MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

I had to replace my computer which was getting more and more erratic, and I fell for one of Windows' nasty tricks-- it swapped the names of my external drives, and I stupidly formatted the wrong one that had many of my images on it, so I was spending time trying to recover what I could :( Thank you...

Very nice images. Gotta love vorticella.

Thanks for re-posting these. I have found a few of these colorful fellows in the cultures that I have re-constituted from my dried-up birdbath. My photos are pretty poor however.

I have an Amscope stereo microscope (on boom stand mount) at work that I use for quality control inspections on circuit boards and other tiny parts. I am perfectly satisfied with it's quality and optics. The camera that came with it however, is mediocre at best.

I tried it on my Canon camera a few years ago and noticed the slow-down.
I also noticed a significant shortening of battery life.
It wasn't worth the problems to me.

I have been following this thread with interest. I went to Staple's office supply to get a packet of laser printer transparency acetate last weekend... $69 for a packet of 50 sheets. Yikes! I tried a sheet of regular clear sheets and it just smudged.

Thanks for the link! I had seen this before but lost it. Very good information.

I don't see any white cells. Are you refering to the spiky looking cell in the bottom pic? That's a crenated red cell, you can see a drawing and short explanation of such cells here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crenation In this case, the crenation and the stacking of the red cells, known as Roulea...

Here is a handy (US) supplier of many types of surplus lab items including slides, cover slips, immersion oil, pipettes, culture tubes, etc: http://www.sciplus.com/s/c_11 They even have a few low-end microscopes. I have no interest in this company, other than trying to keep them in business so I can...

I do not see the image of your microscope.

I was planning on using the 60x mainly as a "high dry" for observing stained blood cells, I rarely go higher than 40x on pond life (maybe I would with better glass!) but I take your points. Thanks for your information re the parfocality distance. I thought that as long as the objectives were designe...

Gekko, you make some good points. The objectives that came with the Biolam are acromats, I would certainly be interested in upgrading to one or more apochromats if it is likely to make a significant improvement in image quality. The stock acromats have a parfocal distance of 33mm. If the apos are pa...

JimT: Yes, that is my thought. Since I don't use the 100x oil, the 60x dry would be a nice compliment to the 40x, especially when observing blood cells. Gekko: The turret is mounted with a regular screw not a thumbscrew, so is not really meant to be changed. If I could find a 5 position one that wou...

75RR: I do take your points, I just almost never find myself using the 4x. Gekko: Yes, unfortunately the turret is only 4 position. It looks like it comes off with one screw, though I have never had mine off. I see them on Ebay occasionally. Would love to replace it with a 5 position turret, but I d...

In setting up my micro work area again for the winter, I am reminded that when I packed everything away I was considering changing my lineup of objectives for my LOMO Biolam microscope. I rarely use the 100x objective anymore, was thinking about replacing it with a 60x. I also rarely use the 4x, hav...

This instrument is a work of art in and of itself.

I, for one, think your sketches are very good. Enough detail to be useful for comparison, not so much detail as to bog one down. I would use this.

Very beautiful images.

Dang! Looks pretty good to me.

That would be great Tony, please do!
I would like to see your solution.

I need a new project to work on, so have decided to experiment with an LED retrofit for my LOMO Biolam. There is some excellent information about LED projects on the "old forum", as well as the archives of Micscape, I'll be using those as a starting point. I took the plunge today and ordered some 3 ...

Agreed.

Thanks to all for the comments, gives me things to think about.
My apologies to Joe for hijacking the thread.

Thanks, yes I saw that measurement. I did look at the photos before I posted earlier, they look similar. What I meant was that I need to measure the corresponding area on my own scope to see if it is close enough for it to fit. It would be worth a little tool work if this could be made to fit and wo...

So, would it really be as simple as just adding the above referenced iris assembly to one's light source to convert to Kohler illumination? (Assuming of course that one has a centerable lamp and the iris assembly would fit) Too bad they don't provide a link to the installation instructions. I wonder...

Thank you Gekko! It is good to see you here too.

Hi Tony, good to see you here! Yes, I have been absorbed in summertime chores and multiple "honeydo" projects, we even put up a small home observatory for our telescope. That is still a work in progress by the way. On clear nights we hope to be spending time out under the stars... at least until it ...

Hello to everyone! I was on the old forum a few years ago and drifted away as other interests took my free time. Now I am back as the approaching winter has once again driven me indoors.
I hope to see my old friends here, and perhaps make some new ones.
CE