total area), buttons C and D provide to take videos with different resolution and speeds ("hispeed") Beaver State winning images with different build-in effects practical ("image"). The 'back' button ends the playscript and stops the camera, releasing resources. So far, the scripts were run in the IDE, You may need to redefine the parameters shaping the location of the trailer windowpane to healthy to your screen.

There is plenty of room for optimization of the scripts, any ideas and tips are welcome. The scripts can be found attached, utilize on your own risk, change freely.

The images and videos happening this gradation are displaying of an e-ink expose while changing the image. To follow the serve in detail, best view the relevant segments in the videos frame by skeleton. This way the differences betwixt the 120 and 60 fps are more obvious.

Step 4: Image Select

I used a research scale known as i-Sighted I had from a Kickstarter project, It allowed me to estimate image size and quality. The overall quality was quite high, with minimal image distortions comparable shock personal effects or color aberations. Just happening the immoderate distal areas of the image a incomprehensive loss of sharpness and rainbow effects were seen ("0" and "100" on stiched image).

At supreme resolution, the area covered away the photographic camera is about 6 millimeter high. The sensing element and maximal picture size is 4056 x 3040 pixel. Indeed the measured resolving power is about 2 µm per pixel.

Step 5: Light Sensors

I victimised the microscope to take some images of some breakouts with light sensors. Illuminated sensors have the nice feature that many allow to take a direct view on the electronic parts.

Attached you rule images of the RGBW colorise sensor TCS34725, the lux sensor TSL2591, and the close light sensor VEML7700 and UV sensor VEML6075.

The attached images are pairs of shrunken versions of the original images of the breakouts and the individual areas containing the sensors in master resolution. In some cases I used a LED flashlight to optimize light.

Step 6: Two Insects

I catched 2 very tiny insects, a fruitfly and ... something other, killed them using isopropanol, placed them on a slide and took some images. See attached.

Step out 7: Histology Slides

I own a selection of very old histology slides and took images of several of them.

These basically are tissues or pieces of convinced tissues, geld into exceedingly fine slices, placed connected a microscope slide and spotted with a selection of specific dyes. As different types of cells and tissues will take up the dyes other than, this allows to identify really tiny structures.

The first image is a lymph node, the second esophagus, the tertiary pituitary secreter and the forth skin from a finger lead.

Step 8: Other Gorge

Images of an e-ink presentation and of a photographic print from a business card

Step 9: Whatever More Pictures of the Microscope Outfit

Here are about additional pictures of the microscope, December 2022 interpretation, that may simplify you to build your own version.

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