EEVblog #1125 - Amazing $500 Soldering/Inspection Microscope!

[Rachie5272]

Sorry, I didn't remember to take pictures of the setup.  I'll try Monday.

More research reveals two things: the Hi3516A processor requires an extra chip for ethernet, and the filesystem is currently not persistent.  There must be some special way to write to the flash, and I'm guessing the entire filesystem as presented is actually in RAM.

[dav888]

Anyone tried swapping the actual camera to something like a Sony Alpha 5100?

Just thinking it would be more convenient as the sony could capture to it's local SD-card or via Wifi.

[wile1411]

any luck in the pics? 

[Rachie5272]

Yep, sorry, I keep forgetting.  Here are the pictures of my setup.

The little monitor does not hold securely at all, and keeps falling over.  I'll have to make a better bracket at some point.

The working range on this microscope is amazing.  I had to flip a bracket around just to get more height.  I'll probably attach it to the shelf above.

[tchicago]

Good news, everyone!

Just received this particular HDMI capture adapter from ali, and it happily recognizes the scope's HDMI output:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/USB3-0-1080P-60FPS-HDMI-Live-Streaming-Dongle-USB-3-0-Game-Video-Capture-Box-for/32822156604.html
It lists for $85 now, but was $65 on 11.11 when I bought it. There are lot of similarly looking ones on ali, so probably will be able to find a cheaper deal.

Proof is attached: my large screen 4K TV now shows both desktop stuff and the camera output at the same time. No need to switch HDMI inputs.

[wile1411]

Here are the pictures of my setup.

The little monitor does not hold securely at all, and keeps falling over.  I'll have to make a better bracket at some point.

Thanks for that - I didn't think to try the main bolt with the nut that was on the wall sticker mount. All good now - I'll work out how to get the monitor to stay where I want to. as you said, not exactly sturdy, but it will do for the moment. 

[timgiles]

Great find

[hobbs1210]

i was able to generate a dump.  https://github.com/Hobbs1210/Microscope/tree/master/Dump

 

[orion242]

Good news, everyone!

Just received this particular HDMI capture adapter from ali, and it happily recognizes the scope's HDMI output:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/USB3-0-1080P-60FPS-HDMI-Live-Streaming-Dongle-USB-3-0-Game-Video-Capture-Box-for/32822156604.html
It lists for $85 now, but was $65 on 11.11 when I bought it. There are lot of similarly looking ones on ali, so probably will be able to find a cheaper deal.

Proof is attached: my large screen 4K TV now shows both desktop stuff and the camera output at the same time. No need to switch HDMI inputs.

Good to know.  Does this work with OBS?

Got this today to try

https://www.amazon.com/Capture-Loop-out-Streaming-Recording-Devices/dp/B07C75Q4KR/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1544391872&sr=1-1&keywords=USB+3.0+HDMI+Video+Capture+Dongle+with+HDMI+Loop-out+%2CHD+HDMI+Game+Capture+Card%2CHDMI+Streaming+and+Recording+Devices+for+PS3+PS4+Xbox+Wii+u+Support+HDCP+1080P+Windows+7%2F8%2F10+Linux+Youtube+OBS+Twitch

Tested it with Ruko and the pass thru wouldn't work with 720p, but the passthur did work with the camera.  Under win10 it came in as a camera.  Couldn't get it to work with VLC or OBS, so its going back.  Have a Magewell USB Capture HDMI Plus coming now to try with it.

[orion242]

Doh...     I'm assuming the camera would have worked with the first capture device.  Someone seems to have had their W10 privacy settings set to disable camera access...which go figure is how these devices show up.

That issue aside, it works perfectly well with the Magewell USB Capture+.

Attached is the output from the Magewell capture utility that gives all the details of the HDMI stream.  Maybe that will be helpful to someone when trying to figure out what will be compatible with it.

[tchicago]

Good news, everyone!

Just received this particular HDMI capture adapter from ali, and it happily recognizes the scope's HDMI output:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/USB3-0-1080P-60FPS-HDMI-Live-Streaming-Dongle-USB-3-0-Game-Video-Capture-Box-for/32822156604.html
It lists for $85 now, but was $65 on 11.11 when I bought it. There are lot of similarly looking ones on ali, so probably will be able to find a cheaper deal.

Proof is attached: my large screen 4K TV now shows both desktop stuff and the camera output at the same time. No need to switch HDMI inputs.

Good to know.  Does this work with OBS?

I tried the OBS, added this ezcap as a capture source and it was showing the live microscope feed in the OBS UI. I don't use OBS, so not sure what else should I try there.

My main reason of using the capture card is to have the screen showing both microscope live camera picture and the other stuff I'm working on, like datasheets, code and schematics - having it all on one large screen.

BTW, I cracked this Ezcap open, and here is what's inside - picture attached. Two either custom or relabeled chips, standard HDMI input and output chips. Two serial EEPROMs - one large and one small (config?). And four channels of DC-DC. There is nothing on the other side of the board.
There are two groups of unsoldered pin headers or test points - some of them might be UART in/out. I may later try to poke them with oscilloscope to find out if there is an UART TX, and if so will see what kind of output it dumps there...

[texaspyro]

I got in the "bundle" and barlow lenses.   Seems to work well. (note that they pack some stuff in the monitor box... I first thought that they didn't ship the barlows)

Circles are a bit out of round on the 10" HDMI monitor.   I couldn't drive DVI displays with HDMI->DVI converters.

The 180X lens' largest field-of-view with the 0.35 barlow is around 2x1".   Stacking a 0.5 and 0.35 barlow gives a 2.5" wide FOV. 

Raising the camera up 2" from what the stand allows gives a 3" wide FOV.   I'd like to be able to get even wider.  I will probably try the 120mm lens and maybe stack a couple of 0.35 barlows...

Ideally, I'd like to be able to get a 6x4" FOV when needed.   That would probably require extending the stand  tube (it is internally threaded at the top with the same external thread as the base so one could probably screw two tubes together).  Does anybody know where to buy extra or longer stand tubes (without buying and scavenging a second stand)?

SMBAKER, are you going to publish the code for your nifty mouse emulator thingy?

[texaspyro]

I measured the power required by the camera.  It starts at around 0.2A, but once it finished booting up the power increased to 0.7 to 0.8A.   The supplied wall wart outputs 5.3V.   I don't trust no-name wall warts so I am now using a genuine Apple 2.4A one.

[texaspyro]

I don't have any spare monitors with HDMI inputs, so I tried using (4 different) HDMI->DVI converters with the camera... no joy.   This could be related to the issues Dave had with HDMI capture devices.

Does anybody know of a HDMI->DVI converter that works with the Eakins?   

[SiliconWizard]

As an alternative, has anyone tried a microscope setup using a digital SLR with HDMI out?
e.g. Nikon D3400 (with 60fps HDMI) + C-mount adapter + lens
Costs look comparable on ebay, with the advantage that you also have a SLR.

Ahh, maybe you don't get auto focus when the SLR mirror is up for 'liveview video'.

I currently use a JVC camcorder which has an integrated 40x optical zoom, to which I have added a front lens to get a reasonable working distance (15-20cm). I use the HDMI output and get very low latency (not noticeable). There is no way of using a C-mount lens with it, optics is not removable (it's an entry-level camcorder, but picture quality is fine.) The max magnification factor I get with a 14" monitor is approx. 40x (eg. 0.5mm pin pitch is close to 20mm on screen.)

The autofocus works reasonably well even with the added lens (seems a bit slower though, and it occasionally gets confused - usually moving the part around in the field of view gets it to focus again). I can always set it to manual focus if it bothers me.

With a DSLR, you'd have to try. Don't know if it'd work as well as a camcorder. One thing to consider is the mounting of the DSLR itself - they are usually a bit heavy so you need a sturdy mount.
With my camcorder I currently use a Manfrotto articulated arm, and it's not ideal. It tends to shake a little when just tapping on the desk, hardly noticeable at low magnification but it's a bit annoying at the largest magnification.

I recently ordered a couple of C-mount lenses, one up to 10x for larger fov and the other to 720x and a set of barlow lenses. Also ordered a C-mount camera module with HDMI output (unfortunately not with the autofocus, but with a Panasonic 21MP sensor). I'll see what I get with that. One thing that would be nice would be a motorized stand of some sort.