Upgrade Your Microscope to Digital


Binocular = 2 Eyepieces

Trinocular = 2 Eyepieces + Camera Port
Mounting a Microscope Camera Over an Eyepiece
If you have either a monocular or a binocular microscope head, your microscope was not manufactured with digital camera connection in mind. However, you still have a few options for converting your microscope to a digital microscope. One of the simplest methods is to mount a microscope camera over the microscope eyepiece with an Over-Eyepiece Adapter. A microscope camera has a USB connection that plugs directly into your computer. When the software is opened you can view a live image from the microscope on the computer. The software allows for image and video capture as well as making measurements. WiFi microscope cameras can also be mounted over a microscope eyepiece. A wifi microscope camera works similar to the USB camera, but can be connected to an App on a smart phone or tablet where images from the microscope can be viewed and captured. Wifi microscope cameras are commonly used in classrooms and for teaching purposes.
At left is a binocular stereo microscope with the USB microscope camera mounted directly over one of the eyepieces. You can learn more about how the Microscope Over-Eyepiece Adapter works in this article. On the right is a microscope camera mounted over a monocular student microscope.
Mounting a Microscope Camera on the Trinocular Camera Port

Microscope C-Mount Adapters
If you have a trinocular microscope head, the microscope should have been manufactured to accept a C-Mount adapter and a microscope digital camera. Please note that C-Mount adapters are not universal and are designed for a specific brand and model of microscope. If you are unable to locate a c-mount adapter for your specific brand of microscope, you may be able to use this generic focusing C-Mount adapter. Below are some images of common types of C-Mount adapters for various microscopes. You can learn more about microscope c-mount adapters here.
Once you connect your C-Mount adapter to the trinocular port of your microscope, you are then ready to connect a microscope digital camera, WiFi wireless microscope camera, or a LCD display camera to convert your microscope to a digital microscope. Below are some images of cameras and tablets connected using the C-Mount adapter on the trinocular port of the microscope.
Connecting a Digital SLR Camera to your Microscope
There are two types of digital SLR cameras adapters that will connect to a microscope including standard digital SLR camera adapters and mirrorless digital SLR camera adapters. These cameras may have APS-C sensors or full frame sensors.
The microscope adapters for SLR digital cameras will connect to the microscope in one of three ways:
- Through a 23mm ID eyetube or trinocular tube.
- Through a 30mm ID eyetube or trinocular tube.
- Directly on a 1x c-mount adapter.
The microscope digital SLR adapter has a lens built into it that will match up with 10x eyepiece lenses. Using a digital SLR camera for microscopy image capture will produce the highest quality images of all the digital microscopy options. If you wish to capture microscopy images for publication, using a digital SLR camera is the recommended digital format since it will result in the highest quality images.