BE VERY VERY CAREFUL WITH BOTH THE CAMERA AND THE MICROSCOPE!

I.  Setting up the Microscope:

• 1.  Clean optics.
• 2.  Establish Kohler illumination.  It will immediately be apparent  if you don't do this, since your images will look absolutely terrible!

II.  Interfacing the CoolPix with your Olympus Microscope:
     
To Connect

• 1.  Make sure camera is OFF, in an upright position, with the lens facing away from you.
• 2.  Slip the Fixed L connector of the mount over the bottom left base of the camera.
• 3.  Holding the mount with your left hand, gently tilt the camera forward until the camera lens slips into the round hole of the mount.  Be careful not to snap the camera mount by pushing too vigorously!
• 4.  Push the Hinged L connector down to fit snugly around the camera viewfinder.
• 5.  Loosen the Thumbscrews on the black Ocular connector.
• 6.  Slip the Ocular connector over the Ocular you want the camera to image through.
• 7.  Rotate the camera so the lens is pointing away from you, and the batteries are pointing toward you.  This position is the most stable position for the camera since the lens center and the center of mass of the camera do not correspond
• 8.  Tighten the Thumbscrews a little at a time in a rotating pattern, so that the camera lens remains aligned with the microscope optics - like you were tightening the lug nuts on an automobile tire.
• 9.  Connect AC adapter to the camera and then into an AC socket.

• 1. Unplug AC adapter from AC socket, then from camera
• 2.  Loosen Thubscrews on black Ocular connector, then remove camera and mount from ocular. NB.  When you remove the camera MAKE SURE the thumbscrews are loosened first, before pulling it from the ocular!  Also be careful not to pull the Ocular out of the microscope!
• 3. Make sure camera is OFF, in an upright position, with the lens facing away from you.
• 4. Push the Hinged L connector up and away from the camera viewfinder.
• 5. Holding the mount with your left hand, gently tilt the camera backward until the camera lens slips out of the round hole of the mount.  Be careful not to snap the camera mount by pushing too vigorously!
• 6. Slip the Fixed L connector of the mount off the bottom left base of the camera.

III. Solid Advice to Follow to Maximize Your Imaging Pleasure:
 

• 1.  Clean slides being used so you can do a proper white balance.
• 2.  Camera Settings Should be:
• A. Auto (Dial Button)
• B. Self Timer ON (Left Button) See pages 90,91 in manual.  Using a 10 or 3 second delay will help you avoid blurry pictures associated with shutter button activity
• C. Flash Off (Center Button)
• D. Set Image Quality to FINE (Menu Button)
• E. Set Image Size to FULL  (Menu Button)
• F. Set Continuous to SINGLE  (Menu Button)
• G. Set BSS to OFF  (Menu Button)
• H. Use Optical Zoom Only!  Do Not Zoom Camera into Digital Zoom Range. The digital zoom cannot be turned off. However,  simply  pay attention to the LCD while you are zooming so that there are no numbers to the immediate right of the T. The digital zoom is activated when the right arrow is held in for about two seconds. Once the optical zoom is maxed out (i.e. the zoom bar on the LCD is all the way to the right) you have to click the right arrow key (which is the T option for zooming) this will show a number next to the zoom bar. The zoom is a four step zoom so you can click four different magnifications (1.25, 1.6, 2.0, 2.5).  However, the idea is to not use this so if you see one of these numbers zoom back or turn off the LCD monitor by pressing in the top arrow two times. (Digital zoom does not work while the LCD monitor is off)

 

If image colors do not match subject colors there's a good chance the camera's  White Balance Reference needs adjustment.

The CoolPix defaults to Auto White Balance which means that the camera attempts to automatically adjust the white balance to suit lighting conditions.  Try this first but don't be surprised if you are not satisfied with the results.

More satisfactory results will probably be achieved if you manually capture a white balance reference before capturing your image.  See page 101 of the manual for a description on how to do this.  It is important that you have the microscope optics adjusted exactly how you want them to capture your image before capturing a white balance reference.  If you change optical settings of your microscope or are looking at a specimen for which the mounting medium is significantly different you will need to capture a new White Balance Reference.
 

• 1.  Camera in Auto mode
• 2.  Translate slide to clear, clean area away from your specimen but under the coverslip and mounting medium
• 3.  Select Menu, then Scroll (v) to A and Select (>)
• 4.  Scroll (v) to White Bal. Preset and Select (>)
• 5.  Scroll (v) to Measure and Set (>); The Camera will capture the White Balance Reference and Store it in Memory.
• 6.  Select Menu to exit the Menu
• 7.  Translate slide back to your specimen, and capture your image.

NB.  If the camera is turn off, then back on, it defaults to Auto White Balance.  You can reset it to the previously used White Balance Preset by:

• 1.  Select Menu, then Scroll (v) to A and Select (>)
• 2.  Scroll (v) to White Bal. Preset and Select (>)
• 3.  Scroll (v) to Cancel and Set (>); The Camera will restore the previously used White Balance Reference in Memory.

Assuming you've followed all the advice above, all you have to do is look at the image displayed on the LCD, adjust Optical Zoom to eliminate lens vignetting and compose your image - what you see on the LCD is what you'll get!  Then depress the shutter, wait 10 or 3 seconds for the image to be captured, and you're done.  The CoolPix cameras have 8 MByte Flash Cards that can store a number of high resolution images on them before you'll need to upload your images to your laptops.

VI.  Uploading CoolPix images to Q1's

When the Flash Card is full, or you simply want/need to upload images from the CoolPix camera to your laptop.

• 1.  Make sure the camera is OFF
• 2.  Connect the USB cable to the camera and the computer
• 3.  Rotate the CoolPix Mode Dial to Playback
• 4.  Turn the camera ON,  This will automatically launch the Nikon View window on the laptop
• 5.  In Nikon View click Display Thumbnail List
• 6.  Highlight the images you want to save
• 7.  Click File / Save Copy of Image to the folder of your choice
• 8.  After all your images have been copied to the laptop, Click Edit / Select All
• 9.  Click Delete, and the camera flash card is emptied and ready for a new set of images
• 10. Disconnect the USB cable from the camera and computer
• NB.: DO NOT USE EXPLORER OR MY COMPUTER TO DELETE IMAGES FROM THE FLASH CARD SINCE THIS MESSES UP THE FLASH CARD FORMATTING AND  YOU WILL HAVE TO REFORMAT THE FLASH CARD!