MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

The Zeiss cardioid would be as good as any other. There isn't too much to choose between various condensers, as long as the design is a cardioid type. The only thing I would clarify from the seller is just how wide that collar is. It looks like it might be 40mm or more so, you have to make sure the...

According to the rules, this is not a site that gives medical advice. You could possibly try crowdmed.com

As an alternate idea, there are a few Swift DF/PC scopes on eBay. The link below is for one such unit and the same seller has the less expensive version - the regular Quodmaster - without the 100x phase set up previously listed at $240 + shipping with had best offer option. The listing expired but t...

The picture I am seeing, is of your abbe condenser. Is the DF one pretty much the same height or were the measurements taken from the DF condenser? Sorry about that. The Abbe shows close to max measurements. The DF condenser height is shorter at 62mm total with 10 mm of that being for the dovetail ...

I would hesitate to make a male dovetail or male sleeve of wood. Tiny splinters might fall inside the optics; also, wood might swell or shrink and deform upon changes in air humidity. PVC (if not very old), black Delrin are OK. If that were true emergency rooms would be full of people choking on sp...

Heather, I had in mind that you had mentioned it was for a 37mm sleeve, somewhere. Is that correct? The bottom of the picture of the condenser looks a bit dovetailish but that is probably an artifact of the way the image was created. The skinniest part of the dovetail looks to be about 39mm so 37 w...

I think this is a good moment to bump a link to what is probably the best video ever on microscope light paths and image formation fundamentals. http://www.microbehunter.com/microscopy-forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3573&p=34254&hilit Just to say that I was at mmc2019 today, and mentioned this [the fac...

Very nice! I have the same base adapter, I'll have to try making something similar. Helpful tip. The original unit has a recessed round collar that holds the eyepiece holder sections together (see red arrow for location). It looks more like a press fit and I nearly took a hammer and punch to it bef...

Pretty snake. I'd forgotten that some snakes live in the water. You'd think they couldn't swim well but they do.

Thanks. The original kit weighed 365grams (0.8 lb) and had too much slop, making it difficult to use. The mod is solid. Much lighter. No play. I wasn't going for looks but it could be beautified. It's not bad for someone who doesn't have a trinocular port or like me, hasn't found the right used came...

Heather, I had in mind that you had mentioned it was for a 37mm sleeve, somewhere. Is that correct? The bottom of the picture of the condenser looks a bit dovetailish but that is probably an artifact of the way the image was created. The skinniest part of the dovetail looks to be about 39mm so 37 w...

Oliver made a nice video on camera mounting options for microscopes but the particular light weight eyepiece mounting kit he discussed is not available in the US afaik and the ones available here are clunkier. So I purchased one with the idea of modding it and it came out better than expected from a...

I seem to recall in microbiology class, we used to fix stained bacteria on slides and view them at 100x oil without a cover slip. That might be something to try if the above doesn't help. Personally, I've been disappointed with depth of field using 100x and exchanged the objective with a 20x, which ...

Thank you. Good to know.

75RR, I'm not even sure how to upload images here. I tried testing with photobucket but was not happy with the way it linked to the pics (with ads and other issues). Can I just upload them directly without a third party like Flickr or PB? Also no real need to send a pic of the condenser. It looks ju...

Could you post pictures of your condenser from a few angles. Some of the details you mention are a bit odd for a DF condenser, so I wonder about it's design. This is the condenser. On the inside bottom piece of glass is the black dot. And yes, $95 was steep for this but, well, sometimes we must tak...

Depth of Field. I don't know how a lens that has a partially closed iris diaphragm can have less depth of field than the same lens with the iris diaphragm wide open. DF has enhanced depth of field. I have witnessed the effect so many times, that I couldn't count them all. Even using a 1.32 N.A. obj...

Could you post pictures of your condenser from a few angles. Some of the details you mention are a bit odd for a DF condenser, so I wonder about it's design. One does not necessarily need a DF condenser "for their microscope", especially if the condenser mount is a sleeve type, that allows for the ...

My understanding is that resolution is increased. You'll likely have to spend more time preparing then sections, making sure the slides and most everything else are very clean, and may want some more light. Thank you for this suggestion. This might at least be part of the issue as I didn't realized...

So I finally obtained the darkfield condenser specific for my scope. First observation is that the quality of workmanship for the dark patch is poor. You can see spots that are not completely black and there are a few places along the edges that are scalloped - like little bite marks - and therefore...

That's funny. Thanks for the laugh.

Thanks again for all responses. I’ll leave well enough alone for now with my condenser. I know a guy who bought a used motorcycle. It had a little cosmetic blemish on an engine part. He ended up taking a bunch of stuff apart to try to address the scratches and to this day, it doesn’t run. Think I’ll...

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This condenser is probably not as nice as the ones being used by people on here by the more prestigious microscope manufacturers. It looks like the lens holding part is one piece with 3 small set screws right near the base where it attaches to the iris part. It's not really a matter of wanting to ta...

I had a very similar problem - turned out to be a speck on the mirror..... I've put the condenser under the stereo scope and can see the speck is seemingly in between the lenses of the condenser. I'm not very familiar with condenser construction but there appears to be 2 lenses(?). I just figured i...

Is the green speck in focus when you focus on the specimen ? I am asking, because under proper Kohler illum., the condenser is NOT in focus. Perhaps the speck is elsewhere ? I follow the Kohler illumination procedure step where the field iris diaphragm is focused by moving the condenser until the e...

Just curious. Is it straightforward to swap/upgrade condensers amongst different manufacturers if they have the same numerical aperture, design, and fit in the holder/allotted space? Mine has an internal green speck on the lens that shows clearly at the lower powers when Kohler illumination is achie...

Thank you for this timely video. I wonder why that other article suggests the disc diameter is so important and yet, it appears not to be necessarily true.

I was interested in ordering a set of Rheinberg filters such as these off of eBay to play with: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rheinberg-Filters-Interchangeable-Zoom-Filters-for-your-Microscope/153345961161?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Dc4a7eec04c9f40489...

Thank you, John for the giggle (so many of my experiments start out with "All I want to do is...") and Hobbyst46. I'll see if I can find a specific Oliver video on the Omano. In the meantime, I'm modifying a generic microscope/telescope adapter that works via the eyepiece and a cell phone. The one O...