MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

When I got back into microscopy a few years ago I was shocked at the number of floaters I saw. I’ve gotten used to it now and they don’t bother me. I’ve been thinking about getting back into amateur astronomy again and am wondering if floaters are an issue when observing with telescopes? Anyone have...

Be careful if you go the eBay route. Condition inflation is rampant and you can easily end up with something with major problems and end up spending a lot of time and money getting it into useable condition. I’ve been amazed at how trashed a lot of microscope stuff on eBay really is. It’s hard to im...

If one doesn't have a stereo microscope or a phase telescope, are there any techniques that can be used to evaluate objectives?

I just watched a miniseries called The Hot Zone about an Ebola outbreak in Reston Virginia. Among others, this movie featured the use of Zeiss Universal microscopes, electron microscopes, and ultramicrotomes. I've watched a few other pandemic-themed movies recently and many of them have glaring erro...

The MSDS of IPA states that it should be kept in a tightly closed container. And that inhalation of the vapors may cause health problems. And for health and safety reasons should be stored in a ventilated area. IMO the simple plastic bottle from the store is OK as long as the plastic lid is tightly...

Perhaps it serves the same function as this:

https://flmicroscopes.com/collections/n ... ect-marker

Hobbyst46 wrote: ↑

Fri May 01, 2020 6:57 am

BTW, I apply the same rules to ethyl alcohol 95%.

I wonder how much ethyl alcohol vapor is in the air in a typical bar? It's probably significant.

MichaelG. wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 6:41 pm

JGardner wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 5:18 pm

When I'm done with a slide, everything goes into a bucket filled with IPA. After a week or two in the bucket I pour off the alcohol ...

Ah but do you drink it ?

No. IPA = isopropyl alcohol, not India Pale Ale.

When I'm done with a slide, everything goes into a bucket filled with IPA. After a week or two in the bucket I pour off the alcohol and toss the slides/coverslips in the trash. I would avoid having any container of IPA that is not hermetically closed. Alcohol vapors are not toxic but are harmful. S...

When I'm done with a slide, everything goes into a bucket filled with IPA. After a week or two in the bucket I pour off the alcohol and toss the slides/coverslips in the trash.

Hi Rodger,

You achieve depth of focus using stacking, as you already know. It's not difficult to do, but it takes time and practice to get it right.

As for perfect backgrounds, I suspect that this is achieved with judicious use of the Photoshop cloning tools to clean up messy backgrounds.

Hi, I can comment a little, having had a set of 170mm TL planapo objectives on a Leitz (170mm TL) Orthoplan 'scope. The quality of those objectives is, in my experience, superb How do these objectives compare with modern infinity optics, like those for the Olympus BX scopes? I'm still pondering upg...

Anyone have a list of microscope dealers known to be reliable? I've heard a few names, such as Brunel, Microscope Central, and Munday Scientific mentioned on these forums, but have no idea if any of these are reliable or if there are others that are. For example, when a dealer advertises a used micr...

It came on Saturday afternoon. And now I'm reminding / convincing myself that I love to fix things....even though I thought I was buying something that was fully functional.... This one definitely is not. Welcome to the wonderful world of buying "fully functional" microscopes on eBay! I think nearl...

Total beginner question (I don’t even own a microscope...yet). When you prepare a slide with microbes, what do you do with them after you are done? I would feel bad after observing and enjoying them not to be able to place them back into the jar/pond/wherever I got them! Do you feel bad every time ...

I agree about the fine focus. The stage moves such a tiny amount when turning the fine focus that you may think it’s not doing anything. You’ll know for sure when you get the lighting sorted and can try focusing on a specimen.

I recently got a replacement stage for my Zeiss Universal, which has been out of service for some time. The new stage works fine, but I'm having issues setting up Kohler illumination that I don't remember having before. I checked the stage alignment, and it's as it should be, so no problems there. T...

If you want something more robust and professional looking, there's always Nanodyne, but their products are in the $500-600 range.

https://www.nano-dyne.com/led-microscope-lights/

I use the older version of their Orthoplan LED conversion. It works well, with one exception: it uses PWM to control LED brightness, so if the control is set to less than 100% I see bands when taking photographs through the microscope. One big advantage LED has over incandescent illuminators is a co...

Anyone know of a site or reference I can use to determine when an Orthoplan was built based on its serial number?

I cleaned up the new stand and moved the parts over from my old Orthoplan stand and everything is working very well. It's nice to have a working field diaphragm and to have butter smooth focusing. Now I need to start hunting eBay for some objectives. It currently has a no-name 10x, a Leitz 32x and a...

My new Orthoplan stand arrived today. It's much nicer than the stand of my original Orthoplan. This one's a "white" stand, which means it's one of the last ones made. The date stamp on the bottom of the stand indicates it was made in 1982. Functionally, this stand is much nicer than the old one. The...

Those 2mm would not seem to be critical according to Leitzcycler Thanks for clarifying. I'll look for a 160mm objective on eBay to try before I look for a whole set. Anyone know how much degradation is visible when using 160mm objectives at magnifications less than 16x on an Orthoplan? I'm thinking...

That's a nice chart, but it seems to cover every scenario except the one I'm interested in, e.g. 160mm objectives and 170mm eyepieces on a 170mm microscope You are describing #6 on the chart. When using a 160 objective on your Orthoplan raise the 170 eyepiece 8mm with a spacer. (That will bring the...

75RR wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 26, 2020 9:00 am

... (see example #6 on chart)

Dang! That's a nice chart, but it seems to cover every scenario except the one I'm interested in, e.g. 160mm objectives and 170mm eyepieces on a 170mm microscope.

Thanks! That's exactly the first-hand experience I was hoping to hear.

Sorry to open this can of worms again. I've read various articles on using 160mm objectives on Orthoplans, and I've read the Leitz memo addressing this topic. Basically, the memo says that 160mm objectives of 16x or higher magnification work fine on 170mm tube length microscopes such as the Orthopla...

Hi Zeiss experts! Are focusing blocks with all-metal focusing knobs compatible with Universals with Plastic focusing knobs? Can I do a one-for-one swap? My Universal (with plastic knobs) has very stiff focusing, and I've found a focusing block that's much smoother and need to know if they're interch...

Several people who know I'm interested in microscopy have asked me recently if I can see Corona virus with my microscopes. I tell them nope, you need a transmission electron microscope for that. I wonder if any amateurs have a TEM?

I see that the late-model Orthoplan you linked to is still awaiting ... second thoughts? It should show as sold--that's how it appears here when I click on the link. I've already gotten the confirmation from eBay. Who knows when it'll ship and when I get it, however, due to the Corona virus situati...