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For image processing:
Stacking (Focus merging) and editing.
Affinity Photo is an alternative to Photoshop offered at a fraction of the price. For focus stacking (focus merging), 3 to 5 images are generally enough to achieve a satisfactory quality result.
For video editing
Clipchamp, by Microsoft, is a good quality video editor, accessible directly from Windows.
For video editing
Shotcut is also used for video editing. This free open source software offers a much wider range of features than Clipchamp
For taking photos and videos:
Canon Camera
EOS Utility is a free software from Canon that allows you to control the camera from the computer and view images in real time on screen.
Epview
EPView is the free software provided with the Evident EP50 camera (Olympus/Evident). It notably allows adding scale bars and annotating images.
Screen Capture
The Windows Snipping Tool records the images displayed and magnified by EOS Utility directly from the screen, producing high definition videos
For long videos and high definition
Video recording typically requires 20 to 30 frames per second. Entry-level camera processors can only sustain this frame rate and data volume by significantly reducing the resolution.
One possible solution: Connect the camera (Canon or other) to the computer via USB cable. The camera can then transmit high resolution images in real time to the computer, without recording them itself. The Windows Snipping Tool then takes over and records the images displayed by EOS Utility in very high definition, for long minutes, by leveraging the computer’s processing power. EOS Utility’s digital zoom also allows framing and recording only the area of interest.
The following video illustrates this procedure: With the Windows Snipping Tool, the operations performed with EOS Utility and the Canon camera were captured on a hypha of Rhizophagus irregularis. After the screen capture, one simply needs to edit the video framing to keep only the area of interest.