Image 2: Captured after the fresh OS installation — the artifacts but colored are still present.
Since the artifacts persist even after a clean OS reinstall and with no sample present, I suspect dust, contamination, condensation, or something in the optics or sensor — but I’m not sure.
Hi @D4nny. This sounds rather odd. The colouration in your second image is because you reinstalled the software and the camera has not been calibrated. The black stuff is something else. I think there are restrictions on number of images in a first post on this Forum. You should be able to attach your ‘image 1’ if you make a reply in this thread. It would be useful to see that.
Could you also go to the ‘camera’ section of the ‘settings’ tab and click ‘disable flat field and colour correction’ and post an image which you get with no sample after doing that.
Other details that might help are what version of the software you are using (in the ‘about’ tab) and which version of the optics you are using (low-cost, manual, hi-resolution). An overall photo of your setup can slso be helpful.
Hello everyone, and sorry for the delay in responding.
I haven’t finished assembling the OpenFlexure microscope yet; so far, I’ve only printed the parts and done tests with the simplest camera module.
In my initial tests, I only used the camera module located inside the main body of the microscope and my cell phone’s flashlight for illumination from below. With this simple setup, I was able to visualize the sample normally, as shown in Image, which I’m sharing below.
After that, I had to pause the project for a little over a month. When I returned and tried to repeat the same test, under the same conditions and without a sample, artifacts started appearing in the images that weren’t present before.
I believe the circular artifacts might be mold or some kind of contamination on the lens or sensor (it’s been raining a lot where I live). I did a light surface cleaning with isopropyl alcohol, which partially improved the situation, but some circular artifacts still remain. However, the other artifacts mentioned by @WilliamW (which I suggested might be related to a lack of camera calibration) are still present.
That does sound as though you have stuff in the optical system. It does not look like dust or strings of plastic. It could be mould, I have never seen that in this system, but mould growth is a know problem with regular camera optics.
If you take the camera away from the platform and lens spacer do you see anything on the sensor if you look at it? If you capture an image with the camera loose like that does it show any of the black?
With the camera off, if you look at a piece of white paper through the lens in the lens spacer from the camera side can you see any black spots?
You should be able to get the lens back out of the lens spacer to have a look at it. Use a pointy tool but be careful not to damage the lens. Then you could try to clean it is it seems that it is dirty.
Cleaning the camera sensor is very difficult. It is delicate so you might break it, but the bigger problem is that it is down a hole so you cannot really get at it. So even if you have the right cleaning supplies for optics it usually does not get rid of dirt.
