Text and Photography by Richard De Nul

I started in 2001 with macro photography of minerals by the use of an old Russian microscope (model MBC-10). For illumination I used a halogen light-source with fiber optics, a 12V/100W bulb was powered by a self made regulated power supply. For cooling two extra fans are used. Later, I added a supplementary 7W 'white' ring light.

The halogen light-source, together with the fiber optics can be used to create accents as well as shadows. Both light sources, as can be seen on the setup above, greatly enhance the overall three dimensional appearance of the specimen on photo. The camera was installed on the eye-piece (see below). For that I used a self-made metal adapter ring. No higher microscope magnifications than x20 were used.

From the autumn of 2003, I have been using a modern Zeiss microscope with a third ocular for the camera. A high power (150W) regulated ‘cold’ ring light with external colour and mechanical filter is used to obtain a perfect ‘white’ light. Good results are obtained with a microscope magnification of up to x100, which result in images widths of 0,8 mm or less.