Winter pond samples

[Goofy]

Hi,
Recently I got really nice deal, basically 1/3 of retail price for a brand new Bresser Erudit DLX. I have aimed for better scope like used Nikon or Olympus, but given the price/quality ratio it was simply an excellent bargain and I could not resist :p Although it is still rather very basic microscope it follows 160mm DIN standard so It can be upgraded with Bresser plan optics/darkfield/phase contrast latter on. Until now I have used highly modded semi-toy scope Bresser Biolux AL that I really enjoyed - the new one seems to have superior optics and built quality over the old one, so I'm very happy with purchase
All right, that's enough talking, below you can find some results from local pond water sample:

Tradigrade:


Diatoms:


Spirostomum:

[WhyMe]

Wow! Nice videos! I just found my first Tardigrade a couple days ago

[mintakax]

Nice and clear videos, thanks for sharing !

[MicroBob]

Very nice videos, thank you for posting them!
These tardigrades are really interesting species with their 8 clawed feet.
In the first part of the diatom video there are some black shadows in th background, not moving with the slide, maybe something on the field aperture or so.
I liked how you improved your simple microscope but I'm sure you will enjoy your more developed new instument a lot. Since it has 45mm objectives you are not limited to Bresser for upgrades and might try something else. From the look of your videos I don't think this is necessary at all for plancton use. I recently bought used Zeiss West 160mm 16:1 and 40:1 objectives for which my DIC "old" system was developed. They have cost below 40€ each, in nice condition.

Bob

[Goofy]

These shadows are scratches on iphone camera lens glass. It is my very old phone that was stored in crowded drawer for years and developed this scratches as a result. They are not visible for high aperture openings, they start to be noticeable and annoying when you close it down. I will try to paste them out with some watch glass scratch remover. Recently I decided to bring it back to life elusively as my microscope digital camera and it works surprisingly well, it is also super fast and simple to produce videos combined with mac/imovie combo.

[einman]

Very nice videos! Tardigrades are fascinating creatures.

[charlie g]

Fantastc encounters, Dawid, you certainly worked you phones camera features with excelleance, thank you.

The water bear appeals to me as our human-scale companion animal family members, but the elegance of the diatoms, and the intricate structures in the protozoan are microscopy treats for me. That was a terrific winter pond sample you collected.

I mentioned in a thread I shared regarding the huge Spirostomium species: 'how can one achieve the crisp cilia and their support structural detals...and yet have an image of the entire organism to make a print of? I guess with a lot of high mag 'stitched images'? thanks for this pond sample, Dawid. charlie guevara