MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Well, it's been a little while. Seems that getting into the cabinets I keep my microscopes in is a fall/ winter thing for me. I did travel with this to salt and fresh water locations and used it a bit in 2021, I would call it "played with it". Optically I found my Bresser XPD-101 decent, leaning to ...

Tissue culture growth media have salts of course but especially, proteins (think dilute blood plasma or fetal bovine serum). If dilute enough you may not get the opaque results as it dried/ aged as one may expect.

You may want to look at solvents useful for proteinaceous materials.

That Ashai adapter looks great, I have a few uses for it. The helical focus- is a goal to keep this stack as short as possible, it that a downside for the one on Amazon? I was looking for items at Amazon and similar online shops to help provide predictable delivery window- but for cost and smaller h...

That helps a lot, thank you. Great info about the phototube clone and what to look for. The adapters I will try: https://www.adorama.com/cntmnk.html https://www.adorama.com/cnta1q.html I will need to make a reducer as this is 1.25", but clearly that will be able to go around the eyepiece being used ...

Hi all; I have obtained a trinoc head for my AOSeries 10, and am looking for best options to mount my NIkon DSLR. I don't want to use a C-mount camera for multiple reasons. I have both DX and FX Nikon SLRs available, but would prefer to dedicate a DX body. What is the best way to be as parfocal as p...

I don't know if they were an optional accessory or just got lost a lot (I did dig around on xmission but could not decide) but I have two model 735's that I would like to fit with brackets, if someone happens to have extra. I did see a forum post where someone modified a Cokin filter holder for this...

I really appreciate all the replies on this, there is a fair amount of discussion off and on since 2016 or so and it took me a bit to get the timeline sorted in my head. I think I am right when I realize that the FM-31 'clone' that Bresser still lists today- that should? be the same clone examined i...

Thank you all for your replies. Sometimes I would be looking at insect parts, sometimes aquatic samples. Portable and sturdy/reliable are drivers for me as I already have too much gear I pack around, if it can't do "everything" good image quality on what it can to is v. important. After all I can ge...

Hi all; When I travel (we'll get to travel again, right??) I have my macro photography camera kit all sorted out, and recently I started looking at field microscopes. After watching a working McArthur go for $1200 on ebay recently, and many other "classic" ones not available, I started looking at mo...

Thank you!

I have put several hours trying to figure this out, but so far I am not finding the right reference doc or google search hit. I am sure the information is in one of the .gif manuals/ price lists from PSNeeley's site, but I don't get search engine hits and if it is in an image capture of a document p...

Thanks Pete, I was hoping someplace still had the small-sided objective cases. If anyone has a few spare, I could use a few! The spacers, I was wondering if they were for an adjustment but then every objective had them on, which like you say seems unexpected. If I can find my digital caliper (sigh) ...

Hi, As I build out the capabilities of my series 10, piecemeal. Sometimes objectives come with what I will call the small-format objective holder. It fits the objective closely and the holder fits the old AO accessories boxes. Sometimes in baggie or just naked. I see sources for RMS thread objective...

Perfect, thank you--

I am going to take a look at a few scratch-n-dent stereoscopes and I was thinking about taking some printed calibration / test page with me. I've spent a bit of time searching but don't find anything obviously made for this freely available. I am guessing something like a standard printer test page ...

That's great, I will keep that in mind for the non-dark objectives.

So for something like #1227, dark field oil, 34mm, that would work with the right-sized "regular" phase inserts, 0/1/2/ DF?
No need for a 100x-specific or #1227-specific solution (on the Series 10)

Hi, I've been reading a number of things and want to confirm: I would like to use phase with the AO series 10 I am finding parts and pieces for. Right now there are a number of dark (and some bright) phase objectives for this scope on ebay, but pretty much none come with a phase annulus to match. Th...

Thank you Hans and apochronaut. I really appreciate your looking and the estimate on when this was made. The objective that made me think one might be different total focal length was/is the one with the yellow bands. I can't seem to get a good image from that one, but I think/hope it just needs cle...

It does look like I have a mix of both heights on the scope today. Where might I find the serial # on this? The number 908269 that is stamped into one part of the scope frame doesn't match the serial number range listed here: https://user.xmission.com/~psneeley/Personal/Microscope.htm and the link t...

That's great, thank you both. How backwards compatible are the objectives on these, as long as I avoid anything on ebay that is "infinity", could I be OK? How to tell where the cutoff is (look for catalog numbers near the ones on the objectives I have? : ) I am also looking for a manual / catalog wi...

A little while ago when a colleague learned I liked microscopy, I was given this scope. Looks like university surplus, so probably got bounced around a bit, last serviced in 1993 per stickers. Overall it looks and feels OK, not as dirty internally as externally by far, usable condition oil objective...

About using LEDs, are there kits that are mostly drop-in or is it more a design-your-own? Of course I am digging into this over the holidays, so I am not seeing pricing right away, at least where I am looking for LED kits for Nikon microscopes. I see some review articles back as far as 2008 about us...

Thank you all again, it looks like I can only reply to the thread not each post one by one. -bulb vs. LED. One of the scopes I am looking at comes with: Nikon HBO Mercury power supply but no bulb. It looks like a bulb is $150-ish but I am not sure I trust the sources. Back in the day, I think mercur...

Thank you both- -the " naming" vs. the physical imaging chip sizing, of course, I should have looked at specs. Thank you. -I found the adapters on ebay you mention, I sent the seller a note. I am confused about the use of "photo relay lens" in this thread as I don't yet see a 2.5X solution like that...

Do you have an example image still around? I guess there is something basic that I am missing. If the adapter is spreading the image for a 1" sensor. but my camera has a smaller sensor. And the backplane/ imaging area of my camera is where it should be. I would expect serious cropping but not vignet...

Thanks, how lacking is the coverage of the DSLR sensor? The Gimp and Photoshop Elements exist to help with cropping of course. A Plus to using the Diagnostic Instruments adapter is that it is physically solid.... I probably was not searching for the right things to find that the Nikon objective woul...

Hi all; I am purchasing a setup for home- 20 years ago I did a lot of TEM/SEM, confocal, fluorescence, etc. But nothing since then as I switched what I do for a living. My occasional home needs are currently met with a really nice but really old monocular from 1960 or so. -I want to end up with fluo...