Is DIC something that's within the possibility of hobbyist microscopy, or is that a pipe dream?
(also, yes, 100% recommend Journey to Microcosmos. It's great footage, and Hank Green's dulcet voice is a boon to any science video)
Search found 54 matches
- Mon Sep 28, 2020 2:19 am
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Great Video on DIC
- Replies: 4
- Views: 1857
- Sat Sep 26, 2020 3:08 am
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Paramecia in... conjugation
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1400
Re: Paramecia in... conjugation
This was taken with an oblique light filter with a small off-center circle, which I found gave me the best contrast on the cilia. Any cilia that weren't on the edge of the paramecia were pretty much invisible with regular brightfield. At the same time, though, you can see that the filter results in ...
- Sat Sep 26, 2020 3:05 am
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Paramecia in... conjugation
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1400
Paramecia in... conjugation
Turn the lights down low...
Put on some music to set the mood. Something with a nice groove. Make sure the door's closed.
Open this video and get ready to enjoy the beautiful exchange of genetic material. Oh yeah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueZnpo9h4TA
Put on some music to set the mood. Something with a nice groove. Make sure the door's closed.
Open this video and get ready to enjoy the beautiful exchange of genetic material. Oh yeah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueZnpo9h4TA
- Tue Sep 22, 2020 1:21 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Testate amoeba shells? Pollen?
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1805
Re: Testate amoeba shells? Pollen?
Hey, my first impulse was right! How come some of them are clear like that, and some of them are bright orange?
- Tue Sep 22, 2020 2:02 am
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Testate amoeba shells? Pollen?
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1805
Testate amoeba shells? Pollen?
I took some samples from a nearby pond, and I got a ton of these things in it. They're hollow spheres with an opening on one side and several protrusions on the opposite site. https://i.ibb.co/3WJK0hV/oldfolks-sediment-testate-40-brightfield-EDF-1-small.png At first, I thought they must be testate a...
- Sun Sep 20, 2020 9:27 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: What is this animal?
- Replies: 1
- Views: 1239
What is this animal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx1HEHzRTkQ You can see in the video that it has small, extendable claws like a tardigrade's on the front and the back. It's way too long to be a tardigrade, though, and seems to have an articulated joint before the head and biting mandibles. Some kind of larva? But I...
- Sun Sep 20, 2020 7:37 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: A few recent findings
- Replies: 10
- Views: 3409
Re: A few recent findings
Does that work well? I've been looking for something to slow down the little zoomers enough to get better pictures.
- Sun Sep 20, 2020 7:25 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: A few recent findings
- Replies: 10
- Views: 3409
Re: A few recent findings
What kind of lighting is that on the unidentified ciliate?
Edit: Wow, for some reason it didn't show me your last reply in this thread. Already answered!
Is it slowed down, or in glycerin or something? I've never seen cilia move like that before.
Edit: Wow, for some reason it didn't show me your last reply in this thread. Already answered!
Is it slowed down, or in glycerin or something? I've never seen cilia move like that before.
- Sun Sep 20, 2020 6:04 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Stentor swimming freely and rooted.
- Replies: 0
- Views: 1004
Stentor swimming freely and rooted.
Got some recordings of a Stentor of some kind last night. First, swimming freely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxhlulT0IT4 And then later, rooted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0znNzVP6es Scale bar for reference: https://i.ibb.co/m877Kdh/Huntley-Meadows-surfacescum-stentor-10-brightfield-3-sma...
- Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:14 pm
- Forum: Illumination Techniques
- Topic: Do the different oblique filters really do anything different?
- Replies: 6
- Views: 3118
Re: Do the different oblique filters really do anything different?
I probably should have been clearer - what I'm wondering is whether there is any difference between the different oblique filter shapes. I can't seem to detect much of a difference except that larger shapes let more light in.
- Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:06 am
- Forum: Illumination Techniques
- Topic: Do the different oblique filters really do anything different?
- Replies: 6
- Views: 3118
Do the different oblique filters really do anything different?
I ordered a set of filters from an ebay seller, mostly for the darkfield filters sized correctly for my objectives. They also came with some oblique filters, though. A cut-out circle to the side, a crescent moon shape, a different moon shape that has a solid rim for some reason, and a double flower ...
- Sat Sep 12, 2020 6:46 pm
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Amoeba with a belly full of diatoms
- Replies: 0
- Views: 1488
Amoeba with a belly full of diatoms
I found this amoeba in the sediment of my algae culture bowl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOchECLsts8 The amoeba is too large to keep the whole thing in focus at the same time, so I focus back and forth through the video to bring different parts of it into view. Picture for size reference, as I ...
- Sat Sep 12, 2020 8:28 am
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Teeming circle of mystery
- Replies: 0
- Views: 1662
Teeming circle of mystery
I can't figure out what I recorded here. The movement could be organelles, bacteria, or just Brownian motion - it's pretty small. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AwVZouJGS8 Here's an image with a scale bar, since I haven't figured out how to add those to videos in ToupView yet. In this image, it do...
- Fri Sep 11, 2020 6:40 am
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Hypotrichia Vulpinarius
- Replies: 7
- Views: 3785
Re: Hypotrichia Vulpinarius
Please bear in mind that this is a cryptic species complex, and we don't have all the data yet. Also, as you can see, there is a lot of cellular distortion from the cover slip in this particular image. It might be a fox, but species-level identification of this subgroup is difficult.
- Fri Sep 11, 2020 6:12 am
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Hypotrichia Vulpinarius
- Replies: 7
- Views: 3785
Re: Hypotrichia Vulpinarius
Not sure why. It's a link to a tweet. Here's the image directly. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ehm-1C_WoAA ... ame=medium
- Fri Sep 11, 2020 5:10 am
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Hypotrichia Vulpinarius
- Replies: 7
- Views: 3785
Hypotrichia Vulpinarius
Here we see the ciliate Hypotrichia Vulpinarius under the slide. They're a large ciliate, so the cover slip causes a little distortion, but the basic anatomy is recognizable. https://twitter.com/hourlyfoxes/status/1304283387889364992 Note the black-tipped adoral zone of membranelles and the large, p...
- Fri Sep 11, 2020 3:26 am
- Forum: Pictures and Videos
- Topic: Closterium
- Replies: 10
- Views: 5221
Re: Closterium
Very nice, great picture.
When I find a big Closterium, one of my favorite things to do is record the Brownian motion in the barium crystals. It's soothing, somehow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOjyfcW4uKI
When I find a big Closterium, one of my favorite things to do is record the Brownian motion in the barium crystals. It's soothing, somehow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOjyfcW4uKI
- Thu Sep 10, 2020 2:31 am
- Forum: Beginner's corner
- Topic: Keeping a 60x objective from crashing
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4717
Re: Keeping a 60x objective from crashing
Yes, that's why I asked "how." Apologies if I somehow gave the impression that I was blaming the equipment.
- Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:36 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Is this a Hypotrich?
- Replies: 1
- Views: 1639
Is this a Hypotrich?
I'm a novice at this, so I'm just looking to confirm some of my IDs. I believe, based on what I can see, that this is some kind of Hypotrich. Is that correct? Here's a video recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unJGIB4MV-g Here's an image with a scale bar. It's blurry, but useful for size. htt...
- Wed Sep 09, 2020 1:39 pm
- Forum: Digital processing
- Topic: Toupview question on scale bars
- Replies: 2
- Views: 4668
Re: Toupview question on scale bars
Asked and answered! Thank you, mrsonchus.
- Tue Sep 08, 2020 5:34 pm
- Forum: Digital processing
- Topic: Toupview question on scale bars
- Replies: 2
- Views: 4668
Toupview question on scale bars
Apologies if this is answered in the ToupView documentation, but I couldn't seem to find it. Sometimes, I'll snap a picture in ToupView and realize that I had the wrong magnification selected from the drop down. If that happens, I can't seem to figure out how to make ToupView change the magnificatio...
- Tue Sep 08, 2020 5:24 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Question about the D.J. Patterson key
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1794
Re: Question about the D.J. Patterson key
Thanks for the help. Yes, I've actually had more use out of the key by following it backwards - locating the picture that looks most like what I'm looking for, then seeing what questions lead to it to determine if it's a match. That kind of matrix key would be very useful, and definitely possible in...
- Tue Sep 08, 2020 5:33 am
- Forum: Beginner's corner
- Topic: Microscope for ancient coin restoration: advice needed
- Replies: 9
- Views: 4264
Re: Microscope for ancient coin restoration: advice needed
I don't have much in the way of useful advice, but I want to say I love this subject. I have one passion for hobbyist microscopy, and another for ancient numismatics. I never thought to combine them! Best of luck! Edit: After reading the thread more carefully, I may have some useful input after all....
- Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:37 am
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Question about the D.J. Patterson key
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1794
Question about the D.J. Patterson key
Hello! I'm a hobbyist-level microscopist, and I've been relying pretty heavily on Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide by D.J. Patterson for identification of the protozoa I'm finding. This guide uses a binary key to sort the protozoa it identifies, which isn't my favorite method, but the...
- Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:15 am
- Forum: Beginner's corner
- Topic: Keeping a 60x objective from crashing
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4717
Re: Keeping a 60x objective from crashing
That's a good idea Bob, I'll probably try it tomorrow.
My camera is a little bit out of focus from the objectives, but not by a whole lot. I tend to get a focus through the eyepieces before I even think about the camera, anyway.
My camera is a little bit out of focus from the objectives, but not by a whole lot. I tend to get a focus through the eyepieces before I even think about the camera, anyway.
- Fri Sep 04, 2020 8:07 pm
- Forum: Beginner's corner
- Topic: Keeping a 60x objective from crashing
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4717
Re: Keeping a 60x objective from crashing
Thanks for the tips Hobbyst46, but those are things that I've mostly considered and tried. And yes, I never use the coarse focus knob above 10x. One thing I hadn't considered was the position of my fine focus knob when focusing with the coarse at 4x, so I'll try fiddling with that and see if I can g...
- Fri Sep 04, 2020 5:57 pm
- Forum: Beginner's corner
- Topic: Keeping a 60x objective from crashing
- Replies: 10
- Views: 4717
Keeping a 60x objective from crashing
I recently replaced my 100x oil with a 60x dry objective. I'm having difficulty keeping it from crashing, even though it seems parfocal with the other objectives. As soon as I begin focusing with the fine focus knob, I see things in the wet mount start to shift around, which I assume means the objec...
- Sat Aug 22, 2020 8:51 am
- Forum: Beginner's corner
- Topic: Suggestion for experiments?
- Replies: 4
- Views: 2696
Re: Suggestion for experiments?
If you have access to pond water, keep two containers of water from the same source in different conditions (light, temperature, sealed vs open, etc) and see how the populations in each differ over time.
- Sat Aug 22, 2020 12:54 am
- Forum: Beginner's corner
- Topic: What's the best way to examine sediment-dwelling protozoa?
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2247
What's the best way to examine sediment-dwelling protozoa?
I'd like to find some sediment-dwellers, but putting even a tiny grain of sediment on the slide lifts up the cover slip quite a bit and unbalances it. I know the trick of putting two cover slips underneath the third in order to lift it up, but then I run into the problem that there's quite a lot of ...
- Thu Aug 20, 2020 6:44 pm
- Forum: Identification help
- Topic: Is this a ciliate or a flagellate?
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1459
Re: Is this a ciliate or a flagellate?
After some more reading, and based on the jumping movement it was exhibiting before I recorded this, I'm pretty sure it's a Halteria. I was getting tripped up because the equatorial cirri were long enough to look like stiff flagella of some kind.