Australian enthusiast

What is your microscopy history? What are your interests? What equipment do you use?
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coominya
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Location: Brisbane Aust

Australian enthusiast

#1 Post by coominya » Thu Mar 15, 2018 10:52 am

Hi guys.
I'm in Brisbane Australia and a few weeks ago bought an old Olympus ECE-Bi off gumtree at a cheap price. I have been steadily learning the ropes, observing organisms from the local creek, and reconditioning the microscope as I go. The scope was pretty dirty and had a lot of crud on the optical surfaces, I am an amateur astronomer as well so I used the techniques learn't there to guide me. I have done all but the prism up top and I'll leave that because it's not too bad and no doubt has a special factory alignment I shouldn't tamper with.

Years ago I had an old Russian microscope that I used for Protozoa observation and am basically reviving the hobby now I have more time and money. I was also able to buy a good condition Olympus IMT-2 that came up for sale locally. It was demonstrated to me by the seller, a great guy who used it to study his own blood as part of a research project but I have not as yet used it and will leave it under it's plastic cover until I have developed good technique with the old ECE. From the manual I'm reading it's obvious the IMT is a very complex instrument and will take some mastering.

Protozoa are fascinating to me and I can spent hours watching them as they go about their daily lives. I have made a few crude videos through the EP with the smart phone camera but I won't embarrass myself by posting them though, there are some really excellent photos and videos posted here and I'll wait until I get a dedicated camera (next year perhaps) before entering the fray.

After reading here for a few weeks I have learnt a lot of the basics about illumination and preparation, of feeding and observing my protozoa. So thanks to you all for being here, for giving me a place to learn and to share my love of small creatures and the glass that makes seeing them possible.

Tom.

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IanW
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#2 Post by IanW » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:31 am

Hello Tom and welcome.

Like you I had an old Russian microscope as a kid and found my way back to the hobby much later. The IMT-2 sounds fascinating. Looking forward to seeing some of your results (films and photos etc) as time goes by.

All the best

Ian
Zeiss Jena NF, Zeiss Standard 18 and WL

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75RR
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#3 Post by 75RR » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:35 am

Welcome coominya

That Olympus ECE-Bi looks just the thing to get your eye back in before wrestling with the Olympus IMT-2, that is a monster microscope! Good find.
Zeiss Standard WL (somewhat fashion challenged) & Wild M8
Olympus E-P2 (Micro Four Thirds Camera)

Hobbyst46
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#4 Post by Hobbyst46 » Thu Mar 15, 2018 9:09 pm

Congratulations.

The inverted Olympus will provide you the ability to watch tiny life in petri dishes, not only with dry low-mag objectives but also with 60x and 100x and oil-immersion objectives. There are plastic Petri dishes with coverslip (plastic or glass) bottoms, multi-well chambers with coverslip bottoms, flow cells with coverslip bottoms, and other variants. For example:

the company "Ibidi - Cells in Focus" (Germany).

Such gadgets are somewhat expensive, being sold to the research market, and are usually disposable; but for hobby I would use it repeatedly and just rinse in between observations. I think that for protist cultures, they would be better than ordinary slides, that you have to place upside down on the stage.

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coominya
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#5 Post by coominya » Thu Mar 15, 2018 10:03 pm

Thanks for the welcomes, and encouragement guys. I look forward to reading some of your posts as well.

@Hobbyst46, When I saw it on ebay I did some research and realized immediately the potential for using the petri dishes and flasks which is all I currently intend to use on it. To me the idea of keeping specimens alive on the stage for more than an hour or so was very appealing. It came with only a single stock 40x objective and I've subsequently ordered a LWD 20 CD Plan 20xpl and a PC S Plan 10xPL. Both recommended as the standard obj's for this unit. (see pic) There is a built in 1.5x magnification lens which will up the 400x combination to 600x (if my math and understanding is right) but no higher power obj's are listed as standard for this microscope.

I'm really flying in the dark with it, which is why it remains unused for now. luckily I'm old enough to have developed a measure of patience :D
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McConkey
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#6 Post by McConkey » Thu Mar 15, 2018 10:59 pm

Welcome!
Do not be put off from posting your images or videos! There are few on here who shoot through their smartphones and produce beyond excellent images! We'd love to see what you've been viewing especially coming from the other side of the planet. You cant make us wait till next year!!

There are a few options for smartphone adapters when it comes to microscopes. Maybe you already have one but heres an example incase you are interested!

https://www.amazon.com/Gosky-Universal- ... pe+adapter

Enjoy the going down the rabbit hole! :D
Karl
AO21 with Canon M3

JimT
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#7 Post by JimT » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:20 pm

Welcome Tom and as McConkey said, "Enjoy the going down the rabbit hole! :D"

einman
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#8 Post by einman » Fri Mar 16, 2018 12:27 am

Welcome! I have used an inverted quite often. I own both an AO Biostar and an Olympus IM. I prefer plastic petri dishes as they tend to be less expensive and optically better than most glass dishes with perhaps the exception of those using a "coverlip" bottom. I tend to use the smaller dishes that under the right conditions allow plentu of space for the protozoans to move around but not so much you are constantly moving the dish. In addition the same dishes work perfect for my stereoscopes almost fitting the FOV perfectly. They are falcon dishes with about a 35 mm diameter.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Falcon-Petri-D ... SwLdBaJyxt

I had a custom holder made specific to this petri dish for the inverted so they can be mounted within a slide holder and easily manipulated on the stage.

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coominya
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#9 Post by coominya » Fri Mar 16, 2018 5:47 am

McConkey wrote:Welcome!
Do not be put off from posting your images or videos! There are few on here who shoot through their smartphones and produce beyond excellent images!
Where can I host them, youtube? Have never uploaded video.

here is a pic, remember, you were warned! I have no idea what it is but it swims around and appears to be eating through the end of the long appendage. I think I can see cillia around the end too (got the light balance wrong)

Image
JimT wrote:Welcome Tom and as McConkey said, "Enjoy the going down the rabbit hole! :D"
It is a bit like that isn't it...

einman wrote:Welcome! I have used an inverted quite often. I own both an AO Biostar and an Olympus IM. I prefer plastic petri dishes as they tend to be less expensive and optically better than most glass dishes
You have sold me, I just ordered some but not from your U.S. link which was too expensive shipping to Australia. $71 shipping, ouch!

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75RR
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#10 Post by 75RR » Fri Mar 16, 2018 6:44 am

re Critter ID: you might want to look up Litonotus cygnus
They are fascinating to watch
Zeiss Standard WL (somewhat fashion challenged) & Wild M8
Olympus E-P2 (Micro Four Thirds Camera)

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coominya
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#11 Post by coominya » Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:40 am

75RR wrote:re Critter ID: you might want to look up Litonotus cygnus
They are fascinating to watch
Hey, thanks for the leg up RR (Rangers?) I quickly found an excellent youtube that looks like it was done with phase contrast or the like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gah7CXPYzXI

Now I'll go see if I can find some closeups of the mouth feeding. They really are an elegant little creature.

Hobbyst46
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#12 Post by Hobbyst46 » Fri Mar 16, 2018 9:37 am

About using high mag objectives on the IMT-2:
I did not know the specifications of this particular microscope regarding objectives, just thought of inverted microscopes in general, so I apologize if my message was misleading.

I believe that the seemingly limitation on magnification is because of the 0.30 or 0.55 NA condensers.
I found the following thread about the IMT-2:

http://www.mikroskopie.de/mikroforum_2/ ... ic=17885.0

where there is a claim that the 0.55NA condenser can be used (perhaps for decent, not spectacular results) with high NA objectives in brightfield
But also a link to Olympus adapters that enable the fitting of other condensers on this scope:

http://www.spachoptics.com/IX-ADUCD-p/o ... -aducd.htm

Hope that this info will be useful on the long run.

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coominya
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#13 Post by coominya » Fri Mar 16, 2018 9:43 pm

Hobbyst46 wrote: I believe that the seemingly limitation on magnification is because of the 0.30 or 0.55 NA condensers.
I found the following thread about the IMT-2:

Hope that this info will be useful on the long run.
Thanks for your efforts 46, there is so little online about this microscope any information is a great help. I will translate that thread and save it off.
Mine has the 0.55 condenser with specific settings for the 4 eyepieces available, do you think (or know) if this microscope can do dark-field natively?

Image
Image
Last edited by coominya on Sat Apr 21, 2018 7:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

Hobbyst46
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#14 Post by Hobbyst46 » Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:48 pm

do you think (or know) if this microscope can do dark-field natively?
Regretfully, I do not know. In principle it should be possible, at least with the 10x objective.

Hobbyst46
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#15 Post by Hobbyst46 » Sat Apr 21, 2018 4:47 pm

coominya wrote:
Hobbyst46 wrote: I believe that the seemingly limitation on magnification is because of the 0.30 or 0.55 NA condensers.
I found the following thread about the IMT-2:

Hope that this info will be useful on the long run.
Thanks for your efforts 46, there is so little online about this microscope any information is a great help. I will translate that thread and save it off.
Mine has the 0.55 condenser with specific settings for the 4 eyepieces available, do you think (or know) if this microscope can do dark-field natively?

I was not sure if your question still stands. If it does:
The Alan Wood brochure specifies other types of illumination but not DF. As far as I could see. I think I can check on an old Olympus phase contrast condenser turret whether it has any DF position on it, but that is not a guarantee.

I would suggest that you try the Zeiss "trick": If you have a low-NA objective, say an 10x/0.25 for this scope, rotate the condenser turret to highest phase position and see if it creates DF. Olympus marked the phase positions according to the objective magnification (unlike Zeiss). So try to combine the 10x/0.25 with the setting "60" or "100" on the turret if it exists. You may need to optimize the condenser height. Perhaps it works...

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coominya
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Re: Australian enthusiast

#16 Post by coominya » Sun Apr 22, 2018 9:48 pm

Hobbyst46 wrote:
I would suggest that you try the Zeiss "trick": If you have a low-NA objective, say an 10x/0.25 for this scope, rotate the condenser turret to highest phase position and see if it creates DF.
I'll try that next time I power up the scope but I've subsequently ordered a set of DF filter inserts that I suspect may be of more use.

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