Amphipleura pellucida

[75RR]

You have now documented nearly all of the 8 form test slide with your 63x planapo as far as I remember from your previous threads. Are you planing on shooting Amphipleura pelucida?

Planapo 63x/1.4, COL + Pol, 95µm length, 5 image stack in photoshop (Image is 1500 pixels long - right click View Image to see it full size)

[apochronaut]

That's a tricky one. Very good image of it. I remember doing these a few years back testing objectives and with a lot of 1.25 N.A. it was borderline whether they would reveal the striae in BF.

[75RR]

Thanks apochronaut

For those of you wondering what COL + Pol is about, this is where I got the tip: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... trast.html

Lighting was a 60w incandescent bulb. Going to have to get the 100w halogen up and running at some point.

[MicroBob]

Hi Glen,
great image! This is really a difficult diatom. Here in Germany is a pond where they can be found all year round: Kraterquelle in Bad Nenndorf.
I was sent a bottle of water and made some slides.
Here the best I got at this time, not nearly as good as your image! I used a decentered dark field condenser for an oblique like effect.

Bob

[75RR]

Thanks MicroBob,

I used an Ultracondenser to achieve a sort of COL, which it does with objectives of higher NA than 1.0, which is a pretty cool dual use!

[75RR]

Same image as above but with added red square which is 5µm x 5µm

[Wes]

Brilliant, thats really impressive and my favorite shot from your 8-form diatom series. Are there any diatoms from this slide that haven't encountered the 63x planapo?

I was never able to get achieve a useful level of oblique illumination but I could try something similar to what you did with the darkfield (not with an ultracondenser though)

[75RR]

Many thanks Wes

Will have to go through the 8 Form Test Slide to see what's left.

Have tried to bid for some old diatom slides on ebay but they are going for silly money.


Link to article on COL for the curious: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... jcol2.html

[sinabro]

Nice result 75RR...
Very interesting info. I'll try it. Thanks!

[Hobbyst46]

...I was never able to get achieve a useful level of oblique illumination but I could try something similar to what you did with the darkfield (not with an ultracondenser though)

The D darkfield position on the Zeiss turret condenser, when oiled to the slide, provides nice darkfield, fairly close to that of the ultracondenser, even with an NA of 1.

[75RR]

Thanks Sinabro

The D darkfield position on the Zeiss turret condenser, when oiled to the slide, provides nice darkfield, fairly close to that of the ultracondenser, even with an NA of 1.

Agree. Certainly worth trying out if you have one and lack the other.

The COL + Pol technique is certainly worth a look. I shall be having another go as I am sure there are improvements to be found with a little practice.