Inexpensive Digitization of an SEM

Extract

Because of the high cost of Polaroid film, many years ago we fitted our Hitachi S-450 scanning electron microscope with a 35 mm camera. At that time, we used a Pentax ME Super, which was totally manual and had to have the film advanced by a hand lever. This was an annoyance, but when we set up the system, Polaroid Type 55 film was about $2.00 per photo, and the cost of 35 mm spooled in our lab ran about $.10 per photo.

When we traded the Hitachi S-450 for the later Hitachi S-570, we moved the 35 mm system to this microscope. About 1999, when the Pentax ZX-50 with motorized film advance became available, we adapted it to the S-570, using the Pentax electric shutter release. The lens used with both of these cameras was an elderly 50 mm screw-mount Pentax Macro lens that focused well on the CRT of the SEM.