MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Personally, I'm not sure why a silicone based grease would be more likely to get all over anything than any other grease. You're probably right. I guess what I don't like about silicone-based lubes is the persistent slick feel, even after wiping off with a rag, say (though the silicone feel can be ...

No, it does not work for me, either (hovering the camera). But just pop on the adapter & drop into the eyepiece tube and you get a good image (though it's not perfectly parfocal with the remaining eyepiece). I think it may have to do with the camera's electronics needing a lens or adapter screwed on...

I don't think that you need an adapter with a lens. Here's the one I use for eyepiece-tube imaging, and it works great on a BH2: flat-field, no vignetting,etc. Worth trying out at the price, anyway: https://www.ebay.com/itm/23-2mm-Microscope-Adapter-Tube-T-Ring-for-Olympus-Panasonic-Micro-4-3-Camera...

Does anyone have experience with Dow Corning Molykote 7348 for the mechanical stage X-Y motion or condenser focusing rails ? No, but I personally would stay away from silicone oils or greases for anything around optical equipment, since it gets everywhere and pretty soon your equipment has that sli...

The manner of using - gently, sparingly etc - may count more than the specific brand of cleaner... I agree with that completely. Proper technique counts for a lot. I think that the photographic field is to blame for much of this angst. There is a certain percentage of photographers that mistreat th...

unfortunately, I too have ant colonies. one is in the beam over my workbench in the driveshed and the other in the beam in the pantry/woodhouse area of the farm house. would you like some? If they are in the beams, they may have displaced and destroyed termite colonies; if so, this would come under...

I agree with KurtM regarding the great ease of use of an inverted microscope for certain applications. I, too, find it amazingly fast and much more 'ergonomic' to use when examing pond samples and spending a fair amount of time scanning the sample for activity, interactions, and other ecological mat...

I' ve found that the most innocuous solvent is (with the somewhat ambiguous name) what we call in the U.S. 'petroleum naphtha', commonly available as Coleman Camp Fuel or lighter fluid. It helps to remove stickers and their gooey deposits (not to mention grease and oil) yet doesn't seem to attack fi...

They look like phase telescopes to me, too. If you substitute one for an eyepiece, and turn the focusing part in and out, do you see it progressively focusing on various parts of the optical train (objective innards, the condenser iris, etc.) ? If they are, and work pretty well, you may be able to u...

Although it depends on your use of the microscope (cutting edge research? personal hobby use?), and how much money you want to spend, many on this forum would recommend the older microscopes as being superior in the benefit per cost sense. The computer analogy is specious. Computer technology has pr...

Here is another solution: a granite slab. Sometimes these can be found locally as surplus. I used to have a granite-cutting facility near me that would put out defective slabs on the ground in front of their company yard for passersby to take for free. They made tombstones, and slabs for machine too...

OK, great. So I will recommend neither a professional gasket-cutter nor a punch set. Why not just compass draw them onto the cardboard and then just cut them out by hand (like you're probably already doing...)? I think the error from hand-cutting must be within the allowable tolerances for a stop. I...

We're working in the dark here. Please let us know the hole size, thickness and type of material you are cutting.

It looks to be a "tilting compensator", used in polarization studies of birefringent materials. It has nothing to do with the other item (the micrometer eyepiece). Here is a manual (top row, middle) for the Leitz equivalent (go to the pdf page 16 of the manual for the English version): http://micros...

And here it is:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Complete- ... SwdYlZpEue

Apparently you have an old (1960s) Leitz comparison microscope, used in a forensics lab to compare items, e.g., bullets for similar rifling marks. Not a tremendously valuable item these days, since a lab would buy new, but to a collector? Who knows. Here's a link to the manual for the bigger floor-m...

Great information, MicroBob, thanks a heap! Good to have some knowledgeable Leitz people on the forum.

I guess you're right about the era; none of my literature resources pre-date the late 60's, and they don't mention OK & B.

I have a Leitz 23mm eyepiece marked "Periplan, OK. 8xB" , and was wondering what the OK and the B signified. I have previously learned that an "o" (in the catalogs printed as a superscript) means a slightly larger field diaphragm (to prevent vignetting in photo use), and that "M" means a focusable e...

I make it point to use Sandisk whenever I need to buy an SD card. They're outstanding, from my personal perspective; and as long as it's class 10...

I am looking for documentation (manuals, etc.) for the B&L (later Cambridge) PhotoZoom inverted microscope.

All I've been able to find, so far, is a patent from 1990 patenting the external arrangement & styling of the scope.

Thanks, fellas. If anyone takes some good images, please post them.

I still have 10 of them left from this order.

OK, there's already been a hiccup: ebay added postage to Kurt's order; his payment already paid for postage, so he got a big refund!! Congratulations, Kurt, now go buy some lottery tickets! I've relisted the item at $7.50 per dish (total postage on multiple buys will be calculated by ebay; we'll see...

Excellent! When applied to microscopes, we will be able to get rid of those pesky objectives and eyepieces!

Thanks for the tips. I'm not on Facebook (I know, I know: sacrilege!), but I'll put it on photomacro after I see how they move here.

Here's the link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/273423562131?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 I believe that using the cart, to buy more than one, asks me to send you, the buyer, an invoice for total charges; if it doesn't do this automatically, please choose that invoice option, so tha...

I am offering 18 of these little (50mm) plastic-and-glass dishes at cost to the members, since the minimum is somewhat expensive ($100/20) for individuals. Please buy only one or two (unless I complain about no buyers in the next few weeks, lol.) The dish is #14025-20 (Pella stock number; http://www...

I've purchased several of the glass-bottomed 50mm-wide culture dishes from Ted Pella. All except 2 are for sale on ebay at my cost. See my post regarding the details under stuff-for-sale.

So I guess I won't be using superglue to cement lenses together, anytime soon...(lol)

Well, I just found out that one cannot just replace the 1820's circular stage plate with a higher one for 45mm objectives and retain complete functionality. The objective turret cannot be rotated with 45mm objectives in place, even with the turret lowered all the way (the scope focuses by raising/lo...

PeteM is correct, either the stage platform or the removable stage plate needs to be raised in order to accomodate the 45mm objectives; no big deal. I think it would be easier to make a new stage plate that is higher, so one could switch back and forth between objective lengths a bit easier. While I...