# DIY Webcam Microscope for counting yeast for $25



## Don Runk (16/10/13)

I had read about reversing the lens on a webcam and spacing it off the sensor to create a microscope webcam.

not needing to brew i was bored so gave it a shot.

for $25 i got a 720p webcam.

a bit of stuffing around but i got it working fairly easily. Took about an hour. haven't destroyed anything so i can turn it back into a webcam if it doesn't work out.

Below is a shot i took of some yeast on a slide.





By my guess the field of view is about .2mm from edge to edge. not sure how that works out as a 400x or 800x etc. i can always shorten the lens distance to make it less magnified.

i have got a Hemocytometer coming on the slowboat from china for $13

anyone think this might work for brewing purposes?




article worth reading if interested - http://hackteria.org/?p=1637


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## Yob (16/10/13)

Dead cool... good work

like to know what theyre doing the that poor little guy down in the bottom right... looks like its getting gang bashed...


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## Don Runk (16/10/13)

Yeah i noticed that too! 

weird little buggers.

I'm thinking of making mini starter and putting some of that on a slide and recording video of them budding. not sure if that'll work though.

cant wait to get the cell counter and see if it'll work. i need some dye in time too but not sure where to get that yet.
It's gotta be easier counting cells on a photo than peering into a scope right?


pic of the rig. Takes up F'all bench space to boot!


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## treefiddy (16/10/13)

That is really clever.

There is a freeware imaging program called image J that you could use to count cells. You could also work out their average size and compare that to the average known yeast size to set your scale. I don't know much about microbiology though, there's probably easier ways.


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## DJ_L3ThAL (16/10/13)

yeast orgy!


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## rcsoccer (16/10/13)

Looks great! One problem is that you can't really differentiate between live and dead yeast cells without the use of some kind of stain. I think many breweries/labs have used methylene blue in the past, but have had problems with overestimation of yeast cell count. An alternative would be methylene violet to use for staining live cells for counting.

I thought that you needed at least 300 - 400X magnification to view yeast cells under a microscope. Interesting that you can get that from an HD webcam.

Cheers!


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## krausenhaus (16/10/13)

This is really awesome! Counting should be a cinch once you've got the counting chamber.

Regarding staining, there is a really good article here which compares different viability stains, and also says that methylene blue is notoriously unreliable as OregonBrewer mentioned.

There is someone from Sydney selling safranin on eBay at the moment:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Safranin-Biology-Slide-Stain-/151139143937?pt=AU_Business_Industrial_Medical_Scientific_Equipment2&hash=item2330985101

And methylene blue appears on some pet store sites like this:

http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/Methylene_Blue#.Ul4_c1BkMqw


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## Don Runk (16/10/13)

Treefiddy- Thanks for the tip on "Image J" i've had a little play and while it may take some learning it looks like it'll make counting really simple and fast. Because let's be honest if it's not quick and simple i'll probably loose interest and go back to over pitching.

But my initial feelings are it could (once set up) take less than 5 mins to take a sample check it's viability and count it. Easily done during the mash.

Re staining - thanks Oregon+Krausen I might see if they have meth blue at the petstore and see if it will actually show up on the cam before i invest on the good stuff. 

all the images and video i've taken so far look very greyscale so it remains to be seen if colour will be visable or not.

another i took thisarvo - 




I made a mini (micro?) starter and added some dry yeast to see if i could catch it budding. It was done in a very unsanitary way on purpose and while i was watching it i saw what looked like little dark particles moving around!!! bacteria?? you can see some in pic above.


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## treefiddy (16/10/13)

You may not see colour, but cells that are stained will be darker, while unstained cells will remain the same. It's greyscale because both the slide and yeast cells are translucent, but there is enough contrast there to see what you're looking at.

I'm sure a microbiologist cell step up and give you a better way to count. ImageJ can be used to count cells, but it's a massive pain to learn.


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## krausenhaus (16/10/13)

Drop a bit of food dye on there!


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## Don Runk (17/10/13)

Thanks again for all the tips.

still no hemocytometer but played around a bit with the magnification (extension tube length) and found a better length i think.

looks about field of view is now .4mm x .3mm and should be pretty close to 400x

also played with camera settings and lighting and am getting better definition out of it now.




this came from the on purpose infected yeast. buggered if i know what that is but i can capture colour it would seem!


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## Bizier (17/10/13)

Rad!

I can't see how you are able to move between squares on the haemocytometer to get a decent reading. You might need to use some fixed, fine-threaded bolts tapped into a bracket to move the sample over the setup (perhaps with a spring for back-pressure). But aside from that it looks pretty good man, interpreting dye might be hard, but at least you can get decent ideas of pitch rates and actually see how your yeast looks.



Don Runk said:


> anyone think this might work for brewing purposes?


Yes!


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## Hush (5/3/19)

First of all, excuse my poor english.
Did some of you succeed in counting yeast cells with a "modified webcam microscope" and a hem


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## Hush (20/3/19)

Found an old webcam, two pieces of wood, three threaded rods, three springs, a handfull of washers, turned the webcam objective upside down and the "cam-croscope" was born :



I was able to see yeasties on a slide and the lines of the empty hemacitometer . Filled the hemacitometer with a suspension of yeast and got those two pictures :






The quality is not good (hot spot due to the light, lack of resolution) but I think it is possible to count, make averages and so on.
There is no XY mechanical stage but even for an "Old Wobbling Retired" like me, it is easy to find the squares by hand.
If you need some more informations, feel free to ask.
If this post is useless delete it .
Hush 
https://www.facebook.com/lamauloise/


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## FarsideOfCrazy (20/3/19)

Well done for necroing an old thread. This is really cool. It's a shame that @Don Runk didn't get to, or didn't show the test with the dye.


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## Hush (23/3/19)

Using this "cam-croscope" I have not been able to distinguish dead and alive cells dyed with methylene blue. Lack of resolution and contrast. Used different lights : led, incandescent lamp, sun with no improvement.
With my old microscope I can easily distinguish and count dead or alive cells.
One could use a microscope objective instead of the web-cam single lens... But it is no more fun !
https://publiclab.org/notes/bronwen/05-07-2018/microscope-webcam-conversion
Hush
https://www.facebook.com/lamauloise/


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