MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Congrats!

I came up with a very simple technique for using a biological microscope with a transmitted light source for metals and other opaque objects without additional light sources (maybe it's a well-known technique, I'm not sure). Just put the object (which size needs to be large than field of view, but m...

Thanks! This is a bright field image of a cotton blue-stained sample, similar to http://www.microbehunter.com/microscopy-forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4423 100x Apo objective, oiled condenser. Because color is the stain's color, I decided the image is better in black and white. The negative image looked...

Thanks for your comments! I too like the performance of this Apo objective. My previous attempt of 100x alga (with Plan Achro 1.25 NA objective and dry condenser) - http://www.microbehunter.com/microscopy-forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4291 - looked much worse. Of course, the objective is not the only di...

75RR wrote:

The objective in Nikon CF N PlanApo 100x 1.40 NA.

What condenser do you have?

The condenser is Olympus Vanox Aplanat Achromat 1.4 NA (which is for a different mount, but was easy to adapt for Omax's 37mm round mount - seems to work OK).

Thanks! When you say "wet mount" do you mean in water with coverglass in the std manner - then the oil layer above or both above and below the slide. What are the details of your objective? Yes, it's a normal water with cover glass, oil both above and below the slide. One thing is that I added rough...

Some alga, wet mount, 100x oil objective, bright field

Agree, very interesting UV images!

Some small unidentified mushroom, 2x objective, transmitted light, 15 images in the focus stack:

Rodney wrote:Possibly a species of nematode?

I think it's definitely a nematode, a fungus-feeder probably, but there are too many species and very hard to ID.

Some kind of worm that feeds in a polypore mushroom pores. 10x objective, LED lamps trough ping-pong ball half: https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2878/32753264830_5de35fc7a7_b.jpg Mounted on a slide, there are not too many interesting details. Here is a different specimen, 20x objective, stained with la...

Interesting!

I have been using Cytoseal for several years with great results.. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NC-5988-CytoSeal-60-Slide-Mounting-Fluid-4mL-/272269132084?hash=item3f64814134:g:34MAAOSwvgdW22Fh This is exactly what I'm using currently. But I find using a pipette every time very inconvenient, so I'm plann...

Thanks for your comments! I'm updating the topic because it's not a springtail, but a beetle larva. Regarding mounting: just a relatively dry specimen from a freezer, no additional cleaning. One trick is to put couple of hole reinforcement labels (like http://www.ebay.com/itm/CLEAR-Avery-Hole-Reinfo...

A beetle larva, apparently from a group without eyes. I found it on a mushroom I bring home from forest, in February. Mounted in CytoSeal, 10x objective, shallow stack of 6 photos. Bright field: https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/658/32940294151_dcb9e73094_b.jpg Pseudo x-ray post-processing: https://c1.s...

I can't help with ID, but want to say these are really nice images.
I like the second photo the most.

Some kind of gnat, 20x objective, bounced light from ping-pong ball half, about 80 exposures in the stack.



The stack is very messy, but overall I think the picture resembles some kind of giant monster from an old movie.

Nice!

What a coincidence. Just today I ran into something that looks remarkably similar and had no idea what it was. This orange object is about 60 µ in diameter. Could it be a moss spore as well? Ive seen a number of these roundish and orangish things in my "pond" aquarium the past week or so. However a...

Wow, even a less than perfect SEM image delivers more information than the next hundred light microscopy images, looks like. I guess I can see why you called it "pretty bad", but I call it pretty good since it so clearly shows the morphology. And Desmids are such mysterious things (well, to me anyw...

75RR wrote:Nice!
Good brightfield - Like how we are able look down through both openings.
Did you try to obtain an Oblique image with this sample?

Agree that the offset SEM gives a very good idea of its 3D shape.

Thanks!
Yes, I tried oblique, but didn't like it.

A Staurastrum sp. desmid from a pond sample, about 36 micron from corner to corner, dried and mounted in CytoSeal, 100x Apo objective, bright field, stack of 10 images: https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3669/32860046611_718bbb3871_b.jpg Here is my SEM photo of a different specimen from the same sample, ...

Very interesting images of unusual subjects!

Moss spores, about 20 micron diameter, stained with Lugol's iodine, mounted in CytoSeal, 100x oil objective, bright field. Iodine crystallized, so the distance from the cover glass to the spores is much more than ideal: it was impossible to focus with my Apo objective with 0.1 mm working distance, s...

Thank you, billben74, zzffnn, and rnabholz! I'm glad you like it.

I have several more spores+mushroom pictures in the making.

If I won the lottery I would get one (in the new house etc.) I haven't won the lottery but someone might just be crazy enough... Its the cheapest I've seen one for...and it sound likes it works... Of course there is slight problem of the sputter device.... Anyway just in case someone is crazy enoug...

Spores, about 6.5-7.5 × 3.5 microns, dark field, 100x oil iris objective:



With the mushroom:

Very nice. Like the gold. Like the second. Sorry, but I'm a little confused on the illuminator/ping pong ball. This is episcopic illumination? Thanks! The ping-pong ball half (with a hole for the objective) is on top of the specimen. The specimen illuminated like for transmitted illumination (but w...

Very nice and interesting image. If you direct a light (a warm light) onto them and watch through the 'scope you may see some of the cases (that look like prawns...) begin to 'ping open' and throw spores about.... Thanks! I'm not sure these have spores inside, because I've read that ferns in our cl...