MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

I notice that when mounted on a turret, the faces - i.e. the engravings with the magnification, N.A. etc - of the objectives do not all point an the same radial direction. I would ecpect them to look either outward or to the axis. So the position relative to the start of the thread is not constant a...

I would say it was a little square for a nematode. They tend to be longer and thinner.

Duh, could see that

Rhabditis, Rhabdolaima: I was fooled by the -nema-part.

Rhabdonema, isn't that a nematode?

There's some clever ideas in that paper, thank you for the lead. I might try it for storing Isoetes megaspores. I think with the aid of a lasercutter, the construction will be precise and easier.

What do you mean by 'match'? If I take that litterally, you are after a circular image, such as the top-left one of the bottom six in Charlie's document. The image projection on the sensor should then be small to see a full round black vignette. If on the other hand you mean 'about the same extent' ...

A microscope is indeed a combination of an objective and an eyepiece. So, now we can do without those condensers? Honestly, you can buy a used starter's microscope for less than 100 euro. It may be simple, but probably better and possibly cheaperthan anything you can make yourself. Then you can tur...

How about plywood and a scroll saw. Even cheaper. You can probably find the plywood in a dumpster and borrow the tools from a tool library. That's not my experience. I never get it exactly right that way, and doing and redoing it doesn't make it more economical. That said, I wouldn't choose for the...

That was clear from the beginning, Fan. It seems I misunderstood Pete.

Wim

The top mark is for normal 160mm brightfield and 210mm brightfiled/darkfiled (but not DIC) use with an accessory lamp head. The "R" mark drops the stage down to allow the insertion of Reflected DIC prisms. The "T" mark drops the even stage further to allow the insertion of a normal DIC slider attac...

It is as I surmised, the DIC unit comes between the frame and the turret. This adds some 2cm that the stage should be lowered. http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/userpix/3106_Optiphot_2_1.jpg (photo from photomacrography.net ) It's unlikely that I'll ever do DIC, but I do like to know the functio...

All DIC-related, could be. But how would that work, does the DIC-unit sit between the turret and the frame, thus lowering the objectives by some 20mm? It's briefly mentioned in the version two manual that the dot should be aligned with the arrow/triangle. Seemingy, the Optiphot is a 1/2 hybrid in it...

I am slowly turning my Labophot into a customized Optophot. Now I note a difference in the carrier mechanism of the stage, that I don't find explained in the manual(s). Moving with the focusing, there's a scale (R-DIC-T) and above that an arrow and a dot on the other side. A screw allows for adjusme...

I had not expected wonders from the tubes, but it was just too easy to try. I am not sure at all I can do the leds, but I won't know until I try. We'll see. But no pcb: for one thing I can't make them, and neither do I think it's a useful approach here, for the leds will sit on a narrow (1-3mm) edge...

Instead of LEDs, it might also be feasable to use the CCFL tubes that are used in lcd-displays. These are very thin fluorescent tubes. Just tried that. I inherited a pair of 8x10cm displays, the lcd already removed. In the frame is a U-shaped light tube and its high-voltage converter is on board. I...

Instead of LEDs, it might also be feasable to use the CCFL tubes that are used in lcd-displays. These are very thin fluorescent tubes.

I find 1-2µm quite big steps, but of course all depend on your intended magnification. I quite agree on your stand on software, but i have been a software engineer all my life. Not everyone feels the same about it. Triggering the camera is easy: with an optocoupler yout short the pc remote cable for...

On the microscope, I make focus steps by eye judgement. I watch where the focus is now, where the next details will likely appear, and turn the wheel until I see them. Of course, I scout the subject before starting, so I know where to look. This works quite well in all magnifications (4x-100x). Step...

Does this require special objectives? Or will it work with, say, Phase Contrast objectives? Epi-illumination in itself does not require special objectives. Only, often it is used with thick specimens that cannot be viewed in trans-illumination, such as mineral samples. More often than not it is poi...

I am quite satisfied with the results indeed. Today, I removed the metal bottom of the outer tube that had provided me with an unsollicited extra aperture. This resulted in some 30% more light output, if the scale of a photoresistor module is anywhere near linear. And also more freedom to move the l...

Chris, I use the discussion head to project the primary image onto the sensor directly. I use a dovetail adapter, m42 extension tube as (coarse) spacer, a helicoid for fine focusing, and finally an M42-EOS adapter. The image easily covers APS-C and is wider than seen through the eye-pieces. It may b...

Hi Michael

I understand your reaction. I thought I might get an url like the [img]-tag defines one. In edit-mode, all I see is [attachment=0]stoma.jpg[attachment]. But when I returned, without saving, the image was there. Must be a caching issue then?

Wim

I find myself frequently reading old discussions, both on this forum as on others. Much knowledge has been accumulated here, even though sometimes it's hard to find. I note though, that often illustrations have gone missing. I presume this is inevitable when the pictures are stored on other servers ...

This morning I made a few technical tests with the illuminator. I realized that there ought to be a conjugal image at the position of the aperture diaphragm [AD]. (As an aside: could anyone explain why in reflective köhler the field aperture comes after the AD?). I tried to open the illuminator to p...

Approx what exposure do you need? I just made a test exposure (details follow) of a piece of white acrylic and let the camera make it mid grey +1. This gave me 1/6th@ISO100, aperture diaphragm wide open, field diaphragm set to fit field, LED half power. For comparison, in transmission lighting with...

Here's a few photos of the present state. The rightmost part is taped to the black ring that ends the epi-illuminator. Of slightly reduced diameter, the inner tube is on the left, with the aluminum bracket that carries the LED sticking out: http://iconoclastica.nl/web-storage/epi-illuminator/img_006...

viktor j nilsson wrote:SA = spherical aberration.

Thanks!

After biding time for more 'n a month now finally the cree-led and its driver have arrrived from China. The mounting of the pair onto the epi-illuminator turned out easier than I had foreseen. I was lucky to find two cardboard tubes that neatly fitted eachother and the entrance of the illuminator. A...

'IIRC' I found, but what does 'SA' stand for?

Hm, I think I just would like to try that, although metoo has too many projects at hand right now. It's not as if my other solution to get DF works that well. First I'll see if I can scavange a whole array of them from a light bulb, for ordering from China takes ages these days.

The 210/- 60x and 100x seem to stand up quite well when used with cover glass, but admittedly, I am still waiting for a 100x/0.17 for comparison. For the moment I'd say: sub-optimal doesn't equate bad, but I may change that opinion in due time.