MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Thank you both for sharing your setups, that was very helpful!

Using a gooseneck might be a better, more flexible idea, such as in this video: https://youtu.be/_Ej9QxMO9XM?si=8m4t1TFyK-mOH_fH The working distance for the ED2 is quite low though, around 4 cm is my guess. But because I don't have the light ring around it, I should be able to get as close as I wan...

Hi, I have a Nikon SMZ-U with two objective lenses. For the first one (the Extra-low Dispersion ED1), I have a ring light, but for the ED2 which has a much smaller working distance, the ring light does not focus the illumination where it has to be, instead the center of the image stays without illum...

My SMZ-U has a back port and a side-port. What is the function to have two? And why does the back one have a lens but the side-port doesn’t? Is it so that both have infinite focus despite having different lengths?

Tonight, Our Western Lynx Spider makes you see her digestion! The entire process of waiting for prey, capturing prey, crushing / puncturing, release of venom and digestive fluids, liquefaction, ingestion, and internal digestion will be explained step by step and summarized. You will see the venom an...

Tonight, our Western Lynx Spider dealt with a significantly bigger foe: A moth!

https://www.youtube.com/live/ucWLvNh2upY

Appreciate all your feedback. I ended up using clear glass. A correction, the diameter for the SMZ-U stage glass that I have is 89mm. I ended up ordering from AndrewGlasswright, an Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1379055452/glass-disk-between-2-inch-through-399, the thickness was too low an...

Yesterday night, our Western Lynx Spider was preying on, capturing (live on video), and digesting a booklouse we found on our window sill here in San Francisco. During the video, extra-oral digestion (EOD) is being discussed and several parts of a scientific publication by André Walter et. al. of th...

Today, Rachna is digesting thrips that are growing on a Sweet Alyssum branach that we found on on of our hikes here in San Francisco. On the technical side, we are briefly talking about aligning the focus between the webcam/OBS and the microscope's eyepieces so that both are "parfocal". https://yout...

Today, Rachna will be hunting and eating a tiny fly that we found in our apartment. The fly and its fascinating details are being presented at 22:52 in several pictures.

https://youtu.be/GF49vZImyJM

The fly:

Our live streams feature 'Rachna,' a tiny 5 mm Western Lynx Spider, named after 'Arachnida,' the biological class to which she belongs. The technical setup involves a Nikon SMZ-U stereo microscope with up to 75x magnification, complemented by a Sony A6000 mounted on the side-port and connected as a ...

Thank you!

Western Lynx Spider

Thank you so much!

Here's my first ever stacking image of an anther of a randomly found blossom. Taken with my Nikon SMZ-U at 75x and 150x and the Sony A6000. (75x == 120 images, 150x 30 images. 6000x4000 each, stacked with ZereneStacker): 75x: https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/640x480q70/922/XKWuCo.jpg 150x: https:/...

Hi, I have cleaned all different parts of my Nikon SMZ-U by now and have opened all different assemblies. But the zoom body is something I could not figure out how to open as of yet, but both through the eyepieces as well as through both ports I am getting the same dirt artifacts - so, my guess is t...

Currently, I'm a bit puzzled by one aspect: The diameter of the trinocular rear port on my microscope is larger than the side port (the side port is 38mm). I'm curious if there's any functional difference between the two. If anyone has insights on this, I'd love to hear them. One of the main differ...

A Heartfelt Thank You and My Exciting Microscope Setup Reveal Hello everyone, I'm thrilled to announce that my 'going-in' setup is finally complete, and I'd like to express my gratitude to all of you who contributed to what I consider the most fantastic Christmas gift for my family and our three ch...

(Double posting removed)

Hello, I own a Nikon SMZ-U stereo microscope and have an issue with the stage plate which is chipped and scratched. The clear stage plate is 85mm in diameter and quite difficult to find domestically. Offers from China (*) usually have frosted glass plates. Before I venture out and order, I wanted to...

After reading all of this over and over again and also re-reading my post and all of your answers in the beginners forum and this awesome post from 2020 (*), it seems now a bit clearer to me: I need an ASP-C mirrorless camera that I can mount directly on a C-Mount adapter to connect it to the scope....

How much do you want to spend? One easy solution is to get an aps-c mirrorless camera and directly adapt it to the photo port with no intermediate optics. Unfortunately, I only have a Canon EOS Rebel XTi that has a APS-C, but is not mirrorless. If that's not it, would a Swiftcam (e.g. the 20 Megapi...

Thank you, it's now 1:28 AM and my wife and I have spent the entire evening on this marvel. It's so much fun! I will need to find a way to get a digital camera setup working so that I can include my younger kids via the iMac display now. Let's see how that can be accomplished. Again, thank you for a...

Hello, I am owning a Nikon SMZ-U and would like to take take digital photos through the third port and/or get a live picture shown on an iMac. In general, what are the components I would need for that and specifically what would I need for the SMZ-U?

Thank you so much

It's here, it's here, it's here! And it is marvelous! Unfortunately, during transport, the stage glass seems to have chipped or so, and the stage mirror is lose. Not yet sure what to do about that, I have contacted the seller. The SMZ-U is otherwise in brilliant working condition and I will post pho...

Setting up the camera is a different matter. 10x eyepieces have one other unmentioned component: the widefield lens in your eye which strongly demagnifies the 10x image they project, making the final magnification much lower. An smz-u can fill an aps-c camera sensor directly with no intervening len...

For your usage either would be pleasingly overkill I think. Thanks again, much appreciated! I am leaning more heavily to the used Nikon SMZ-U Trinocular now. The seller reduced the price tag to $1,500 after I wrote him. He spooked me a bit with that he pointed out a need for "a little maintenance, ...

ADi wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 25, 2023 1:14 pm

Hello everyone,

Sting of a honey bee:

5X

Beautiful! What stereo microscope did you use, and is that really just a 5x magnification? What's your camera setup? Congratulations, these are mesmerizing photos!

For your usage either would be pleasingly overkill I think. Thank you for the thorough and easy to understand comparison and your impression of both, I appreciate that. I am well aware of the "pleasing overkill" that you point to. I take scientific and exploratory work even on a hobby or "family ed...

To make this point: Is this one here a good representation of a microscope that I can buy used? Is the price fair? My assessment Returns are accepted, description is detailed, shop has many very positive reviews. Visuals look good. Not sure about the price. What do you think? https://www.ebay.com/i...