MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hey everyone!

I've been in the market for a new hobby for quite a while now, and I recently stumbled upon the YouTube channel "Journey to the microcosmos" (example video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRmbWj2ZITM) Their videos have left me in awe and have really inspired me to take an interest in the beautiful and fascinating world of microbiology.

My question is, if I get a sample of pond water - and use, for example, a SWIFT SW380T, would I see a similar amount of detail as in the videos? Or will I be left disappointed?

I imagine to see the level of detail as in those videos I would need a very professional set-up indeed. But from this hobby, I just want to collect some samples and see the bacteria "doing their thing", I want to see them moving, feeding and even dying. I'd love to see cells dividing. Am I expecting or asking for too much for such a cheap microscope?

Thank you.

It takes some practice to learn how to use the microscope and how to control the light to improve your ability to see clearLy. It's a intensive hobby tht takes innovation and creativity as well to make you equipment perform the way you want. But it allows you to enter another world and see things that most people never see. Don't limit yourself. Pond water is great, but you can see novelty in just about everything,

This is a compilation of videos from my swift 380t. I had issues with the adapter which is why the footage is somewhat blurry. The organisms were easy to find. I just put pond water in a jar and take samples from it. So yes a microscope is very worth it and will supply endless observations of microbes.
The microscope in the video you linked is a motic ba310 $1500 and is similar in image quality to a swift 380t $350. The motic has slightly better objectives but is still in the same tier as the swift for the most part. They upgraded recently to a dic microscope but in that video they use the motic.

Thank you both for your answers!

@micro, your video is spectacular and it's amazing to see the Swift 380T in action. You have some amazing footage!
Perfect - I've got a little bit more to learn, but looks like I'll be buying the Swift.

WHAT ##X OBJECTIVES WAS THAT SHOT WITH?

EYE C U wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 17, 2020 10:10 am

WHAT ##X OBJECTIVES WAS THAT SHOT WITH?

If you mean my video 4x 10x and 40x

micro wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 2:01 am

EYE C U wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 17, 2020 10:10 am

WHAT ##X OBJECTIVES WAS THAT SHOT WITH?

If you mean my video 4x 10x and 40x

YES THANKS

May I just comment that this was an excellent opening question
... and a very helpful response from micro

Nice example of how a forum can work !

MichaelG.

I also use the swift 380T and I have a playlist of footage here...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... AZjrP0dtp0

The quality varies as I have gotten a little better at getting footage.

sleekdigital wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 20, 2020 2:49 pm

I also use the swift 380T and I have a playlist of footage here...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... AZjrP0dtp0

The quality varies as I have gotten a little better at getting footage.

Incredible detail - thank you for sharing your videos. I received my 380T today and cannot wait to get using it.

micro wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:24 am

This is a compilation of videos from my swift 380t. I had issues with the adapter which is why the footage is somewhat blurry. The organisms were easy to find. I just put pond water in a jar and take samples from it. So yes a microscope is very worth it and will supply endless observations of microbes.
The microscope in the video you linked is a motic ba310 $1500 and is similar in image quality to a swift 380t $350. The motic has slightly better objectives but is still in the same tier as the swift for the most part. They upgraded recently to a dic microscope but in that video they use the motic.

Great video! A savage universe.

sleekdigital wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 20, 2020 2:49 pm

I also use the swift 380T and I have a playlist of footage here...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... AZjrP0dtp0

The quality varies as I have gotten a little better at getting footage.

What camera adapter do you use?

micro wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:24 am

This is a compilation of videos from my swift 380t. I had issues with the adapter which is why the footage is somewhat blurry. The organisms were easy to find. I just put pond water in a jar and take samples from it. So yes a microscope is very worth it and will supply endless observations of microbes.
The microscope in the video you linked is a motic ba310 $1500 and is similar in image quality to a swift 380t $350. The motic has slightly better objectives but is still in the same tier as the swift for the most part. They upgraded recently to a dic microscope but in that video they use the motic.

I'm new - do you know what those microbes are?

RaineeDayze wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:34 pm

micro wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:24 am

This is a compilation of videos from my swift 380t. I had issues with the adapter which is why the footage is somewhat blurry. The organisms were easy to find. I just put pond water in a jar and take samples from it. So yes a microscope is very worth it and will supply endless observations of microbes.
The microscope in the video you linked is a motic ba310 $1500 and is similar in image quality to a swift 380t $350. The motic has slightly better objectives but is still in the same tier as the swift for the most part. They upgraded recently to a dic microscope but in that video they use the motic.

I'm new - do you know what those microbes are?

I know what most of them are but if you mean those little jellyfish looking things at the beginning I don't know.

micro wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:24 am

This is a compilation of videos from my swift 380t. I had issues with the adapter which is why the footage is somewhat blurry. The organisms were easy to find. I just put pond water in a jar and take samples from it. So yes a microscope is very worth it and will supply endless observations of microbes.
The microscope in the video you linked is a motic ba310 $1500 and is similar in image quality to a swift 380t $350. The motic has slightly better objectives but is still in the same tier as the swift for the most part. They upgraded recently to a dic microscope but in that video they use the motic.

Wow, great video!

A few questions if you don't mind...

Do you own a dedicated darkfield condenser or do you use homemade filters? Your dark-field images look neat.

Did you also make a filter for the oblique illumination? It looks terrific. I have been trying to make homemade filters and arrows but didn't achieve good results.

Javier wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 15, 2020 6:00 pm

micro wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:24 am

This is a compilation of videos from my swift 380t. I had issues with the adapter which is why the footage is somewhat blurry. The organisms were easy to find. I just put pond water in a jar and take samples from it. So yes a microscope is very worth it and will supply endless observations of microbes.
The microscope in the video you linked is a motic ba310 $1500 and is similar in image quality to a swift 380t $350. The motic has slightly better objectives but is still in the same tier as the swift for the most part. They upgraded recently to a dic microscope but in that video they use the motic.

Wow, great video!

A few questions if you don't mind...

Do you own a dedicated darkfield condenser or do you use homemade filters? Your dark-field images look neat.

Did you also make a filter for the oblique illumination? It looks terrific. I have been trying to make homemade filters and arrows but didn't achieve good results.

I used the swift 380t built in filter holder with a little plastic dark field filter I got from ebay. The oblique looking shots were made from angling the filter holder half way open/closed. I now have a better Olympus microscope with a phase contrast condenser that also does dark field but the dark field on it doesn't work nearly as good as the little filter holder on the 380t. I've been meaning to make a custom dark field filter for the Olympus but I haven't gotten around to it. If you buy an actual dark field condenser you have to make sure it works well before buying because some of them don't really work. But there are dedicated dark field condensers that work better than the plastic filters. But it's a 20$ solution vs a few hundred $
Also note that basically only one or two of the plastic filters will work on a microscope. I bought a package of a dozen or so different shaped filters and only one of them worked.

Thanks, it's good to know that a dark field filter can deliver such views. I'm still working on mines.

The oblique technique you described, I tried it (if I understood correctly, you left your empty filter holder at some point half way opened), but not with your neat results. Not even close!

I forget if I had the filter inserted in the holder or not but either way yes I just angled it till the obligue image appeared

Great, thanks for the images!

Not to beat a subject to death, but that is an amazing and inspiring video. Wow. Um, did you say the camera costs $1500, though? Not that it is the camera making such a great video, I know it's the director, right? Or the actors? ANyway bravo.

Bemoc wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 15, 2020 10:55 pm

Not to beat a subject to death, but that is an amazing and inspiring video. Wow. Um, did you say the camera costs $1500, though? Not that it is the camera making such a great video, I know it's the director, right? Or the actors? ANyway bravo.

The microscope motic ba310 is $1500. The camera they use is a Fujifilm X-T3 $1200. The reason the motic costs so much is because it has infinity plan objectives and a phase contrast/darkfield condenser. Its decent as far as the knock off chinese brand microscopes go but it isn't really worth the money vs buying the better brands used. A swift 380t costs $300 because it just has a filter holder instead of a dedicated darkfield/phase condenser and cheaper objectives. But the motic objectives are barely even better. All they really do is have slightly better color and may have the ability to focus better. Better microscope parts are very arbitrary and can vastly change the cost of a microscope for arguably tiny or arguably huge improvements in image quality depending on your philosophical opinion.

As far as cameras go you don't really need an expensive dslr camera because again very tiny improvements can be the difference between a $300 camera and a $5000 camera. If you look at videos of $300 dslr footage vs $5000 cameras there is barely a difference in image quality. With microscopy it generally makes more sense to put more money into the microscope rather than the camera.

Micro and Sleekdigital, WOW!

"it generally makes more sense to put more money into the microscope rather than the camera"

Very true. The camera is recording the primary image produced by the microscope objective. If the objective produces a poor image, then the camera will too - regardless of how good it is.

You are entering into a world of wonder even if you have an elementary scope. The more expensive the microscope, the more user friendly it becomes but for basic beginning stuff, a microscope is a microscope and with care, patience ( hard to find these days ) , and a little ingenuity you can greatly improve the performance of an inexpensive scope. i have an inexpensive scope that I use to experiment with. I do things with it that I would not dare do with my quality scopes but the results usually provide quality imaging.
Greg