Search found 28 matches

by kwesi
Tue Jan 31, 2023 11:10 pm
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Elongated freshwater ciliates
Replies: 2
Views: 870

Re: Elongated freshwater ciliates

Thanks!
by kwesi
Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:05 am
Forum: Identification help
Topic: Elongated freshwater ciliates
Replies: 2
Views: 870

Elongated freshwater ciliates

I found these creatures in the top layer of sediment in a shallow pool at the edge of a lake. Would love any help narrowing them down beyond the ciliate phylum! https://i.imgur.com/e9yW1vM.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/VR8AEDS.jpg These 2 photos are of the same individual a few minutes apart. It had seve...
by kwesi
Tue Jan 31, 2023 3:16 am
Forum: Microscopes and optics
Topic: Bubbles in eyepieces? Plus reticle recommendations
Replies: 7
Views: 1260

Re: Bubbles in eyepieces? Plus reticle recommendations

Thanks everyone, I assumed it would have come from the factory clean but I guess I was wrong! Going to try carefully cleaning the lenses with pieces of cotton ball and isopropyl.
by kwesi
Mon Jan 23, 2023 5:24 am
Forum: Microscopes and optics
Topic: Bubbles in eyepieces? Plus reticle recommendations
Replies: 7
Views: 1260

Re: Bubbles in eyepieces? Plus reticle recommendations

And they rotate with the eyepiece. Is the phone attached to the eyepiece, so that it is rotating along with the eyepiece? Thanks for asking that, I should have specified in my post that the phone is not attached to the eyepiece, just handheld. When I hold the phone and then independently rotate the...
by kwesi
Mon Jan 23, 2023 3:37 am
Forum: Microscopes and optics
Topic: Bubbles in eyepieces? Plus reticle recommendations
Replies: 7
Views: 1260

Bubbles in eyepieces? Plus reticle recommendations

I have these tiny dark dots that appear in my microscope images whenever I capture them through an eyepiece with my phone's camera. Are they bubbles? I don't see them when looking through the microscope with my eyes, maybe because of the different focal lengths or apertures of the eye vs a phone's c...
by kwesi
Mon Jan 23, 2023 2:53 am
Forum: Specimens, samples and slides
Topic: Pond sample question
Replies: 12
Views: 4210

Re: Pond sample question

DWSmith wrote:
Mon Dec 05, 2022 4:20 pm
I'll start looking at the water under the microscope soon.
How is the mini aquarium going so far? Any interesting specimens? I'm looking into starting one myself and would be interested to hear how this setup has turned out.
by kwesi
Sat Sep 17, 2022 4:50 am
Forum: Illumination Techniques
Topic: DIY Epifluorescence
Replies: 8
Views: 2561

Re: DIY Epifluorescence

Scarodactyl wrote:
Fri Sep 16, 2022 7:03 pm
Spectral data is readily available for eg CREE LEDs, though you'll usually have to dig through a pdf for it.
The issue I'm having isn't with LED manufacturers not sharing their data, it's that flashlight makers rarely tell you which particular LEDs they're using.
by kwesi
Fri Sep 16, 2022 6:36 pm
Forum: Illumination Techniques
Topic: DIY Epifluorescence
Replies: 8
Views: 2561

Re: DIY Epifluorescence

For fluorescence, it would be important and cost-effective to know the expected fluorophores ahead of purchase or any DIY project. That's what I'm hoping to figure out, but so far I haven't been able to track down that information. I've seen some tables that list the excitation/emission wavelengths...
by kwesi
Wed Sep 14, 2022 11:19 pm
Forum: Illumination Techniques
Topic: DIY Epifluorescence
Replies: 8
Views: 2561

Re: DIY Epifluorescence

It might be even easier to find an old fluoreacence illuminator and replace the (likely missing or nonfunctional) mercury lamphouse with a diy LED one. Would it not cost a fair bit more to buy an illuminator + filters than to just buy a filter cube and build a drawer for it? If building the parts i...
by kwesi
Wed Sep 14, 2022 7:05 pm
Forum: Illumination Techniques
Topic: DIY Epifluorescence
Replies: 8
Views: 2561

DIY Epifluorescence

Apologies if this has been posted to this forum before; I looked around but didn't see it posted anywhere. I'm researching affordable epifluorescence microscopy set-ups for viewing autofluorescence in fungi, chloroplasts, plastics, etc. I found this article published by the American Chemical Society...
by kwesi
Mon Sep 12, 2022 12:54 am
Forum: Camera systems and imaging
Topic: DSLR, or mirrorless? (And a question about mirrorless adapters)
Replies: 13
Views: 2560

Re: DSLR, or mirrorless? (And a question about mirrorless adapters)

if your grant permits buying used gear. Thanks for the suggestion! It's tough with used gear, since I have to be specific about what I'm buying and there's enough time between application and approval that what's on the used market could be totally different. Good to keep in mind for my own home la...
by kwesi
Mon Sep 12, 2022 12:50 am
Forum: Camera systems and imaging
Topic: DSLR, or mirrorless? (And a question about mirrorless adapters)
Replies: 13
Views: 2560

Re: DSLR, or mirrorless? (And a question about mirrorless adapters)

A question in return. I keep running into people who want a microscope to study soil from large scale (say, worms) through fungi and protists down to the level of bacterial counts. Any chance you could tell us a paragraph or two - or point to a resource - that explains how what one sees in the soil...
by kwesi
Sun Sep 11, 2022 11:26 pm
Forum: Camera systems and imaging
Topic: DSLR, or mirrorless? (And a question about mirrorless adapters)
Replies: 13
Views: 2560

Re: DSLR, or mirrorless? (And a question about mirrorless adapters)

The 2x photo relay lens that AmScope sells to project an image somewhere between APS-C and full frame sensor sizes isn't an especially high quality bit of optics. Thank you for the detailed reply. I'm not especially worried about the reduction optics being the highest quality, I've used Amscope's v...
by kwesi
Sat Sep 10, 2022 10:39 pm
Forum: Camera systems and imaging
Topic: DSLR, or mirrorless? (And a question about mirrorless adapters)
Replies: 13
Views: 2560

Re: DSLR, or mirrorless? (And a question about mirrorless adapters)

As for the adapter, the mirrorless must be a few cm further away from the lens (microscope), because they don't have a mirror. Oh okay, so it's specifically the objective lens that the sensor has to be further away from, not the lens in the 2x coupler? That's one of the things I wasn't sure about
by kwesi
Wed Aug 31, 2022 7:45 pm
Forum: Camera systems and imaging
Topic: DSLR, or mirrorless? (And a question about mirrorless adapters)
Replies: 13
Views: 2560

DSLR, or mirrorless? (And a question about mirrorless adapters)

I work as an educator and I'm going to be running some high-school workshops, where we'll look at compost and soil under a compound microscope (brightfield and darkfield, up to 40X objective) and possibly use a stereo microscope to examine mosses, lichens etc. To test things out I've been bringing m...
by kwesi
Fri Dec 24, 2021 10:09 am
Forum: Camera systems and imaging
Topic: 720p video - good enough for microscopy?
Replies: 10
Views: 3732

Re: 720p video - good enough for microscopy?

The D3400 is actually surprisingly light - one of the lightest DSLRs that Nikon ever made. Even though it's not mirrorless, shooting with live view reduces vibrations by leaving the mirror out of the way, and it does live HDMI output to a computer, monitor, projector etc. and it has Bluetooth connec...
by kwesi
Tue Dec 21, 2021 9:56 pm
Forum: Camera systems and imaging
Topic: 720p video - good enough for microscopy?
Replies: 10
Views: 3732

Re: 720p video - good enough for microscopy?

Cool, what did you pick up if you don't mind sharing? I got a Nikon D3400. I'm really happy with it so far, though I'm still figuring it out (I've mostly used Canon cameras since I was a teenager so I don't have the muscle memory for it yet). One thing that could be problematic for microscopy is th...
by kwesi
Fri Dec 17, 2021 8:29 pm
Forum: Camera systems and imaging
Topic: 720p video - good enough for microscopy?
Replies: 10
Views: 3732

Re: 720p video - good enough for microscopy?

Well I ended up finding a much better camera for the same price, and it shoots 1080p. I might do some tests switching between 720 and 1080 and see how the quality compares.
by kwesi
Wed Dec 15, 2021 6:58 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Three strange amoeboid organisms
Replies: 14
Views: 4061

Re: Three strange amoeboid organisms

tlansing wrote:
Sun Dec 12, 2021 1:54 pm
Here is the entry on Microgromia: https://www.arcella.nl/microgromia-2/
Wow, looking at this I now realize I've seen these in my cyanobacteria culture, but I didn't pay them any mind because I thought they were just debris. I'll have to try to find more now!
by kwesi
Tue Dec 14, 2021 5:56 pm
Forum: Camera systems and imaging
Topic: 720p video - good enough for microscopy?
Replies: 10
Views: 3732

Re: 720p video - good enough for microscopy?

Thanks for the detailed reply! The person selling the camera is only asking $100 because the flash is broken, which is fine for my needs. So for that price I think it might be worth a try. I totally know what you mean about the bitrate being too low to capture lots of random motion, but hopefully wi...
by kwesi
Mon Dec 13, 2021 3:13 am
Forum: Specimens, samples and slides
Topic: Staining sourdough culture with iodine
Replies: 8
Views: 3499

Re: Staining sourdough culture with iodine

I'm kind of new to this - what's a compensator and how would I set my microscope up with one?
by kwesi
Mon Dec 13, 2021 2:46 am
Forum: Camera systems and imaging
Topic: 720p video - good enough for microscopy?
Replies: 10
Views: 3732

720p video - good enough for microscopy?

I found a Nikon D5000 on my local online marketplace, and I'm thinking about buying it so I can shoot video through my scope's 3rd port (currently shooting with a Canon Rebel that only takes stills). Is 720p adequate for microscopy? My intuition tells me it is, since the resolution of the microscope...
by kwesi
Fri Dec 10, 2021 3:18 am
Forum: Specimens, samples and slides
Topic: Staining sourdough culture with iodine
Replies: 8
Views: 3499

Re: Staining sourdough culture with iodine

Thanks for the input everyone, I think I mistakenly thought yeasts were more pleiomorphic than they are. I'm going to try to get a pair of linear polarizers which might help me differentiate the starch grains from the yeast cells better. I'm still not totally sure why most of the starch didn't stain...
by kwesi
Thu Dec 09, 2021 7:27 pm
Forum: Illumination Techniques
Topic: Question about so-called "Special Effect" filters
Replies: 2
Views: 1478

Question about so-called "Special Effect" filters

Is anyone familiar with filters like these, and what they're used for? Screen Shot 2021-12-09 at 11.23.23 AM.png I found them on eBay and I'm curious about them. The one on the bottom right looks like a COL filter without the central patch stop, the others, especially the top two, I'm having trouble...
by kwesi
Sun Dec 05, 2021 4:37 am
Forum: Specimens, samples and slides
Topic: Staining sourdough culture with iodine
Replies: 8
Views: 3499

Staining sourdough culture with iodine

Hello, I'm hoping someone can help me understand what I'm seeing. I took some sourdough culture consisting of flour, water, and wild yeast and bacteria. To the culture I applied dilute Lugol's iodine solution, added this in a thin film to the slide, added a drop of water, and mixed. As you can see, ...
by kwesi
Wed Aug 11, 2021 3:26 am
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Unusual Vorticella?
Replies: 7
Views: 3486

Re: Unusual Vorticella?

Dubious wrote:
Tue Aug 10, 2021 9:52 pm
"When conditions become adverse, the Vorticella can develop cilia around its base and detach itself from its stalk
Okay yeah this makes sense, I definitely saw cilia attached to it's base. Interesting! Thanks!
by kwesi
Tue Aug 10, 2021 9:05 pm
Forum: Pictures and Videos
Topic: Unusual Vorticella?
Replies: 7
Views: 3486

Unusual Vorticella?

I found this Vorticella in a freshwater pond, and was watching it feed and contract it's stalk. The stalk wasn't attached to a substrate (I've never observed this before). After a few minutes its stalk separated from its body and drifted away, and the specimen started swimming freely. As far as I'm ...
by kwesi
Tue Aug 10, 2021 7:35 pm
Forum: Introduce yourself
Topic: Hello!
Replies: 2
Views: 2900

Hello!

Hi everyone, I just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Kwesi, a former biology student and microbe lover. 10 years ago I studied botany and microbiology in university, and the microscope labs were always my favourite. Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish my degree but my passion for the microscopic ...