Lately I've been getting into micro minerals, so I've been using my Celestron microscope and iPhone 7 to try and aid me in my work trying to identify what I have been collecting from the famous Blue Bell Mine - https://hive.blog/science/@rt395/social-distancing-extreme-edition-the-blue-bell-mine-ca .
Usually when I am in the field or just get home I'm using my loop to scour the surfaces seeing what is hiding in the cracks and vugs. Reason being is some of the rarest minerals also happen to be the smallest. It's a pain in the ass though looking through a small loop for hours on end, so putting them under the scope or using my iPhone makes things a lot easier. So, let's have a look.
This is a cool little piece that I am working on. It looks like Hemimorphite Zn4Si2O7(OH)2 · H2O with Rosasite(Cu,Zn)2(CO3)(OH)2
Although I am hoping it's Plumbophyllite (TL) Pb2Si4O10 · H2O and Rosasite.
Here is another Hemimorphite Zn4Si2O7(OH)2 · H2O with a completely different spray, in the form of tiny fans about 3mm across.
As you can tell, the iPhone 7 isn't the greatest. I'm using a macro lens attachement, but it's still hard to get a good picture that I can zoom in to see the crystal structure. That is huge when identifying minerals down at this scale.
Another thing, when you get down into these micro minerals you start to notice a lot of them form in spray or fan patterns. It's a pretty incredible world.
This is the beautiful Dioptase CuSiO3 · H2O. with Rosasite(Cu,Zn)2(CO3)(OH)2 and the other minerals I haven't identified yet.
So I am thinking about picking up a nicer camera. At first I was looking at a Sony Alpha 6100,6400, then I saw the Canon EOS M50 which is about half the price and I don't know what the hell I'm doing! I don't want to mess too much with focusing and I need it to catch the whole depth of field, or am I dreaming? I would appreciate any recommendations, feedback.
Thanks for reading!