MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Impressive !
I tried to see details of your microscopy setup but did not find them in the link.

Turret phase contrast condenser Cat . 465277 includes a DF position that gives nice DF with low-mag dry objectives. The condenser must be oiled to the slide bottom for that purpose. The Ph3 port of the various turret phase contrast condensers gives acceptable DF with the 6.3X and 10X objectives. May...

Optiphot halogen lamp is indeed 12V 50W - re-verified with the Manual
Optiphot 2 halogen lamp is indeed 12V 100W - re-verified with the Manual

Important information to inverted microscope users. Those are probably features that the manufacturer/seller never mentions... Dripping oil is really nuisance in those cases. I have even heard of pumps or other devices for catching the overflow.

Thanks.

Welcome. On the Zeiss Microscope, it is good that the X-Y control knob on the stage is placed along the left side of the microscope. This way the condenser rack knob is easily accessed. Would you tell the details of the Zeiss Microscope camera optical train ? photo eyepiece ? additional lenses ? whi...

Did you try a drop of light machine oil on the stuck pin ? penetrating oil maybe ? that part is over-engineered IMHO.

Ok, thanks guys for the informative comments. What about using the dedicated DF condenser that is intended for larger aperture objectives and oil immersion with those dry high aperture objectives? I would like a DF system without using oil immersion. However, I do happen to have a set of Leitz wate...

Here is the Baker Ultra Condenser: Baker ultracondenser.jpg food for thought? 1. In the Baker condenser, Is that a specimen flow-chamber instead of a slide ? the specimen flows by means of gravity ? or is it a flow of immersion oil :? 2. Brownian motion is a fascinating demonstration of light scatt...

I wonder if NOT using a conventional slide but a coverslip might push the NA of the condenser past 1.4. Again one would have to do the math to see what that effect would be. Wild guess -did it work, someone would have certainly suggest it a long time ago ! Moreover, someone would have designed a DF...

It is possible that Zeiss coined the term Ultracondenser because in the early years of DF , the technique was referred to as " Ultramicroscopy" because using DF particles or inclusions could be detected that were below the theoretical limit using BF. I think so too, since when I first read about ul...

Hello all, Here is another small test of the Ultracondenser (cardiodid dark field oil condenser), pushing towards the high NA limit. I do not have any objectives of NA>1 with iris or funnel stops. Intriguing post.... I'm not familiar with the "Ultracondenser"; is that a Zeiss product and what's its...

I think that on the BX, one manually registers an objective into the software. The software recognizes the objective that sits at the optical train, and the ordinal number of the turret position. One installs the objective and tells the software which one it is, in the operating software of the moto...

Granite itself, when eroded and disintegrated by the elements, forms beautiful and rich sand, where the three main components - quartz, feldspar and mica - are separated. Fun looking with and without polarized light.

...2. No fluorescence dyes were used and I do not know what that red stuff is though I've seen it elsewhere in the internets. Interestingly, I can see these rotifers in my water sample and they have a rust-red color. When I take it out of the fridge, there's a rust colored sludge at the bottom that...

A beautiful presentation ! of the scenery and sample. Questions: 1. Details of microscope, camera etc ? 2. The inside of most or all of the rotifers includes a bright red corpuscle. Was it fluorescence (combined with DF) ? the leaky crushed rotifer was devoid of that red stain. 3. Were the green cir...

If I remember correctly an 82c filter knocks out the blue. That way you get both. Usually possible to get a camera filter to drop over the field lens. When using filters, will there not be any loss of spectrum? The blue peak in the spectrum of 6000-6500K LEDs is especially strong. The 82C or altern...

Great images !

I have read a number of theories as to why it occurs. Wrong type of cements, improper storage conditions, vibration/shock, the phase of the moon…in other words many guesses and no real documented evidence. Any thoughts on this? What is wrong in the "theories" ? the behavior of glass and cements und...

A question…is delamination worse for the viewing experience when it occurs in the eyepieces or the objectives? How about in the condenser or intermediate lens? Many condensers consist of single lenses (not doublets formed by cementing) so no delamination is expected. In principle, all glass doublet...

Of course in the used market the buyer is at the mercy of the reseller. At Ebay the bad actor sellers required the company’s intervention since buyers quit buying after being burned. IMHO, the situation is not that bad, no need for such pessimism. I found that eBay's buyer protection is efficient a...

So I followed the reasoning and advices posted by Apochronaut about a year ago, and removed the shroud. I wrapped the barrel and shroud, each with a strip of 5mm thick leather (taken from an old belt), gripped each with a curved (or semi-curved) 10" vise-grip (one from Franklin, Japan, the other som...

So the spring mechanism of retraction of the 40X Zeiss Neofluar starts to fail. The barrel retracts under pressure, but stays up and must be pulled to return to normal position. In the Olympus SB objectives, the end cap serves as retainer for the spring. When the end cap is removed the spring pops o...

When a company introduces a new product line, there is always questions from the user community concerning compatibility with existing equipment…the users want full compatibility to leverage current investments while the company wants partial to nil so to introduce new tech and sell products..and t...

Just for fun, I fitted my short barrel Olympus objectives (achromat, planapo) on the Zeiss stage. With Olympus WF10X eyepieces. Raised the slide on a small metal riser, to compensate for the 45mm vs 37mm parfocality distance. The condenser cannot reach the slide in such arrangement, so it was raised...

About " I know that the general advice is to buy something cheap first, then upgrade later " I would try to buy a good quality trinocular microscope, whether simple or sophisticated. Microscopes are precision instruments, it is part of the fun. Low quality scopes only drive one away from the hobby. ...

I invite a conversation discussing the differences/similarities of the Olympus BH/CH scopes. In particular I would like learn more about how compatible CH/BH versus CH2/BH2 accessories are..in particular in the phase arena…which would include the various phase condensers and short/long objectives. ...

(sorry, redundant)

@PeteM : Very nicely explained. Just two small comments - UV extends up to 390nm; wavelengths above that are visible: violet (around 400nm) to blue (around 450nm). - I once read that the ideal daylight for microscopy, that they used 100 years ago or so, was reflected sunlight (from clouds) rather th...

Thanks, the "seed parachute" idea seems quite interesting. I'll scan the area around my home for possibilities. There are very few mosquitos where I live, thankfully, but I'll look around my residence for a dead spider or something like that. My "slide" is actually a 10mm optical window of borosili...