Mechanic 8k Sony IMX678 microscope camera worth getting for micro soldering?

[MikkoVe]

• I see 4k output (3840x2160@60Hz) on the HDMI port - confirmed in the bootloader logs and by my Dell monitor

Could you check that all frames are proper images and not interpolated. I'm looking for a good 4k60 microscope camera and someone reported that Hayear HY-5299 4k60 is actually 30 fps footage with additional calculated frames (mix of previous and next frame). And how is the delay? Maybe you could make a video of a stop watch on the microscope and take a picture showing both the watch and display (with delayed video image). Thanks!

[neverendingstudent]

Oli.Hall: if you are willing, I would be interested to know how you proceeded with disassembly so I can be more confident in taking mine apart without causing damage.  Please and thank you.

Hi Neverendingstudent No problem, I’d be happy to help.

I am fairly certain that the sensor in this camera is a genuine Sony IMX678, or at minimum it is a clone which is visually indistinguishable from the original. In the photos I have taken of the sensor, the package, including the microscopic wire-bonding on the carrier, is visually identical to the images of a genuine Sony IMX678 sensor I have found on more than one other vendor site, including FRAMOS which is a reputable source of genuine Sony imaging sensor dev boards.

The guy in the “don’t buy this camera” video asked in his Youtube comments for viewers to get in touch with him if they could prove the camera did not have the faults which he observed. I dropped him a message and we had a video call where I demonstrated to him my camera connecting to my monitor at 3480x2160@60Hz, and I also showed him that using it with the appropriate photo-tube reduction lens (x0.6 in my case), it has no black circle on the picture without any digital zoom; Since these were his main gripes in his video.

Taking the camera apart requires removing the clear plastic top panel which is stuck down with ‘3M VHB’ style double-sided tape. Heating the top panel gently with a hair-dryer for several minutes to soften the adhesive, and prying at the edge of the plastic disc with two Stanley knife blades was how I disassembled mine. The adhesive is very strong, and two blades are needed to work around the circumference of the panel. Use one knife to stop the gap closing up, and use the other knife to work around the panel. Since this panel is clear plastic, it is very easy to mark or to crack. Working carefully, I was able to remove mine with no cracks and minimal visible marks. I also slid a piece of paper down between the top panel and the aluminium case, to protect the aluminium finish from being marked by the blades. I found the glue is weakest in the 5-o'clock, and 7-o’clock positions because this is where there is least tape at the corner of the button assembly. Once the top is off, disassembly from there is fairly straight forward. Although it is a good idea to mark the orientation of the sensor in relation to the case, since it is possible to reassemble it 180 degrees out of alignment and end up with an upside down image. Don’t ask me how I know this! 

Thanks,
Oli.

How come you were able to order this camera from the Mechanic Pro Store seller? I have tried different regions from EU (UK, Italy, Spain, Germany, Romania) and it says that this product cannot be shipped to these countries.
Just to confirm, you ordered it from here? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009375662925.html?pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2212000048913744835%22%7D&sourceType=1&spm=undefined.0.0

Yes, your link looks correct.  I currently (as of Friday, December 19th) see the price now as "$195.20 19% off $240.99" which is more than it was during the sale in which I made my purchase - I think it was ~$176 plus there was a coupon code which reduced it to ~$154 total.  Oh, after clicking on the camera link in my orders I can confirm your link is definitely the same seller.

For reference as to how I ordered it when you are not able to from your location: I'm in the USA if that helps as a reference.

[neverendingstudent]

Oli.Hall: if you are willing, I would be interested to know how you proceeded with disassembly so I can be more confident in taking mine apart without causing damage.  Please and thank you.

Hi Neverendingstudent No problem, I’d be happy to help.

I am fairly certain that the sensor in this camera is a genuine Sony IMX678, or at minimum it is a clone which is visually indistinguishable from the original. In the photos I have taken of the sensor, the package, including the microscopic wire-bonding on the carrier, is visually identical to the images of a genuine Sony IMX678 sensor I have found on more than one other vendor site, including FRAMOS which is a reputable source of genuine Sony imaging sensor dev boards.

The guy in the “don’t buy this camera” video asked in his Youtube comments for viewers to get in touch with him if they could prove the camera did not have the faults which he observed. I dropped him a message and we had a video call where I demonstrated to him my camera connecting to my monitor at 3480x2160@60Hz, and I also showed him that using it with the appropriate photo-tube reduction lens (x0.6 in my case), it has no black circle on the picture without any digital zoom; Since these were his main gripes in his video.

Taking the camera apart requires removing the clear plastic top panel which is stuck down with ‘3M VHB’ style double-sided tape. Heating the top panel gently with a hair-dryer for several minutes to soften the adhesive, and prying at the edge of the plastic disc with two Stanley knife blades was how I disassembled mine. The adhesive is very strong, and two blades are needed to work around the circumference of the panel. Use one knife to stop the gap closing up, and use the other knife to work around the panel. Since this panel is clear plastic, it is very easy to mark or to crack. Working carefully, I was able to remove mine with no cracks and minimal visible marks. I also slid a piece of paper down between the top panel and the aluminium case, to protect the aluminium finish from being marked by the blades. I found the glue is weakest in the 5-o'clock, and 7-o’clock positions because this is where there is least tape at the corner of the button assembly. Once the top is off, disassembly from there is fairly straight forward. Although it is a good idea to mark the orientation of the sensor in relation to the case, since it is possible to reassemble it 180 degrees out of alignment and end up with an upside down image. Don’t ask me how I know this! 

Thanks,
Oli.

Oli: Thank you very much for all those details, I appreciate your help in my future ability to take the camera apart (hopefully) without damaging or defacing it.  Though now it's looking like you've already done... OH!  Right.  I was going to make a video out of it.  That's why I'm duplicating this.  Sorry, slipped my mind, I have a lot of different things I'm juggling, and I'm... not exactly great at multitasking.

[olejokle]

Hi. This is my first post on this forum.

I was able to order from the same store.

I don't own a microscope, so now I just need to figure out which lens from Aliexpress fits this 1/1.8" sensor... Which seems like an impossible task. Should I start a new thread or just ask my question here?

Regards,
Ole

[Sorama]

Neither to Belgium. 

[Psi]

I don't think an 8K camera is worth it unless your microscope is really high end in terms of optics.
Your standard microscope with 1080P camera would see a little benefit from 1080p to 4k but I very much doubt you will get any improvement from 4k to 8k.

[Sorama]

Indeed.

And the higher the resolution, the more luminosity you need.
(Which is not always possible).

[Spiki]

Hi. This is my first post on this forum.

I was able to order from the same store.

I don't own a microscope, so now I just need to figure out which lens from Aliexpress fits this 1/1.8" sensor... Which seems like an impossible task. Should I start a new thread or just ask my question here?

Regards,
Ole

You can use any C Mount Lens, I am planning to buy this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32843137659.html?mp=1&pdp_npi=5%40dis%21USD%21USD%2022.80%21USD%2022.80%21%21USD%2019.54%21%21%21%402103834817662208575968651e971c%2112000038851827370%21ct%21RO%211768932655%21%211%210

130X Is more than you will ever use.

[Oli.Hall]

Are you able to order it right now?

It is showing as in-stock with free delivery, but when try and I add it to my cart, I get the message: "This item is no longer available. It's sold out or the store discontinued selling it. If added to your cart you can still view it under the "Expired Items" section."

Could you check that all frames are proper images and not interpolated. I'm looking for a good 4k60 microscope camera and someone reported that Hayear HY-5299 4k60 is actually 30 fps footage with additional calculated frames (mix of previous and next frame). And how is the delay? Maybe you could make a video of a stop watch on the microscope and take a picture showing both the watch and display (with delayed video image). Thanks!

I don't have a HDMI capture card so I can't check for frame interpolation. I can say that the delay on the HDMI port is quite minimal. I haven't tried soldering using the HDMI port (I find the eye-pieces better for that), but I have done some other manual tasks using just the HDMI port and it was plenty fast enough. The delay on the USB-C port is fractionally more. I have used the USB-C to capture video & stills to the PC. I don't have a YouTube channel, so maybe I'll leave making a video showing the delay to somebody else. Maybe neverendingstudent will make one and put it on on his YouTube channel when his camera arrives!

I don't think an 8K camera is worth it unless your microscope is really high end in terms of optics.
Your standard microscope with 1080P camera would see a little benefit from 1080p to 4k but I very much doubt you will get any improvement from 4k to 8k.

It's really a 4k camera. It has a 4k sensor which outputs 4k video on the HDMI port and USB-C port.

I believe it's marketed as 8k because allegedly it can save 8k still photos to the micro-SD card. I say 'allegedly' because I've not tried this. I believe the 8k still photos are constucted by 'un-binning' the individual pixels in the sensor's quad-bayer arrangement, technically unlocking 4x the number of pixels to create an 8k image. However, while the marketing dept. might say this is an 8k image, other more technically savvy folks might not see it that way.

[Spiki]

• I see 4k output (3840x2160@60Hz) on the HDMI port - confirmed in the bootloader logs and by my Dell monitor

Could you check that all frames are proper images and not interpolated. I'm looking for a good 4k60 microscope camera and someone reported that Hayear HY-5299 4k60 is actually 30 fps footage with additional calculated frames (mix of previous and next frame). And how is the delay? Maybe you could make a video of a stop watch on the microscope and take a picture showing both the watch and display (with delayed video image). Thanks!

Let me know which camera you decide buying. I'm also interested in buying a camera and I havent made up my mind yet.
A regular 1080p camera is around 86$ while the mechanic 8k camera from this seller, ca go to as low as 127$ on a special event, with all the coupons. The difference of price is not that big, and even if this camera is not real 4k with real 60fps, I thik it still might be a better camera than the 1080p and the price difference is not that big.

[MikkoVe]

Let me know which camera you decide buying. I'm also interested in buying a camera and I havent made up my mind yet.
A regular 1080p camera is around 86$ while the mechanic 8k camera from this seller, ca go to as low as 127$ on a special event, with all the coupons. The difference of price is not that big, and even if this camera is not real 4k with real 60fps, I thik it still might be a better camera than the 1080p and the price difference is not that big.

I will. My current options are this one, Hayear HY-5299, HY-6800 (with larger IMX585 sensor) and as the most recent candidate, some Raspberry Pi based camera. I think the most reasonable thing to do would be to settle on solid 1080@60 camera with decent 20-24" FullHD display. Going for 4k60 will be much more expensive, especially considering 4k display. Also the added value (none for soldering, some for just looking at random stuff?) is questionable. On the other hand, making a RPi camera would also be a nice learning project!