MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Really interesting and carefully constructed image, potentially created millions of times per day. Yes, thank you for taking the time to post it. One question I have is that the fully illuminated circle , appears to be somewhat oval, conforming more or less in it's length by width ratio to the princ...

Supplemental condenser lenses lead double lives and end up in strange places. My best acquisition of a needed one was from ebay and came complete with it's 1.4 achromat aplanat condenser. I picked it up on a Sunday morning and had to wait a while because the seller who looked like Keith Moon, especi...

It was my understanding the BF achieved the highest resolution possible, while others illumination techniques helped to gain contrast at the expense of a lower resolution. But of course, I might be wrong. Just talking about my personal experience This seems to have been the understanding and experi...

I agree with all that, Javier and you can mathematically show that DF should have lower resolution than BF but I am consistently finding fine details in DF that do not show up in BF. Part of that is probably caused by visual handicaps related to either the brains response to low light levels or poss...

It appears you have the required componnents for DIC The Polarizer, Analyser and the objective prism for the 25X L on the slider. It appears the condenser has a matching prism for the 25x (S25) as well? If so, it is complete for DIC on that one objective. Also, in a Labovert brochure there was this...

Best to get a 3rd eyepiece and mount a reticle in it. For some eyepieces there is a focusing version that can focus on the reticle separately, so it is as sharp as the field stop. The 3rd eyepiece goes in and out as needed. Reticles install easily with the precaution that every spec. is visible on t...

Hi I am interested in getting started with microscopy. My primary interest would be in observing and measuring mushroom spores, but also looking at tardigrades and other small critters, plant parts from my yard, etc. My budget is approx 500-900 USD, depending. I would rather pay a little more upfro...

I recognize that you have a system that you have evolved that works for culturing and live mounting but I see a few major red flags that could limit your attempts to increase resolution with higher N.A. objectives. 10X .25 is very forgiving. Anything over .30 or .35 increasingly not so The other thi...

You are certainly getting your money's worth out of that scope/camera. I am curious why you say that DF lowers resolution?

Cilia are a widespread cellular mechanism for both locomotion and locomoting substances. There are ciliated reproductive bodies or lifecycle stages that mimic a ciliated organism in form. Flagellated too, some quite small. In the previous query for instance, I mentioned a blastocyte or more likely a...

Those are very good. Curious what condenser and 20X objective you are using.

The problem with condenser WD I was thinking of is that standard petri dishes are 16mm high. When I flip a dish upside down, the condenser focus is something like 12-13 mm away from the bottom of the dish. Here's how it looks when I look through the bottom: IMG_3447.jpg This 10x has a WD of 18mm, s...

I suspect a blastocyst of some kind. I do see what looks like the movement of cilia. A contracted rotifer? They don't like to be squished.

You could set up a Euglena smoothee concession. Could be the next Spirulina ! Might tickle on the way down, though.

Thanks all for the input. The catalog number is 506135. I've had a hard time finding info on older Leica parts, and even the current Leica website is sparse with details on their current offerings. I bought this for looking through agar petri dishes, so upright scope should be fine I thought. I did...

I would think so. Having the modulater in the objective is probably covering 80% of the engineering complexity of the mechanism. The rest is kind of plug and play, not dissimilar to the related components in phase contrast. The reduction in contrast and likely brightness you noted in BF would be a n...

Looks like a modulation contrast gradient.

There were somewhat similar illumination systems made for DF use,, with a low wattage incandesdent bulb embedded inside a DF condenser.

User name should be Spermatozoa not Protozoa.

I started wearing a tintoil hat when I eat Tuna. Then all my fillings fell out. Turns out I bought an industrial tinfoil hat, the kind that thermometer recyclers and chlor-alkali workers use : 18 gauge. You can be too cautious. All I really needed was a diy tinfoil hat made from Reynold's wrap. Deve...

I don't know whether Leica continued with the Reichert and AO toric condenser or not. It is kind of a W.F. DF condenser and can cover a 2000 micron field, so can be used with a 10X objective and 10X/20 eyepieces. That would be the DF condenser to look for.

Hope it all works out for you. I use a somewhat similar condenser on a B & L Balplan Research stand. The chief engineer of the Balplan made a 125X 1.40 Flat Field Apochromat prototype and he and a colleague patented a really nice compatible condenser to go with it but I have never seen an example of...

All DF condensers or condensers modified to produce DF have limitations, so understanding those helps one to choose which method is most suitable. Obviously, using stops and an existing available condenser is the cheapest option. Stops are o.k., even good with up to a 20X objective and possibly high...

If you ever plan on doing high resolution DF you will need the iris.

Guessing but seems so. It is probably a very good condenser for higher N.A. objectives but it was for a microscope that utilized a mirror and remote illuminator, so it has a longer front focal length. It would work better on a microscope with a rear mounted illuminator, collimating optics , field di...

It was pretty hard to improve on a 1.40 achromat aplanat and most companies didn't need to because their objective range seldom exceeded a 1.40. Winkel made a 1.52 condenser in the 50's/60's. Leitz probably made that or a very similar condenser for 40 years, eventually marking the an N.A. on it. Lei...

Leica was not a microscope company until the 1991 merger. This condenser easily could be Leitz but not Leica. It is not a DF condenser.. It is a stacked BF condenser with sectional N.A. increases matching that required by the grouped objectives coupled to it's matched system. A DF condenser has to h...

I use what is likely an ancestor to the 40X 0.75 Fluotar fairly regularly. If it isn't , Leica would have used it as a prototype, if they didn't think they could make something even better otherwise, so the HCX 40X 0.75 Fluotar is probably at least as good as what I am using and notable due to W.D. ...

So then, might that not be pre-war Zeiss or possibly ROW? Weddig was in what became East Germany too.

The way I have typically branded condensers is stylistically. Comparing lettering, knurling and lathing and if available the design of the iris handle. None of that checks any boxes for me plus there were a considerable number of German makers. I have to assume it is German. Interesting stacked desi...