What Microscope do I use.

What equipment do you use? Post pictures and descriptions of your microscope(s) here!
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AntoniScott
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What Microscope do I use.

#1 Post by AntoniScott » Wed Dec 25, 2019 3:01 pm

I used to have a very nice American Optical / Bausch and Lomb microscope which I left behind when I moved to Florida. Now that I am back into my microscope interest I got a very nice used Bristoline. I would have never bought this microscope based on the name but it turns out to be an excellent optical quality microscope. It came with a 5x,10x 40x and 100x oil immersion. It is an old microscope with the smaller objectives (the new microscopes have huge objectives) but the older microscope is just as good optically. I recently got a small objective by Nikon 60x (very rare find) which was in excellent optical condition, no scratches on the front lens and the inside was not filled with dust as is usual with old objectives. The reason I gor the 60x is that the 100x requires oil and is messy. If my slide is not quite dry enough (the mounting media) the cover slip can move if you try to wipe off the oil. I compered the optical quality of the image of a 100x oil immersion x 10x eyepeice = 1000x to the 60x dry objective with a 16x eyepiece =960x magnification and the optical difference was so small as to make the 60x a far better choice.

I bought a brand new in the box, never used, Olympus CH with a trinocular head with four objectives. The optical quality is very good and it allows me to take pictures as well. It came with the 4x, 10x, 40x and 100x oil and I have since added the 20x and a 60x. The 20x is a very useful objective. Something is lost between 10x and 40x but not between 10x and 20x. The 20x is a beautiful image quality. almost three dimensional.


Antoni Scott

MicroBob
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Re: What Microscope do I use.

#2 Post by MicroBob » Wed Dec 25, 2019 3:15 pm

Hi Antoni,
welcome to the forum!
It is a quite common impression that the image quality from the 10:1 is better than that of the 40:1. The 10:1 has a higher aperture per magnification ratio and is less sensitive to sub optimal preparations. The 20:1 is a very useful magnification in between, especially for plancton life.

Bob

Hobbyst46
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Re: What Microscope do I use.

#3 Post by Hobbyst46 » Wed Dec 25, 2019 5:14 pm

Hi and welcome,
Possibly the 60X objective has an NA of 0.8-0.85. Then the highest possible magnification is 1000 * NA = 800-850. Yet the total magnification is 60 * 16 = 960, namely higher than the maximum magnification, and slightly into empty magnification. A 10X or 12X eyepiece might do better in this respect.

apochronaut
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Re: What Microscope do I use.

#4 Post by apochronaut » Wed Dec 25, 2019 5:35 pm

Welcome to the forum.
Brisoline are quite good . The older ones were made by Kyowa.

Using a dry 60X of large aperture( .90 - .95 N.A.) and 15 or 16X eyepieces can provide close results to those achieved by a 100X 1.25 oil immersion objective with aqueous subjects, especially if the sample is a little thick or some other factor is causing a reduction in the practical N.A. of the system or lack of homogeneity in the immersion. If one is finding that a 60X .85 objective with 16X eyepieces is achieving a comparative or close to comparative image quality to a 1.25 oil objective , it likely points to a sample preparation problem. Such a combination is into empty magnification for sure and a 1.25 image should be considerably better.

carlh6902
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Re: What Microscope do I use.

#5 Post by carlh6902 » Wed Dec 25, 2019 8:23 pm

To get the true benefit of a 100x oil immersion lens of NA 1.25, you will need to oil the condenser to the slide, as well as the objective.

Carl
--- If you're in the Kansas City area and you need help with an Olympus BH-2 scope, PM me. I love to work on these things ---

apochronaut
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Re: What Microscope do I use.

#6 Post by apochronaut » Thu Dec 26, 2019 12:57 pm

That is true , and since the N.A. of the oiled objective is fixed, when oil is not used with the condenser , the quality of the condenser becomes quite important. That is the rational for the more innovative microscope companies from the 80's on , offering high N.A. dry achromat condensers as an option. They recognized that the standards that microscopists used to be guided by, such as patience and precision , could easily be sacrificed for production in vet clinics, labs, schools ; anywhere where put through was important. A .90 dry achromat aplanat will outperform an oiled 1.25 abbe( not an abbe aspheric) with planachromat objectives. A well corrected dry condenser working at a high N.A. with an air gap, and a 1.25 N.A. oiled objective will provide a system only reduced in aperture by about 10% of the objective's maximum N.A., or down to around 1.15.

AntoniScott
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Re: What Microscope do I use.

#7 Post by AntoniScott » Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:26 pm

I will not deny that the 100x oil immersion yields a more superior image but I find the need for 1000x magnification very few times. As well as my Olympus CH2, I have a much older Bristoline (with the short objectives). The image quality of the Bristoline is every bit as good as the Olympus. Recently I was able to get a short barrel 60x objective for the Bristoline which was made by Bausch and Lomb. It is of very good optical quality, equal to that of the Olympus. In all cases, I use the 100x very infrequently, the 60x very few times. My all-around favorite objective is the 20x. It is a nice in-between lens with superb optical quality, higher magnification than the 10x and good depth of field for thick objects. I use the 20x objective most of the time.
Recently I discovered "dark-field" microscopy and am enjoying the stunning details that are revealed via this lighting process. I will post some photographs for review in the near future.
Antoni

AntoniScott
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Re: Focus Stacking software

#8 Post by AntoniScott » Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:36 pm

Can anyone recommend a simple, uncomplicated, focus stacking software that I can use. I use my digital camera through the trinocular tube. I could take any number of images (twenty, thirty, forty) if necessary and transfer them to my computer with the stacking software. Any help will be much appreciated.
Antoni Scott

AntoniScott
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Microphotographs

#9 Post by AntoniScott » Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:25 am

Florida is over run by fire ants of all sizes. A ant hill or mound can have millions of fire ants, all ready to sting anything that bothers them. Thousands of ants move about carrying baby ants in their jaws.
Attachments
Baby fire ant prior to hatching
Baby fire ant prior to hatching
4.jpg (123.89 KiB) Viewed 10139 times
Fire ant
Fire ant
2.jpg (141.84 KiB) Viewed 10139 times
Fire Ant Stinger.jpg
Fire Ant Stinger.jpg (111.05 KiB) Viewed 10139 times

Microworldofgems
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Re: Focus Stacking software

#10 Post by Microworldofgems » Sat Mar 14, 2020 7:54 pm

AntoniScott wrote:
Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:36 pm
Can anyone recommend a simple, uncomplicated, focus stacking software that I can use. I use my digital camera through the trinocular tube. I could take any number of images (twenty, thirty, forty) if necessary and transfer them to my computer with the stacking software. Any help will be much appreciated.
Antoni Scott
Helicon Focus is great and very easy to use.

DonSchaeffer
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Re: What Microscope do I use.

#11 Post by DonSchaeffer » Fri Mar 27, 2020 10:25 pm

I'm just a beginner at the age of 80. I bought an Amscope M150. Installed a mechanical stage and bought a microtome.
cells2.jpg
cells2.jpg (71.19 KiB) Viewed 7499 times
This is my first reasonably successful use of the microtome
Angular cells of a pearl plant leaf.

MicroBob
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Re: What Microscope do I use.

#12 Post by MicroBob » Sat Mar 28, 2020 6:35 am

Hi Don,
that picture looks quite good.
You posted it in somebody else thread on a different topic and it might be overseen there. It would be better if you opened a new thread for this topic.
I would like to post some questions on this as it is an interesting and unusual topic.

Bob

greenbee
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Re: Focus Stacking software

#13 Post by greenbee » Tue Jun 09, 2020 11:27 pm

AntoniScott wrote:
Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:36 pm
Can anyone recommend a simple, uncomplicated, focus stacking software that I can use. I use my digital camera through the trinocular tube. I could take any number of images (twenty, thirty, forty) if necessary and transfer them to my computer with the stacking software. Any help will be much appreciated.
Antoni Scott
https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/tutori ... 295557891/
great, cheap software

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