MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Yes, getting a look at a variety of angles is hugely helpful to understanding the architecture of these fascinating forms! Here's an article I found pretty interesting on the very subject: https://tinyurl.com/u5bchhq Hi Kurt, thank you for this link! The comparative views are really interesting. An...

Hi, it is possible to get an image on the sensor by lifting the eyepiece a bit and let it project on the sensor in a certain distance. Without eyepiece and any other optics in it's place I can't figure out how this will bring an image on the sensor. The more expensive adapter works after a principle...

Hi Jan, before you spend money on a repair by somebody else you might consider buying a standard power supply like a lab power supply. When the connection between microscope and PSU is just two wires, this will be a simple job to do. If there are more than one voltage supplied or additional control ...

Hi Glen, thank for the ID and the link! Here one more in diagonal orientation, Anne from the german forum names it Biddulphia pulchella. Diatoms are a bit like architecture - once you have grasped the general concept it becomes understandable. I have not yet reached this state with diatoms... :roll:...

Thank you for pointing this error out! I have corrected it in the text. The formatting of my ID resource is not too clear and I connected the wrong description to the right image. But at least this new ID should be close to spot on.

Hi Doron, this was mounted in Naprax, no idea how the material was cleaned, for sure no harsh acid cleaning. Image taken with Zeiss DIC "old". When everything fits perfectly one gets a kind of darkfield look. With the Zeiss Jena 40/0,95 I only get a black strip which I can place as best as possible,...

Hi together, yesterday I had a look at a couple of diatom slides and found an interesting one from the Seychelles. I didn't wan't to touch the oil resources so used the Zeiss Jena 40 / 0,95 dry Apo. Here I will show some better snapshots. The slide contains objects that I would ithink of as pollen s...

Hi Michael, when looking closely these well slides are often ground quite coarse. The refractive index of glass and water is different so the well forms some kind of lens the is not part of the optical calculation. Fot these reasons it is not a goos idea to use well slides as a first choice for ever...

Hi Michael,
welcome to the forum!
Plancton life is really interesting and it even can be installed in the house in form an small pond tanks of 1-20 liters.
In this forum you will find help if needed and will get a lot of ideas to follow with you microscope.

Bob

Great image, thank you for posting it!

Bob

Hi Phil, interesting project and welcome in front of the cave! :lol: For high power illumination I like Cree XHP 50 and 70 LEDS. They have 4 small emitters very close to each other and offer 18 or 32 Watts. I too have a stereo microscope illuminator to improve, for a nive and versatile Meopta stereo...

Hi together,
I just saw that some quickly moving worms now live in my placton aquarium. I find it very interesting how life in there changes over time.

They are just worms but seem to enjoy themselves!

https://vimeo.com/378528648

Bob

Here I posted a picture of a dried out diatom in salt water: http://www.microbehunter.com/microscopy-forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8130&p=71279&hilit=diatom#p71279 I frequently take a microscope with me when I travel, but here I had to improvise a preparation method and the result was special but intere...

Diatoms can be found in different places so why not start with something simple. When you scrape of the slime film on water plants you will usually find diatoms, and not too much dirt. Then you place some diatom slime on a cover slip, place the cover slip on a piece of flat stainless steel sheet met...

Hi Steve, whether you will find complete diatom frustures or not varies from product to product. As this is no defined property of the product it may vary too. Generally you have to expect lots of broken bits and an intact diatom here and there. Especially the bigger diatoms will be broken most of t...

Hi Kurt, in some cases I learned to hate these hand cranked things. As a boy I only had a hand cranked drill that really was not much fun to use. Also the typical coffee grinder with its coarse running is not ideal. But a good old brace for removing wood out of tenon holes and the hand centrifuge ju...

This diatom material from Pensacola is really nice and quite exotic for me as a german. I think about making another group meeting on diatoms and might select this material for the slide making if there is enough available of it. May be some kind of world tour in diatom slides or so.

Hi together, I just picked up about 2000 35mm slides with micro photographs from an old member of our group who is parting due to age. As a first test I scanned 4 slides with my Canoscan 9000F MK2 flat bed scanner. Here I show you a picture of the algae Stigeoclon flagellifera (haven't checked this ...

Hi Glen,
it might be an Odontella or Triceratium.
My identification library has more gaps than books in it. I just got proper ID books for european diatoms. This usually is very pricey stuff.

Bob

Hi together,
here a colourful interpretation of a diatom from Pensacola, Florida, girdle band view.
I originally thought to use it for a good-bye card for a group member who leaves for age reasons and tried to pick up his image style in a way.

Bob

Hi Klaus, welcome to the forum! The "Mikroskopische Gesellschaft Wien" is very active and you might find sombady there who knows about the equipment you look for: http://www.mgw.or.at/ Reichert is a very good but not widely used brand. A second chance might be www.mikroskopie-forum.de though Reicher...

MicroBob wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 08, 2019 6:28 pm

but I like my hand crank centrifuge.

Well, one thing has changed: Our kitchen table has been blocked by an oatmeal flaker and a kitchen grater in the mean time. These hand cranked devices seem to proliferate - beware!

Hi together, this foam plate and bowl rotor will probably work as long as the centrifuge is balanced very well. But as soon as there is a bit of weight difference around the rotor it will have problems to rev up and start to wobble. For a good DIY centrifuge it would be helpful to use a motor with s...

Hi,
it is not unusual that the two optical ways are somewhat different in colour or brightness as the light pathes are different. A severe difference is not usual and might be the result of a delaminated prism. The air layer between the components leads to reflection losses.

Bob

Hi Dawid, thank you for showing your lens- transplantation! It is very contrary to common theories about microscope design and manufacturing that this works. For this reason it is especially nice that you have had success. You may lead others to try a bit more themselves even if the theory says no. ...

Hi together,

there is a nice little field microscope from Reichert on ebay: https://www.ebay.de/itm/REICHERT-WIEN-l ... 4422035953

Bob

Hi Dawid, welcome to the forum! It is nice to see that somebody squeezes such nice results out of a basic microscope! In microscopy there is often the idea that you need a well equipped research instrument before you can tackle interesting subjects, but this is not the case. I once had a comparable ...

Hi together, the collection of particles between 333µm and 5mm really is not useful to determine the scope of the micro plastic problem. There may have been a cause for this selective fishing: Most plancton is below 333µm and one avoids a net full of algae and protozoa with a few plastic particles i...

Hi,
the disc itself won't be a problem but often these microscopes lack a condenser. This limits the image quality especially at higher magnifications. I once improved a 50€ Aldi microscope by adding an improvised condenser lens to one position of the disc.This helped a lot.

Bob

One more idea:
A strip of scotch tape could keep the arrangement together, act as a cover slip and is safe to use.

Bob