MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

This freshwater Tryblionella gracilis (or Nitzchia Tryblionella), length 109um, is poorly resolved under light microscopy. Even in Pleurax. In the oblique image (photo 1) contrast was enhanced. Illumination was amber-filtered cool LED. Photo 2 is plain darkfield, with unfiltered cool LED light. Turr...

Some clarifications. 70% ethanol is a proper disinfection liquid, not 95% or 100% ethanol. I suggested it in the case of fear from any microbes that were attached to the scope. Not a must. If the outside of the microscope is stained with grease or oil or some sticky organic residue, try one of the s...

There are several issues here that are better treated separately, one by one. It would help to see photos of the microscope. And initial treatment and cleaning should be done without any disassembly. Deep clean, complete tear down is not the first step to take. 1. To Return or not to Return. It depe...

I bought third party 20x/12 WF eyepieces for my Olympus stereo. They work, but I never use them. Very inconvenient. Vision seems unnatural. I believe that 10x WF are OK and 15x might be fine; 20x is too much. For higher magnifications, an 1.5x Barlow lens would be better. Just my opinion.

Wow! So many you have their Bilbo! So is that actually a Petroneis sideways on? I'd say it was more like 20um just measuring with a ruler on screen. So 20x60 isn't far removed from 30x70. Anyway, I'm still not sure of the causes of the image aberrations above... Yes, it is sideways on. I flipped it...

The source gives length, width and height - good enough?A 'thickness' of 30um seems quite a lot when width is also 30um I stand corrected, sorry ! So here is the measurement. Recorded with the 16x0.32 Plan objective. Photo 1 shows the LED strip stand. Laid on the microscope stage (usually the stere...

Thickness - neither width nor height.

It shows the same effect. It looks like it's to do with that species- maybe they are quite deep? . I’ve just found this: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314545744_Morfologia_e_distribuicao_de_Caloneis_Lyrella_Moreneis_Petroneis_e_Pinnularia_em_praias_arenosas_de_Santa_Catarina_Sul_do_Brasi...

PeteM wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:31 pm

That looks to be a very good result. Thanks for sharing it.

Do the Zeiss KPL 8x lower half and 10x upper half simply screw together for the spacing you used?

Yes, they do. Both are Huygens type, I believe, and belong in the same "series".

Very recent experiments on "hybrid" Zeiss eyepiece projection photography with my 160 TL Zeiss microscope. I was motivated by the work of Rolf Vossen ("Microphotography with ‘hybrid’ eyepieces", https://microscopyofnature.com/experiments-and-tests), and exchange of ideas with Bob (MicroBob). My proj...

Getting better all the time !

Very lovely high resolution images. Once again demonstrate immersion power. ;) Oblique, aren't they ? how did you get the oblique illumination ? Since that is a Nikon Cf, would be interesting to see color images as well. Incidentally, is that a Fluorite objective ? the CF and F do not mean fluorite ...

MichaelG. wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 10, 2021 9:02 am

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What an excellent page that is, Bob !!

Thanks for the link

MichaelG.

The modified eyepiece idea as shown by Rolf Vossen works well on my setup too.

Very beautiful Melosira and especially Licmophora.

Louise
This might be relevant
https://www.microbehunter.com/microscop ... ne#p101304

Images 014, 023 and 017 nicely show the different structural details of the diatom. Like, ridges on the inner layer and round holes on the outer (according to the SEM images in the recently linked article).

I think that the main differences between stacking softwares is speed, efficiency, user friendliness etc rather than the quality of the final product. My preferred stacking program is Toupview (free I think). Tab "Process"->"EDF" (extended depth of focus). Superb software in general. Here is a stack...

The excellent resolved stria pattern of image "Do415nmNikon40xCrop100pcScale_00013" is not visible in the stacks. My opinion is that for this diatom, to choose the few images that manifest well focused surfaces and stack them. So I did for a twin of this diatom, albeit I had phase contrast images.

A guess - an Amphora species.

Type B immersion oil is highly viscous whether new or old. Type A is much less viscous and serves well.

Perhaps it is designed to be oiled to the bottom of the slide. with immersion oil.

Fantastic diversity. From which depth (in the mud, and below the water) was the sand collected ? I used a jam jar to scoop the wet sand from the surface down to 2 - 3 cm at low water. You might find this link useful. You can set it for your area https://www.tidetime.org/europe/spain/estepona.htm Th...

Fantastic diversity.
From which depth (in the mud, and below the water) was the sand collected ?
It is great that you do not boil in acid any more.

The linked article nicely demonstrates the structural difference between the inner and outer surfaces of the valves (ribs vs dots, say). Can we see this difference with (home) light microscopy, rather than SEM ? These diatoms on the slide were purposely mildly cleaned, without resort to harsh chemic...

{ Speedax} It might not actually be available yet. Have a look here: https://www.tmg-tuebingen.de/neues-hochbrechendes-einschlussmittel-speedax/ I'm not sure if there's any connection, but I've previously come across a few high refractive index resins made by doping with nanoparticles. Will be inte...

The UV image is indeed very good. For example, here is another example of that diatom (Petroneis humerosa) imaged under phase contrast, 100X1.3 oil objective, and blue light (~450nm). The UV image is better resolved, although there are other variables.

The 486nm light has improved the image. Certainly a powerful LED will be better than filtration of white light. I cannot stand the blue light in my eyes though. Is it easy to switch the LEDs on the Swift microscope, from white to blue? On my microscope it would need fabrication of a new LED illumin...

Greg Howald wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:18 pm

I've been using mineral oil at 100x with success but I just ordered an oil dark field condenser and a 100x objective with iris. What oil is best for this?
Thanks,
Greg

Plain good old immersion oil, for example, Cargille Type A. Sold under various names.

The 486nm light has improved the image. Certainly a powerful LED will be better than filtration of white light. I cannot stand the blue light in my eyes though. Is it easy to switch the LEDs on the Swift microscope, from white to blue? On my microscope it would need fabrication of a new LED illumina...

MicroBob wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 01, 2021 1:35 pm

Here a lot of high resolution diatom photography tricks are discussed: https://www.mikroskopie-forum.de/index. ... c=40111.45

Bob, in that link I see a new (?) high RI resin named Speedax. Is it available of-the-shelf ?