MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Speaking of illumination techniques I find relief phase contrast interesting http://zeiss-campus.magnet.fsu.edu/referencelibrary/pdfs/Piper_Micro_and_Analysis_21-9-2007.pdf Haven't yet had the patience to properly explore, maybe someone who has can chime in. Motivated by this link, I found that art...

Speaking of illumination techniques I find relief phase contrast interesting http://zeiss-campus.magnet.fsu.edu/referencelibrary/pdfs/Piper_Micro_and_Analysis_21-9-2007.pdf Haven't yet had the patience to properly explore, maybe someone who has can chime in. Thanks for posting the link! It is pleas...

... ... In the ZeissOpticalSystems Catalogue, several phase and simple condensers, whether simple slide-in models or multi-port (multi-phase) turret models, are designated by "Z" in the model name. Which brings my possibly dumb question : does "Z" refer to Z eiss, or to Z ernike ? or none of them ?...

The other is BP 485, FT510, Emission 515-565. 485 excitation, 510 cutoff(dichroic) and 515-565 emission should be good for fluorescein (FITC is a common stain). I don't have an HBO or xenon lamp and don't plan to get one. Applause. I have a strong LED in the foot of the microscope and probably will...

...Phase does offer a rather flat image but it can be fiddled with to squeeze some relief out of it. It does offer a more real representation of the image than D.I.C., which in addition to putting up fake relief, always looks like something is struggling under a freshly applied layer of latex paint...

if I remember right the leaf was stained in Etzold FCA, this is fuchsin, chryosidin, astra blau. So this could be the fluorescence of one of the stains. Hi Bob, 1. I did not realize the Ficus leaf was stained, I thought it was just auto-fluorescence in the image. 2. Thanks for posting the condenser...

Very attractive and educational photos.

Very nice first image, Bob! The optimal excitation wavelength for the red fluorescence in leaf images is 400/425nm. Shorter wavelengths will excite other chemicals like vitamin E, that might glow yellow but probably quite weak. If possible, please show a photo of the fluorescence setup. I am experie...

In my opinion there are three problems with your images, that interfere with image quality (including resolution): 1. Non-uniform illumination of the field of view, perhaps Kohler illumination was not properly adjusted. 2. Banding, this is due to the LED or the LED dimmer, you might try shooting at ...

There are fairly inexpensive glass polarizers on eBay. For example SVBONY. Diameter 25mm and probably other sizes too. They are sold installed in metal sleeves but the sleeve can be easily dismantled to extract the glass disc. Would'nt it be possible to replace the delaminated piece in the condenser...

Forth and fifth cleaning experiments. These ones were performed on fresh slurries of marine diatoms. These were obtained from marine algae by mechanical manipulations into water as described above. The slurry was filtered through a 0.3-0.5mm mesh. The filtrate was filtered through coarse filter pape...

About the hotplate - #2 IMO will do the job. #1 will not, IMHO. It is covenient to dissolve the solid APS in a little water - say, ~5ml. APS can be made to ~60% in water at a temperature of 25C. When you mix it with water, the liquid becomes cooler, because this dissolution is endothermic. Dissoluti...

For heating fluids it would be nice to be able to place the temperature feeler directly in the water bath but if it would fall out the hot plate could reach dangerous temparature regions, so I leave it as it is. Is this temperature feeler (sensor) a part of the heat controller of the aluminum block...

What would you suggest as supportive cleaning steps for APS to clean the sample I have at hand? It is from fresh water, mostly scraped from the long stems of water lilys in a muddy bay. So no salt, nearly no sand, diatoms with oil drops, some rotting plant tissue. - bathing in acetone in a 25µ siev...

Hi Bob, Congratulations on the successful home rennovation and founding of a home lab. Having only the minimum must-have items keeps the bench uncluttered. A very nice view from the lab as I can see! Note that those red rubber tube connectors are not resistant against all organic solvents. Room-temp...

When using filter material I would be very careful: A normal transmission filter works by absorbing everything in the blocked light range. This leads to build up of heat and it can also lead to a consumation of the filter. According to my experience, indeed, a Schott KG3 or KG5 IR-blocking filter, ...

... and most importantly, the link to this page: http://www.geocities.ws/dushang2000/Microscopy/Nf%20Stand%20Trinocular%20Attachment/Nf%20Stand%20Trinocular%20Attachment.html#%C2%A0 A good link, thanks, Michael. A pleasure to read. According to Gurvitz's article, The MF 4:1 Projektiv should indeed ...

With all respect, especially if you wish that children will use and enjoy using it , I would suggest that you take a different route. Buy a good quality (a used AO 570/580, an Olympus, B&L etc) stereoscope with a trinocular head, top illumination and bottom illumination (original or improvised). Add...

(Continued)
Here are some more samples. The preliminary conclusion is - cannot see an important difference in performance.
Possibly, diatoms are not the best test specimens, because of refractions and reflections within the frustules.

Hi all, I have been using the following condenser for a long time: Achromatic-aplanatic brightfield-darkfield phase-contrast condenser V Z 1.4 (465277) Yesterday a friend gifted me the following: Phase-contrast condenser II Z with swing-out lens swinging out 0.9 (465270) That apparently had been lyi...

...Here is the Zeiss database and they state fpr Rhodamine-B exciting 543 nm and emission 565 nm: https://www.micro-shop.zeiss.com/en/us/shop/filterAssistant/dyes/object-0000-540 I stand corrected about those wavelength... :shock: apparently mixed it up with another stain... :(A long time since I t...

...He writes that Rhodamin can be used instead of Acridin-red. As far as I know the colour of Rhodamin is a bit less striking. Rhodamin-B is a fluorescence stain: https://www.mikroskopie-forum.de/index.php?topic=22654.0 that is excited with blue light. Bob, that is a nice link to manny interesting ...

Q.E.D. IMHO too.
You certainly extracted more information from that humble 3.2X than what Zeiss had expected in the 1930's...

... - Hobbyst46 invented a diatom mountant made from easy to obtain substances: http://www.microbehunter.com/microscopy-forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7847 Not bad, I would say! Thanks a lot, Bob. may I just add a clarification comment: I tried various "home-bound" gentle diatom cleaning protocols and t...

very special and attractive image, Bob!
The diatom itself is a real beauty. The scene reminds me of an alien flying saucer landing on top of the Alps or other bare mountains.
Looks like you master the 40X0.95 objective. I find them difficult to use and prefer the oil immersion objectives for NA~1.

Michael, I spotted a dot in the north-east part of the images, along the "one o'clock" radial ray and near top border of the image. And extracted it with IrfanView within a 63X63 pixel square. Here it shown, from the two objectives. I think that lateral CA (CDM) is evident in the 3.2X achromat, and ...

Hi Michael,
I am 99% sure that it is the selected format output of the specific image capturing software or pp software if you used one. I have seen this RGB/CMY output selection window in some software lately - Toupview perhaps - ca'nt find it now. But it must be a software artefact.

Hi Hobby, yes old chap the BX41 would very likely be suitable. The question with the BX41 would perhaps be the illumination; at 30W it's of course the same as the BX40. I've already fitted a RetroDiode 10W LED conversion to my BX40 which works perfectly, plenty of light for brightfield and just abo...

Will send a PM.

mrsonchus wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 30, 2019 6:32 pm

...the higher-numbered BX models.

Since you seek a "higher-numbered BX model" - does the BX41 count in ? since its nosepiece is exchangeable ? is BX41 an option ?