Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

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Aenima
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Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#1 Post by Aenima » Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:02 am




Hi guys - I have two questions about this vid - 1st is it Paramecium? ive been looking for paramecium for ages, and wasn't finding them in my moss and rain water, however I discovered a local park with a pond and had some good water samples from there - finally seeing some of the species that seem to appear in many images and posts, which is cool. :)
I have been quite occupied with the pond sample and even got a bonus clutch of baby newts to look after until I revisited their pond and returned them. :) :)

Secondly, i recently got hold of a phase objective - mainly because it was cheap and an APO spec {Zeiss 25x vintage} i'd read that phase objectives still work okay for brightfield, and i figured being an apo it would at least have less CA than my achros.

Anyway, I had a knackered old phase condenser from an inverted Olympus scope - it has 0.55 written on it, and I had hoped to remove the insert for a diy darkfield project - its a bit loose and difficult to line up but with the zeiss objective I can get something approaching what I hope is a phase contrast image - i'm not really sure how it's meant to look, or whether the detail and/or quality is going to be up to scratch, so I was hoping to get your thoughts on the end result in this {possibly) paramecium video.

Apologies for the link - I couldn't get the embed feature to work.

Thanks for looking. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUzfRAezL8Q
Last edited by Aenima on Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

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actinophrys
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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#2 Post by actinophrys » Sun Aug 19, 2018 1:36 am

Hi Aenima,
To make the embed work you only include the last part of the URL: [youtube]zUzfRAezL8Q[/youtube]
But it turns out it can be nice to include a link anyway just in case that doesn't work for some browsers.

I will have to let someone else critique the phase contrast, but the larger ciliates are indeed Paramecium, which usually occur in stable water like ponds since they do not form cysts. Most of the smaller ones are possibly something like Cyclidium, it's hard for me to say. But around 0:30 you get a nice look at a colepid (Coleps or a related genus) and then around 0:45 there is also a cameo of a hypotrich (Oxytricha are the most famous but there are many different kinds).

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Aenima
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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#3 Post by Aenima » Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:10 am

actinophrys wrote:Hi Aenima,
To make the embed work you only include the last part of the URL: [youtube]zUzfRAezL8Q[/youtube]
But it turns out it can be nice to include a link anyway just in case that doesn't work for some browsers.

I will have to let someone else critique the phase contrast, but the larger ciliates are indeed Paramecium, which usually occur in stable water like ponds since they do not form cysts. Most of the smaller ones are possibly something like Cyclidium, it's hard for me to say. But around 0:30 you get a nice look at a colepid (Coleps or a related genus) and then around 0:45 there is also a cameo of a hypotrich (Oxytricha are the most famous but there are many different kinds).
woo - hoo :) was hoping for paramecium - thank u for the clarification actinophrys :)

But yeah, i have been seeing LOADS of new species once i'd found a real pond to take water from - gathering moss and wetting with rainwater was okay for tardigrades and some rotifers, one or two amoebas etc, but i found a lot of species missing that most people seemed to have abundance of, - so i made an effort to find a pond and suddenly all those 'usual suspects' started appearing :)

The phase contrast is a bonus, and something of a novelty at the moment - but not sure how much i'll be using it in the future with photography in mind, although it certainly seems to be effective on the pondwater critters, especially the amoebas and all the transparent stuff. :)

Thanks also for the tip on embedding video, will have to give that a try.

P.S i believe i also came across the other common paramecium [bursaria] but not certain yet.

Thanks again.

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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#4 Post by zzffnn » Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:35 am

Jay,

If the condenser light ring and objective annulus overlap almost perfectly (when you peep down empty eye tube), then your phase contrast should be as good as it can be.

I don't know much better you can get with that mismatched phase contrast set. Yes, you got phase working and it looks surprisingly good for a mismatched set, though it may get even better if you have a perfectly matched set. Lots of factors play roles in phase quality, so it is hard to say.

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Aenima
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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#5 Post by Aenima » Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:36 am

BTW probably not useful info, but just to clarify the phase contrast setup - 3 unmatched parts, the BHTU of course - and a zeiss 25x planapo slim silver with dark green band [my keyboard is broken, so some numbers are an issue lol] it has fortysix - zero six - forty one - nine nine zero one, as ID.

The condenser is Olympus PHASE CONTRAST - seems like a weird lens as its concave, with "0.55" upside-down text, and two adjusters.
I believe it's from an inverted model, as the numbers read on the opposite side to the corresponding insert/annular thingies - plus the wide concave lens seems different to my regular condenser.

So i'm really not sure if this effect is actually Phase contrast, or something else - and if it is, does it resemble a specific type - like positive low or whatever? [totally clueless in this area] :P

Whatever it might be, it's certainly fun. I am seeing many things in a new light, and some things i'm seeing for the first time - flagellates for example.
So yeah, i'm just curious. It seems to look okay, and certainly a little more attractive than some phase effects i've seen. But the two rings are different thicknesses and the alignment is sketchy at best.... so

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Aenima
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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#6 Post by Aenima » Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:55 am

cool. the tip about embedding worked - thank you!

Also, sorry Zzffnn just spotted your reply - many thanks for the input, much appreciated :) I added the specific parts involved, in case it rang any bells with someone - not an ideal match but it seems to 'do something' using bits I already had to hand, so i'm calling it a win :p

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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#7 Post by 75RR » Sun Aug 19, 2018 5:56 am

If the condenser light ring and objective annulus overlap almost perfectly (when you peep down empty eye tube), then your phase contrast should be as good as it can be.
This is what zzffnn was referring to:
Note: A Phase telescope helps with the alignment.
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Phase annulus.jpg (25.51 KiB) Viewed 5880 times
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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#8 Post by Aenima » Sun Aug 19, 2018 6:10 am

Ah yeah, I can get it so the rings are pretty concentric, but they are both different thickness, so that some of the 'bright' ring is visibly uncovered by the dark ring, around the edge, despite being aligned.
I guess this is why the effect isn't as drastic or highly contrasted as some of the proper phase images - plenty of light still gets through.

The blue background is nice, though. I'm sure i've seen a blue background in a phase contrast image somewhere, but can't find it now.

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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#9 Post by Crater Eddie » Sun Aug 19, 2018 1:42 pm

Whether you have achieved "proper" phase or not, it is visually pleasing and shows a lot of detail. Credit goes for obtaining good results with what you had on hand.
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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#10 Post by Hobbyst46 » Sun Aug 19, 2018 2:08 pm

Crater Eddie wrote:Whether you have achieved "proper" phase or not, it is visually pleasing and shows a lot of detail. Credit goes for obtaining good results with what you had on hand.
CE
Same opinion. Very nice video.

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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#11 Post by vasselle » Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:18 pm

Bonjour.
Très belle vidéo
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Aenima
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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#12 Post by Aenima » Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:33 pm

thanks guys - appreciate the feedback, and kind words :)

will be recording some more phase contrast stuff as it does seem to work okay - can't complain really :P

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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#13 Post by Radazz » Tue Aug 28, 2018 11:42 am

Wow! That is truly outstanding video!
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Re: Paramecium? {also, Phase contrast?} video youtube

#14 Post by Aenima » Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:59 pm

Radazz wrote:Wow! That is truly outstanding video!
Radazz
thank you Radazz. Really having fun with the phase objective :)

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