MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Excellent!! Very nice! Thanks, so far it is performing as well or better than I expected. The phase contrast is really nice. Oil immersion so far hasn't been terribly impressive, but it could be that the things I've looked at so far just don't lend themselves to that - maybe they're too 3-D, thick,...

I added actual image attachments, see above.
Thanks

(edited to include attached images rather than external link)

I'm not sure the exact type of pine tree this is, it's in my back yard. I think it's a Ponderosa, but not 100% sure.

First, phase contrast, then brightfield

GerryR wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 03, 2024 10:51 am

Pictures?? (There is a saying, "Without pictures, it didn't Happen.")

EDIT - added pic of microscope:

Here's a recent pic thru it. I believe it's a morsel of mushroom gill with some spores in it:

A while back I saw a graphic explaining the mushroom lifecycle and noticed that when the spores are created they are in groups of four (sometimes at least, maybe not all, IDK). I took a spore print of a tiny mushroom, and found this chunk of tissue containing spores. In this, I noticed at least a fe...

Yes, I'll give it a shot. Might try the red camera manually this weekend. Can't try the blue action cam until I get the mini HDMI adapter. But due to plans, probably won't make a lot of progress on this for a few weeks.

Thanks for the replies. The small vials that I have do not have any information as to the volume/amount of dye contained. They are like eye-drop size little plastic squeeze dropper bottles. I suspect that one is supposed to add distilled water or alcohol, but no info at all. I've emailed the supplie...

Take a look at this… https://www.amazon.com/Orion-5338-SteadyPix-Deluxe-Camera/dp/B0069VXY7K Thanks - yes, this type of thing might be the ticket. I'll do some more digging! Hi, kblackwell, first try 'hand holding your 'point and shoot camera' at the vertical port..with that port having an eyepiece...

Wait! I just spotted this in one of the microbehunter videos!
Does anyone know what this is called, if it's available for purchase?

OK - thanks for the info. I suspected as much, but thought I'd ask.

Thanks, I'll poke around the interwebs a bit more, was hoping it would be a quick Duh, just add water type of answer.

Hi, Thanks for the quick reply, it's nothing that fancy, just blue and red.
"Includes Eosin Red & Methylene Blue Stain Powders"

Hi
I now have a few tiny bottles of powdered dye.
They didn't come with instructions. How do I use it?
Do I need to just fill the bottle with water?
Do I spill out a bit and mix it into water as needed per slide?
Thanks

Hello, I have this Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH25 camera. I have a trinocular microscope. When the camera is on and the lens is out, it does fit into the photo port and I can use the tightener to make it secure. But, it needs some sort of lens in there. I'm only seeing a small circle of light in the cente...

Thanks - I think that's what they are - though I hadn't heard that term before!
I should read up on this.

The brown guys are 100% mushroom spores that I collected from a mushroom in my yard - 400x
Otherwise, IDK.

I'm thinking the green blobby object lower left might be some bit of dirt/dust that got in there when the cover came off (slide and cover fell to the floor but didn't break)

Hi The little squiggly bits in this picture of mushroom spores.... look like fuzz or threads. Could these be the start of mycellium coming out of the spores, or would they just be some sort of artifact, say from the water drying out of the slide? This is my slide of mushroom spores I created a while...

Several weeks ago I got a microscope that looked like it had all the features I wanted. Unfortunately, the electronics for the dimmer were crap and I'm in the process of trying to return it - yes, I did file a dispute with my cc company as the vendor has been sluggish about honoring their alleged re...

Thanks. Considering it's a mediocre smartfone and I had to hold it steady, etc., the pic came out good.
I was really amazed, having never looked at spores before I was afraid I'd be struggling to find them, then fighting to focus on them but no, bam! There they were.

Yay! I made my first slide, and took my first microscope photo. These are spores from what I believe to be a mica cap mushroom found in my yard. The photo was taken by holding my phone up to the eyepiece. It is a lot clearer to the naked eye. I did get a trinocular microscope but haven't mounted a c...

Hmmm. IDK, I was able to read your pm reply fine, and am looking for the link you refer to
Thanks

thanks, I'll send you a pm

Quick followup question - if you get a DF microscope, that basically just means that it comes with a DF condenser, and you can use it without the DF condenser as a BF, yes?

Hi, Thanks for the replies! I have looked a bit at the used Nikon/Olympus. It seems like Yeah, I could probably get a used one of those for less than a brand new "lesser" brand, but would have to cross my fingers, then blow hundreds more on add-on bits to get the features I'm after. It's not like I'...

Thank you for the information! I really appreciate it. It sounds like 100x immersion would just work better, even with the hassle of oil - I likely would not be doing this on a daily basis, so the cleanup shouldn't be that big an ordeal. The reticle, do you just put that into one of the eyepieces? D...

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 upfron...