MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hi Hobbyst, Thank you, the Mediterranean Sea is a great place, it also needs solid conservation efforts, in terms of fishery and tourism. There are many good scopes from other makes than Zeiss I am working on it. I found a "New Olympus CX22 Binocular" at 945$ (I included shipping in the price). The...

I am a little confused at this, being unsure of the intentions. For diatom frustules that have been cleaned, being siliceous, they have a refractive index (RI) comparable with glass. Hence to mount in a mountain of similar RI would render many details very feint. You need a material with a higher (o...

I have a personal Zeiss Axioscope microscope. It came with a 0.9 condensor so I bought a Zeiss 1.4 achromatic-aplanatic one off ebay. It looks exactly like this one on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Zeiss-Microscope-POL-Condenser-achr-apl-1-4/163401068004?hash=item260b766de4:g:9hwAAOSwaiBb~W33:rk:8...

I thought I would see what I could do with my home-made HMC set-up. By home made I mean that both the insert in the condenser and that in the objective have been fabricated by me, quite simply with fairly basic materials. I realise that it is not ideal, and needs some tinkering with, but then that i...

Very nice, thank you for sharing! I would like to see a diatom comparison between HMC and offset oblique, if possible. A separated flat Gyrosigma would work well for that comparison. Looking at the above Gyrosigma in HMC though, it does seem that HMC may have reduced aperture by too much, such that...

Thanks Michael, just picked one up.

Amazing value...it even comes with batteries.

The alternative use as a tilting table for a stereo or arranging a subject for macro photography is not to be overlooked either.

If I were to focus on the leaves with a blank slide it would lift the slide by several tenths of a millimeter or more. If I start to raise the stage I am almost sure I will hit the 100x objective on the slide. I have never used a scope that seemed to have no room for error. It seems to me there mus...

I am setting up a new to me AO20 and something is wrong that is outside my limited expertise. I am using a 1240 turret with its 1242 condenser lens. I have removed the lower doublet as indicated in the manual I downloaded for the scope. It appears to be properly secured in the yoke. The problem is ...

einman wrote:So you joined just to sell a microscope?

Looks like it...as the item sold in the auction less than 12 hours after the joining time.

Hi, It’s lovely to join this forum, I’ve spent the last few days reading through many posts learning so much. When I was much younger (about 4 decades ago), I used to enjoy using a microscope as a hobby, I had a very basic monocular microscope that was little more than a toy, but I got so much plea...

The real advantage of something like the England Finder (sometimes described as Maltwood Finder) is that it will yield the result you want with any of your microscopes, and hence is universal in that respect. The link given early on is for a new one, but there are second-hand ones to be had much mor...

I thought this was interesting: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Zeiss-Microscope-Phase-Contrast-Mounting-Media-Kit-RARE/263569856013?hash=item3d5dfcd60d:g:vsoAAOSwmqZauEYf:rk:33:pf:0 A friend of mine has a couple of these, one unused. They used to be mentioned in several of the Zeiss instruction booklets ...

Hi all from the UK. I'm new to microscopy and I have an interested in the freshwater microscopic world. While I'm not quite old enough to retire, I'm looking for a challenge and need to learn something different after 30 years in aerospace engineering. I'm hoping to learn from all you experts out t...

In the Axioskop 20 brochure, dated 1990, it describes the ICS optics, and includes the following; "The Achrostigmat objectives: the economical objectives for transmitted-light microscopy. With bright image and good resolution. True-to-color images due to excellent chromatic correction. Astigmatism h...

I am a little confused as to what we are looking at here, especially with the two x4 objectives. Are they both on their own stands? I ask because the field of view is very different, and realise this could easily be down to how the camera is mounted, and what eyepiece/relay lens is being used. Or cr...

I wonder, was it ever demonstrated that the addition of dichromate to H2O2 at the final stage of cleaning diatoms is significant and essential? I have seen this trick in the Sterrenburg Protocol, perhaps in other protocols as well, and I have read that is was successfully applied as described in th...

Yes, cleaning diatoms can be fun, and there are many well tried and tested methods. It may be worth interested parties looking at this resource, where amateurs of both great and little experience describe a number of methods, including hot acid protocols, but also the gentler methods, and some newly...

untitled (1 of 2)-11.jpg You have to be careful what you wish for, and as in most things, it is horses for courses. These two shots are both with x10 objectives, of the same maker, using exactly the same set-up, slide, lighting, camera etc. Even the post-processing is identical. The first is NA 0.2...

Apologies for not sending (PM) Mike but it seems the forum doesn't allow new members this facillity Regarding your kind offer of further help and advice i will certainly take you up on that, and .would be grateful for more information about the Leeds society. Many Thanks, John Hi John sent you a re...

IMG_0367.JPGStill trying to figure out my objectives. I think I'm getting closer! Here's one I just can't figure out... I have 2 Zeiss Plan 2.5 objectives. The first one is straightforward. it says "Plan 2,5/0.08" The second one is more complicated. It has a larger lens. It says "Plan 2,5/0.08" on ...

Thanks for the information Mike, the microscope is a BH2/BHS and I got it through an acquaintance who aquired it from a company that was renewing it's older microscopes. The tube length on the Leitz objective is 160. No problem, glad to help in any way. The BH range was a nice series, dependable, a...

Hello from Yorkshire, UK. Although I have done quite a lot of macro & extreme macro photography over the years, I am a complete novice when it comes to microscopy. Hopefully I am now about to rectify that as I have recently acquired an old Olympus microscope.The objectives that i received with the ...

@photomicro I see that Nikon made four sizes of phase rings. Does it mean that a Nikon microscope, per a given magnification, would yield better (more accurate) phase contrast than a Zeiss microscope, say, where the condenser only features three sizes? because the Nikon condenser phase stops match ...

I have a condenser like this, only it just says 'Phase contrast' so I assume is version 1. It has a dark-ground position, marked 'D' as well as the bright-field position 'O' (with iris diaphragm) in addition to the Ph1, 2, 3 and 4 rings that match x10, 20, 40 and 100 objectives respectively. It is o...

Mike, In your experience, will VAC allow an 100x NA 1.25 oil achromat to resolve professionally mounted Frustulia diatom to dots? Thank you. I am afraid I have not tried it personally with higher powers than 40. However, in his article, Mr Wilkinson states; "Fitted VAC stop 25mm. With centre 16mm. ...

Hello I have a zeiss nosepiece 5 hole turret and there seems to be a optic in the back that is not present in the back of my fathers standard 14 nosepiece when you remove the binocular tube I have provided a picture to illustrate Cheers Jeff I rather thought that the lens was to allow the use of th...

I see that IanW has given a reference to a short discussion elsewhere on the forum. The original articles by Strange are; 1. Strange, A., New Developments in Variable Asymmetrical Contrast Microscopy. MICROSCOPE 1989 (37) p355-376. 2. Strange, A., Variable Asymmetrical Contrast Microscopy. MICROSCOP...

Thank you very much for all comments and sharing your opinion. The photo from photomicro was very sharp and clear. You may share more information about your set up and illumination technique. Suphot It is taken using a x20 objective, and using VAC, which is Variable Asymmetrical Contrast, after Art...

I have really enjoyed reading this 'saga' that as often happens, started off life as one thing, and ended up another. One of the 'side-effects' of forums I guess. Just to add a little, I have the one AO stand, a much loved Series 10. Like many marques, the quality of construction changed over the ye...

Great image!... Oblique attempts to mimic DIC, and this one approaches that.. It does not have the perfectly crisp outline that makes DIC shine, but great pic... Thanks for sharing... Shouldn't that be DIC mimics oblique? It must predate it by about a hundred years. QUITE POSSIBLE.. BUT THE IMAGE Q...