Diatoms

[Radazz]

These are better
Olympus IX70 HMC

20x obj
Seven image stack (picoley)


40x obj


Enjoy,
Radazz

[janvangastel]

Beautifull! I am new to microscopy and amazed about what's possible.

[Hobbyst46]

Attractive creation!

[zzffnn]

Very nice, thank you for sharing!

I would like to see a diatom comparison between HMC and offset oblique, if possible. A separated flat Gyrosigma would work well for that comparison.

Looking at the above Gyrosigma in HMC though, it does seem that HMC may have reduced aperture by too much, such that dot resolution is lost. I am only guessing based on Gyrosigma experience though and could totally be wrong.

[photomicro]

Very nice, thank you for sharing!

I would like to see a diatom comparison between HMC and offset oblique, if possible. A separated flat Gyrosigma would work well for that comparison.

Looking at the above Gyrosigma in HMC though, it does seem that HMC may have reduced aperture by too much, such that dot resolution is lost. I am only guessing based on Gyrosigma experience though and could totally be wrong.

Could it be that the stacking process has spoilt the resolution of the dots here?

[Radazz]

That would be my guess.

[photomicro]

I thought I would see what I could do with my home-made HMC set-up. By home made I mean that both the insert in the condenser and that in the objective have been fabricated by me, quite simply with fairly basic materials. I realise that it is not ideal, and needs some tinkering with, but then that is part of the enjoyment.

Unfortunately, I read the name Gyrosigma in the text of a comment, and quite missed the fact that I think the sigmoidal frustule in the original shot is Pleurosigma. Hopefully it still illustrates if it works OK.

Gyrosigma HMC.jpg (43.32 KiB) Viewed 5262 times

[zzffnn]

My mistake, sorry about that.

A side by side comparison of HMC vs oblique would be nice.

[Radazz]

I’m going to have to set up the BX40 next to the IX70 to make this comparison.
Still trying to figure out how to do darkfield or oblique on the inverted.
I ordered some acrylic disks to fit the filter carrier on the illuminator in order to try creating some stops.
However, the Silly Season is using much more time than usual, and I will try after the holidays.

Bare with me,
Radazz

[viktor j nilsson]

I thought I would see what I could do with my home-made HMC set-up. By home made I mean that both the insert in the condenser and that in the objective have been fabricated by me, quite simply with fairly basic materials. I realise that it is not ideal, and needs some tinkering with, but then that is part of the enjoyment.

Unfortunately, I read the name Gyrosigma in the text of a comment, and quite missed the fact that I think the sigmoidal frustule in the original shot is Pleurosigma. Hopefully it still illustrates if it works OK.

Gyrosigma HMC.jpg

Nice! Have you described your home-made HMC setup somewhere? Since I am going to build my own HMC condenser, I'd love to see it and get some ideas. I'm impressed you built your own objective, too. Was it difficult to get the modulator at the correct position at the objective's back focal plane? I know Leica has a system where the modulator sits outside the objective (Leica Integrated Modulation Contrast), but I would guess that that is only possible with infinity corrected optics.

[ImperatorRex]

Hi Photomicro,
looks good. What Objective (n.A.) have you used with your HMC? Your test diatoma is Gyrosigma and the structure just is partly resolved, so I would assume an objective with a n.A. of something like 0.40?