Microscopy Podcast

The resolution that a microscope is capable of achieving is probably the single most important factor that determines the quality of a microscopic image. Without a sufficiently high resolution, magnification is not possible without loss of quality. There are a variety of different factors that determine the achievable resolution. Some of these factors can not be actively influenced by the microscopist, others can. Some of the factors play a larger role, others a smaller one. In the following post, I want to summarize some of these factors.

This time I’d like to talk about a topic which is only indirectly related to microscopy: macro imaging.

This is one of the first tries taking pictures with my new Sigma objective, and I have to admit that I’m very satisfied with the lens.

The male pine cone (or flower) is responsible for forming pollen. These pollen grains are also visible in the image above. For a zoom-able image of a female pine cone, visit the following link:

Köhler illumination reduces stray light and therefore increases contrast when taking pictures.

Digital photography gives the users many new possibilities in improving photographs taken through the microscope. This post gives an overview of the different image processing functions that can be applied to microscopic images.

How many megapixels do you need? In this post I try to determine the required resolution.

Specimens which are suspended in water are not completely immobilized. Small objects will start to vibrate when one is tapping on the table on which the microscope stands. There are several possibilities to deal with this.

This is a darkfield image of a tick. Ticks are blood-sucking arthropods. They possess 8 legs and are not insects, but rather are related to the spiders. Ticks are known to transmit various diseases, such as Lyme’s disease and encephalitis. Read More …

For more information on the pine cone, have a look at the following post: The specimen size is approximately 20mm from left to right.