Imaging, Microscopy and More

  • Data Logging in the Cloud

    Data Logging in the Cloud

    I’ve been working on a project which requires data logging from a mobile device over several days. I came across a neat site which supports simple uploading and view/export of data, from numerous sources. It’s called thingspeak.com.  Once you have data loaded into a channel, there an excellent tool which supports the execution of Matlab…

  • High speed stable enclosure for GoPro and Black Magic cameras

    High speed stable enclosure for GoPro and Black Magic cameras

    Here’s a project I can finally talk about! This is one of my clients, PEOVI, who makes rugged, high speed camera mounts for anything from race cars, to airplanes. If you need to mount a Black Magic Micro, or GoPro, to your high speed vehicle, this is the product for you. The engineering team behind…

  • 95% QE SCMOS vs. EMCCD

    95% QE SCMOS vs. EMCCD

    In 2011, I reviewed the Andor Neo, one of the first scmos cameras commercially available. I ended my report with this statement, “…there is much life left in the good old frame transfer sensor…until someone cooks up a back thinned scmos…” Recently, back thinned scmos camera have come to market, and Kurt Thorne at the…

  • Microscope Objective Zemax Files

    Microscope Objective Zemax Files

    While I haven’t had a chance to test these for accuracy, I was excited to find them while looking for some tube lens specs! You can find the file set here. These designs include some of the common infinity corrected objectives, as well as tube lenses, from every major microscope manufacturer.    

  • Shutter Configuration of TTL devices in Micromanager

    Shutter Configuration of TTL devices in Micromanager

    I made this video to show how to use both a state device shutter object and a group shutter object in micro-manager. Hopefully others can make use of it! [youtube width=”600″ height=”365″ video_id=”nnYqcER-7ZI”]

  • Build a Stratux in 10 minutes! (ADS-B)

    Build a Stratux in 10 minutes! (ADS-B)

    As the 2020 FAA mandate for ADS-B comes upon us, more aircraft are using the ADS-B system. Additionally, weather transmission via towers is a major free source of in-flight weather info. Having recently picked up a new iPad, and subscribing to FireFlight, I decided it was time to add the ability to see ADS-B traffic,…

  • Dynamic Mirror Reflection Angles using Fusion360

    Dynamic Mirror Reflection Angles using Fusion360

    SO I’ve been working with AutoDesk’s Fusion360 for a while now, and have found it to be an exceptional tool for diving into CAD. If you’ve considered CAD before, but have been scared off by the learning curve, I recommend checking it out. One of the important functions of a truly parametric CAD program is…

  • Optical Design comes to the iPad!

    Optical Design comes to the iPad!

    Over the past 5 years, almost every project I’ve worked on has required some level of optic design. In many cases, simple designs suffice. For example, projecting an LED can be accomplished at a basic level with an aspheric condenser. But when designs require flat fields, especially corrective elements, or apochromatic performance, it’s time to leverage commercial…

  • Automated Capture and Save script for Micro-Manager

    Automated Capture and Save script for Micro-Manager

    I wrote this for a client, but figured others could make use of it. This code simply captures a number of images as defined by the user, and saves them to the specified folder without displaying them. This is useful if you don’t want all of the images open in memory during a timelapse. Simple…

  • A serial monitor that works in Win7x64!

    A serial monitor that works in Win7x64!

    David Biggs at KB Imaging LLC put me onto this serial monitoring software, called SUDT Accessport . I’ve used it a bit for some work on the triggerscope, and it works very well! You can watch data transmitted between USB emulated serial ports, under RS-232, and it will output the communication in either ASCII or HEX.…