photodontist

This diVUser fits the OM System M.Zuiko ED 60mm f/2.8 lens.  It engages the bayonet mount.  This provides soft, directional lighting for intraoral dental photography.  It is best used with cameras that have a strong pop up flash, such as the Lumix GH4.  If your micro four thirds camera does not have a pop up flash, It can be used the in conjunction with the FL-200L flash (discontinued) or the Godox iT30Pro.

My hygienist’s favorite kit is the Panasonic Lumix GH4.  Color isn’t as faithful as more current cameras, but the pop up flash plenty strong for dental shots  and the grip is really secure and comfortable.  It’s not the lightest, but the weight balance is perfect, so it’s less finger strain than the smaller E-PL cameras used in the Blue Sky Bio kit. (which I like, but I am technically competing against).  Battery life is ridiculously good for a mirrorless camera.  For ortho photography, this is a great setup.  For surgery, the older color science doesn’t render pink tissue as well as I’d like.

1. Panasonic GH4 body
2. OM System M. Zuiko 60mm macro lens
3. diVUser for the Olympus 60mm macro lens

If you want better color fidelity, consider the newer Lumix G series micro four thirds cameras such as the G97, G100, or G9ii.  They sometimes include a kit lens which can do full arch dental shots, but nothing closer.  We make a divuser for the included kit lens, but we would highly recommend the Olympus 60mm macro lens.

1. Panasonic G97
2. OM System M. Zuiko 60mm macro lens
3. Godox iT30Pro Flash
4. diVUser for the Olympus 60mm macro lens

The teaching professional’s kit for this system would be:

1. Panasonic Lumix G9ii – a professional flagship camera with long battery life, tough build and faster operational speed.
2. OM System M. Zuiko 60mm macro lens
3. Godox MF12DK1 Dental Kit System– diffusers are included.  It’s an excellent flash.  Much smaller than the Canon and Nikon equivalents.
4. A upgraded divuser for the STF-8 flash is under future consideration.  Since the flash is expensive, and users are few, there may not be enough demand to justify a production run.

The OM System

All Olympus products have been rebranded as OM-Digital.  Panasonic and OM Digital are collaborators in the Micro Four Thirds Alliance.  Their cameras share the same lens mounts and flash protocols.   While Panasonic cameras have more advanced video features, OM System cameras have better weather proofing (in the higher models) and a different color science for still photos.  Color science is HIGHLY personal preference, and many will not notice the difference.  Most notably, the MOD institute uses the flagship OM 1 Mark II cameras.

I own cameras from both systems.  I prefer Panasonic ease of use, ergonomics and menus, and lower price.  Olympus color is slightly more pleasing to the eye, and the newest models have very convenient USB-C charging.  You can’t go wrong with either.

Dentistry isn’t really that demanding for photography.  Most advanced features are wasted on us.  All you really need as the ability to set manual exposure, and optionally a custom preset feature to memorize your settings.  Once you use a macro flash properly, the light is ideal, so sensor size is less critical for close up and macro.  We simply don’t need the shallow depth of field that larger Canon, Sony or Nikon cameras offer.   So an entry level camera such as the Lumix G97 (currently $600) or the OM-D E-M10 Mark IV Black (also currently $600) are sufficient.

Recommended intra-oral settings for ALL micro four thirds cameras

Manual Mode: dental intraoral photography is very specific, and very different from day to day photography.  So manual mode lets us dial in everything we do.

ISO 400 – ISO, in simple terms, is sensitive the sensor is to light.  While most camera experts prefer the lowest possible ISO, I find that modern sensors easily product a clean ISO 400 image.

Aperture f/16 or f/22 – this increases depth of field by narrowing the opening of the lens.  In simple terms, you are making the camera squint to put more things in focus.  F/16 will let in more light, provide a little more detail, and make your flash work less hard.  Because micro-four thirds is a much smaller sensor than the traditional Canon/Nikon full frame sensors, you get inherently more depth of field at the same f-stops.  Use f/22 if you want more depth of field or margin for error, but you will get half as much light, which requires your flash to work harder.

Shutter speed 1/200 – this is the amount of time the camera exposes the sensor to light.  1/200 of a second is typically the fastest the camera can synchronize with your flash.

White balance: flash preset  – this is often depicted as a lightning bolt icon.  This tunes the colors towards the bluish-white color of xenon flash tubes.  If you do not set this, your images will often look too blue or too yellow.

RAW+JPEG Large – JPEG is the standard image format.  It uses compression that sacrifices some color and detail to keep file sizes small and maintain compatibility.  Think 80:20 rule.  You can preserve more information in a RAW file, BUT….you have to have software that processes it down to JPEG if you want to use it anywhere.  I recommended writing both.  If or when you advance in your photography skill, you have the RAW file to work with all the information your camera captured.

Custom Preset aka Custom Memory – once you have all these essential settings dialed in, you can have the camera memorize it.  From that point forward, turning the mode dial to C (or U in other brands) will recall all the specific settings you need to take a dental photograph.  This is absolutely critical in a busy office.  Keeping it simple for your team improves consistency of images.

Options for the diVUser:

Custom logo.  This covers a one time logo setup and proofing fee.  A vector file (eps, ai, svg) or a high resolution bitmap (jpg, png, bmp) is required.  We will contact you by email.  If your logo is unsuitable for 3d printing, your design fee will be refunded.  Complex designs, or ones requiring extensive setup or printing (multi-color, multi-process, etc) may be invoiced an additional fee.
+$10 more if you are printing a custom logo we have already designed for you.  Complex designs, or ones requiring extensive setup or printing (multi-color, multi-process, etc) may be invoiced an additional fee.

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