MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

I recently obtained a Carl Zeiss Epi Condenser/Illuminator system for my GFL body and am learning how to use its various components. The condenser I have id the H_PI and the objectives are EpiPlan HD’s. Illumination has been converted to LED. I think I have identified the darkfield slider (1), the N...

John, unfortunately scuddlebut do not ship to Canada or the US due to some insurance issues however I have been able to source the Fast Green powder from a US supplier now. As far as these stains being sometimes supplied dissolved in Cellosolve, is that an impediment for botanic staining? Thanks mic...

John, these images just keep getting better, thanks for pushing the boundaries for us!

I've been looking for a supplier for Fast Green and see that Brunel carries it in Cellosolve, is this a suitable medium for the counterstaining you do?

Michael

John, talking about intriguing lichen , there’s a good chapter devoted to Lichen in Merlin Sheldrake’ recently published book about Fungi - “Entangled Life”. In a chapter called “The Intimacy of Strangers” he explores the puzzles that are posed by the lichens. It was my reading of this chapter,in a ...

Is it possible to tighten the inter-pupillary distance adjustment on an American Optics 110 trinoc head? I have had my unit in storage for a year or two and when I tried to use it today I discovered that the two eyepieces holders will not hold the inter pupillary distance that I set and they slide b...

John, welcome to the thread, I'm looking forward to hearing about your ongoing explorations! Here's an image of the foliose lichen that I was looking at. I believe it is a Lobaria sp., a cyanolichen, common in the coastal cedar/hemlock forests in British Columbia. My sections were 1 cm pieces taken ...

Bob, I haven't tried PEG, it's not easy to get in modest quantities and I'm finding that the 100% glycerine soap works very well. Glad to learn that your soap experiments seem to have been successful too. I tried your suggestion and loaded the cover slips for 24 hrs after mounting in glycerine jelly...

Bob thanks for the glycerine soap idea> , I decided to try it out and found a random variety (BODYSENSE Jasmine) that melted in a dish on a coffee cup warmer. I diluted the soap by adding 30% liquid glycerin and poured the mix over the lichen. The lichen had been previously fixed in FAA and rested i...

Bob, you've inspired me to have another run at these lichens and I think I'll try you soap idea as part of the project! We don't have any glycerine soap at hand at present so i'll try to find some tomorrow, I'll report back on results of course. I'm interested to hear whether the Histowax did the tr...

Thanks Bob and John for your responses, I took a look at the Schoemmer pdf, it’s certainly quite a tome! Eventually I decided to use Lactophenol CB (LCB) and Fuschin-Chrysoidine-Alcian Blue (FCA) for staining the foliose lichen. I’m very much a novice at all aspects of sectioning and staining but th...

I plan on examining some foliose forest lichen sections and I'm wondering what stains are being used for this? I have seen online references to lactophenol cotton, iodine and Meltzers reagent being used and I will probably try all of these. Are there other recommendations that have proven to be part...

Rock9, welcome to the forum. I'm based on the Sunshine Coast and I knew the old Vancouver Telescopes. The business restructured a few years ago and now operates as Markarian Fine Optics on Kingsway. One of the original owners is still involved and so is the optical technician. https://markarianfineo...

Pete,thanks for the ideas. I tried sliding the eyepiece tube sideways after removing the screws and the required offset would clip a large part of the FOV. The photo tube is collimated perfectly with the right eyepiece and so the head is useable for viewing and imaging, just not as a bino. so all is...

75RR, I did try to use the collimation procedure shown in Ron Greens guide for this head but I was not successful. The guide suggests that collimation involves "Slacken screws and slide eyepiece tube into collimation", but the 3 screws only loosened the eyepiece tube from the bar, there is no latera...

I checked for any evidence of the original position but didn't find any, only the cracked "non-standard glue" from the last repair job. By placing a temporary thin wooden shim behind it, the prism is now secured firmly in the holder and the offset between the eyepieces has been reduced from 1.45 mm ...

I answered ny own question, the answer is no. What was probably obvious to many, the ocular parts of a CZ Standard bino head cannot be used to replace the equivalent parts in a trinoc.
duh!
Michael

Just a thought, would it be possible to replace the bino parts in the trinocular head for the equivalent parts from an undamaged binocular head? The microscope originally had such a head and I think I can retrieve it.
Michael

Good eyesight Hobbyist46, fortunately it was only an artifact (dirt). However when I opened the head the left prism shows minor damage at both top corners, there are matching light scratches on the inside surface of the casing. So I know why the misalignment exists and that the prism damage is minor...

Thanks everyone. Yes the offset between the FOVs is rather large. almost 1.5 mm. I took a couple of images today to illustrate this. I purchased the head online and it arrived by mail but I didn't check the alignment then. But since then it hasn't suffered any knocks. Photos of the head are attached...

Thanks Jeff and Doron for the reference. I did have a look at the guide from Ron Green but he only describes techniques to apply to ensure that everything is aligned. I also need to know how to actually make the internal adjustments and whether I need specialist tools to do them. Any pointers would ...

I'm trying to align a trinoc head from my Zeiss Standard GFL. One of the oculars is out of alignment laterally by approximately half a field of view (4x objective, 10x ocular). The camera tube and the other ocular are well aligned. Where I could find instructions on how to repair this and how diffic...

Thanks for the suggestion 75RR, I'm now thinking that that image may well be from a branchiopod body part or perhaps part of a larval casing. I'll keep looking! I did take look at Aulacoseira sp. and that was a very interesting and informative diversion from my quest, thanks for the idea. I haven't ...

I found these two specimens in a sample from the reed beds in a local freshwater pond. One seems to have some similarities to a pair of diatoms , but unlike any I've seen before, the pair is 60um wide and 75 long, it was taken at 20x 0.46NA . The other image was taken at 40x 0.95 NA and was moving s...

Yes Bram, a sample vial would have been handy, they were in the car though, not the bedroom.

Don, thanks for your reassurance, it certainly doesn't look like any "bed-bug" image I've found, leaving alive the mystery of just what this creature was?
Michael

When I turned down the sheets on a hotel bed this morning I found this little critter, it was basically all black and 2mm long it moved across the fabric in short jerky movements, almost like a miniature robot After imaging it on my phone I crushed it, so there's no chance for further inspection and...

I have in my possession a couple of slim books and CD’s that belonged to my friend Dr. Jim Pawley, formerly with UW Madison and UBC, Jim died last year. The CD’s and books are either unopened or in mint condition. I have no need for the items and thought they may be of interest to some members of th...

Scarodactyl, yes, I hadn't thought of that but I suppose that a camera could be used on one (or even both) of the binocular heads and then the usual imaging method could be applied (afocal, relay, or NLK projection). It would be a bit bulky though.
Interesting idea.
Michael

Bob, Yes the PE is for an infinity design (stated in original post) but for some reason it was included in the package that I purchased and I have no use for it, someone might. The package that I'm selling is an add-on for an existing BH2 microscope, it adds the ability for two other users to observ...

PRICE REDUCED I'm still looking for a good home for this teaching bridge, the set is complete with 2 binocular heads, 4 objectives and all the bridge components, all in excellent condition (see images above). The price is now U$150 (buyer pays shipping). The PE projection eyepiece originally include...

This is very helpful Charles, I couldn't get this info from the manual. One other question concerns the remote operation, is it possible to trigger the shutter using either their IR remote or the hardware switch when tethered to a computer running EOS Utility or some such program via usb cable? Than...