MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

An excellent stain is Methylene blue. You can buy this cheaply at pet supply stores. It is sold as an anti-bacterial agent for fish tanks.

Wally

OK, here's a question for everyone: Is 'narrow angle light scatter a real phenomenon or self serving ad BS by a company that doesn't put multi-coatings on it's optics? According to Vernonscope, on their line of Brandon eyepieces: "Some question why Brandon lenses are not multi-coated. In the past, s...

I have experimented with a couple of alternative mounting media. I found bad shrinkage problems with nail polish. I have used artist's acrylic emulsion with excellent results. I dehydrate in alcohol, then stain and mount using the emulsion. I have used Liquitex brand. It's a bit thick, so applying a...

Is that the same as a "Shallow Depth of Field"? No, depth of field refers to how much depth can be in focus at once. High NA objectives have less depth of field. The problem with improper cover glass thickness or specimen depth is the spherical aberration that results. A very thin specimen that is ...

Hi p3aul, I have 60x dry objectives on my Motic B3 and Optika B380, and I find that I use them a great deal. One thing, definitely do not dip them in oil or water. They are not made for this, it will damage the lens and will give very poor images anyway. As far as which objective to replace, I would...

From what I've read, the pros seem to favor xylene for optics cleaning, but I've read people had good results using lighter fluid (which I believe is basically just naptha). I've been using Ronsonol brand lighter fluid to clean oil off the oil lens and slides, and for optics cleaning generally and i...

Are you in Italy, Wallyrut? I am in USA. New York Microscope Company started selling Optika here, some of their offerings looked interesting, and decided to give them a try. I read in one of your posts you had a good impression of Martin Microscope. I bought my Motic B3 from them. Also had a good i...

Hi all, I just registered on this site today, and how interesting to find this thread on a topic I have been giving some thought to lately. I have a couple of 60x plan achro objectives and use them frequently. Like apochronaut, I don't find using oil immersion too much trouble, and my 100x oil lens ...