W90's Digital Microscope Mode

One of the unique features of the W90 are the three "LED Macro Lights" which surround the lens. These lights are turned on automatically when you select the W90's "Digital Microscope" mode, which is also a first for any compact camera.

Our user manual describes this mode as follows, "In the Digital Microscope mode, you can take pictures of objects as close as 1 cm, also because the 3 macro lights around the lens are always lighted, you can take minute pictures of text, the veins of leaves, or specimens of tiny insects, etc."

As I've received several inquiries about how the Macro Lights and the Microscope mode work, here's an explanation of the feature, and some sample images that I shot in this mode.

One of the problems with taking super macro photos with compact cameras is that to get in very close to the subject, you find that the camera ends up being right on top of the desired object and it creates a shadow or blocks out most of the ambient light you'd need to properly illuminate the object.

In my strawberries sequence below, the 2nd and 3rd photos give you an idea of how the camera can block all light from hitting your subject. I used bright daylight to emphasize the shadow effect and how the LED lights will provide additional lighting. In most cases you would not be shooting these type of microscope photos in direct sunlight, but it was the simplest way for me to explain the logic behind the 3 Macro Lights.

The 4th, 5th and 6th photos show the actual photos of a strawberry leaf and two different views of the strawberry seeds that I took in the microscope mode. As you'd expect, the zoom rocker button allows you to zoom in or out when composing your microscope shot.

When shooting in Digital Microscope mode, the camera defaults to 2.1 Megapixel resolution and saves the image as a JPEG in 16:9 aspect ratio. Based on my initial shots, the file sizes range from 1.1 to 1.9MB.

I don't recall seeing actual specs on the working range of these Macro Lights, but I don't believe it's more than a few inches. Although you can not adjust the power of these lights, I have already found that using EV compensation allows you to control the light fairly well. You can also customize your settings when shooting in Microscope mode, including Image Tone, Sensitivity, EV comp, Sharpness, Saturation and Contrast. For instance, as I don't like to set Sensitivity to Auto, all my sample photos were shot at ISO 400 in either Natural or Bright mode.

One bit of advice if you're going to buy a W90 and try this mode. There is so little depth of field when shooting at 1 cm, so make sure the camera is rock solid and does not move at all between the time you lock focus and depress the shutter to capture the shot. For all my shots so far, I found resting my W90 down on a sponge had an effective dampening effect on the camera.










The following Microscope photo samples were taken randomly over the past two weekends, as part of my tests to familiarize myself with this mode. Hope this post gives you a better idea of the capabilities of the Microscope mode.












(Photo Notes: Click on any thumbnail to see a larger image file.)