MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Condenser immersion definitely helps with DIY darkfield stops. You can use water even. But oil is the best and provides the highest possible NA, if you don't mind the mess.

Congratulations, Rod! Beautiful video, again!
I know you will make it happen! Keep going with blue van Egmond mask, please!

Very nice photos! I especially like the 40x darkfield (is that an Euplotes or a Stylonychia?). Thank you.

How did those ciliates look like under B Minus? I know you said it looks like enhanced brightfield, but it is still nice to see more examples.

Thank you very much, Kurt. Belomo's reputation does seem to be consistent.

Does your Belomo have a small apparent field of view, how do you feel about it when comparing it to a 15x microscope EP in reverse?

I would like to know this too. What is the recommended (or realistically usable) upper limit of a quality loupe? 20x? As a reference, I use microscope eyepieces no more powerful than 15x. I heard microscope eyepieces, used in reverse, can serve as quality loupe. So a good 15x EP, used in reverse, ma...

You need a certain critical salt concentration for the cell to lose water and this concentration can also be determined. Can you elaborate on this? You need to run experiments to determine that critical concentration. For human cells, 0.9% sodium chloride is physiologically neutral (not hyper nor h...

Very nice set! The DIC photo does seem to suggest cyst. It does not look not so obvious with oblique or COL, while phase shows it slightly better (though not as clear as DIC). Different individuals between DIC and the rest though, so probably not directly comparable to judge strength of lighting met...

Rod, I attempted using (blue) van Egmond mask at 40x NA 0.65 today and failed miserably. I imagine 40x NA 0.65 may be possible (though quite difficult) with high precision and a color laser printer, but I don't have such a color ink cartridge. The outer black rim surrounding blue color may need to b...

van Egmond filter gets my vote. It is far too different than real DIC, rather an oblique mask with color center.

DIY DIC sounds confusing. UGF/GUF (oblique+gradient grey/black background) can look like DIC at low NA too, but its inventor calls UGF/GUF and everyone follows him.

Yes. Many have done it that way. You just have to find a way to hold your camera, which can be done with tripod temporarily. Some microscope eyepiece can be threaded or glued to lens step-down or step-up rings, then to your lens. Best to isolate camera from scope though, to reduce shutter vibration.

Replicating the following project will win your son first price in science fair, if you manage (it may be difficult even for a biologist though):
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3226006?seq ... b_contents

I understood that it is your preference of using DIC. I do that with darkfield sometimes too, depending on subjects.

With bigger / thicker rotifer, you can use less mag/NA and darkfield/oblique would be easier (much easier, if you drop from 40x NA 0.65 to 20x NA 0.4). Nearly the entire rotifer can be in focus. Bigger subjects may also have more contrast naturally.

Member "rnabholz" Rod takes stunning photos/videos with his Nexus 6 phone adapted to microscope eyepiece. Adapters such as Orion SteadyPix Pro will work that way, I used one like that before.

I had problem with a small Lapadella in darkfield too, it was hard to get to the sweet spot between overexposure and underexposure. If I remember correctly (though I could be wrong), it showed up OK in offset oblique. Some bigger rotifers may be easier?

Great job, JimT. Thank you for sharing!

Welcome, AlphaZeroOne! My camera setup is different. But if I remember correctly, for APS-C sensor without lens, around 1.5x photo eyepiece (EP) is best. 2.5x photo eyepiece magnifies too much and you lose FOV. Or use 45-50 mm lens and 10x EP for APSC. I don't think 2.5x photo EP will bring you anyt...

Welcome, Diana.
If you have a USB eyepiece camera and image is not good, it maybe the camera. I had a $50 one before two years ago and returned it on the same day it arrived. My phone, held to eyepiece, took better photos.

Nice video!
Was the algae near the stentor colorless or green (did the blue filter distract from green subjects)?

He can examine different hair samples; animal - cat/ dog, human; blond, brown, black, gray Hypothesis for the hair project may be: Sheep/dog/cat/rabbit hair is hollow and has more insulating volume, than human skin hair, therefore those animals can live in cold temperature for longer. I dont know w...

What Oliver said. You need good amount of research subjects that are safe, cheap, reliable and easy. And you do not have much lab resource for it. Short of yeast or dental bacteria, there are not many alternatives. You can determine what % of alcohol or soap water kills yeast cells. At high %, yeast...

I suggest trying something that is easy and cheap. How about a yeast growing experiment that costs less than $20 and less than 4 hours? Does your experiment have to be long? Hypothesis: Yeast cells need optimal temperature and food source to grow optimally to large quantities. Research and experimen...

Thank you, Bill, for this educational thread and nice video! I enjoy them!

Thank you, apo. You are absolutely right. My slide was too thin at 1mm (I don't have any >1.15mm) and my sample was not thin nor clean. I was still in testing phase with that video and did not expect to do an actual recording, but that phacus was too pretty to go without recording. -----------------...

Ecki replied my question to him (how and why different amoebas build tests of different complex shapes) in this thread:

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... 951#184951

He did not really answer why shapes are so different, but his comments are still quite educational.

For those who are also interested in reducing out-of-focus halos in darkfield: Charles Krebs recommended using plan apo or apo objective and stopping it down (with iris, funnel stop or disc diaphragm). High NA objectives, when not stopped down in darkfield, tend to produce more halos. Also, as you m...

Thank you, Seb, for your very kind words!

Beautiful video!

Maybe you can tell the CFO that the new scope is for her. When you get that old scope, you can share the fun together :mrgreen: That 1930 scope is probably a black Spencer 33/35. It can accept many 160 tube length objectives, probably even the modern DIN 45 mm parfocal 160TL objectives (my 1956 seri...

I agree with 75RR. The gain in convenience outweighs the very small loss of resolution. In most cases, you may not even notice that small resolution loss. Objective quality is more important.