MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Thanks for your responses. Every experiment shows something new - and that, indeed, is fun.

My Celestron CB2000CF arrived a couple of days ago. I'm happy. It's not high end but has more capability than my AMscope M149 student scope. I think this will suit me for a long time. Did I say that I'm happy?

Just what I was looking for. Thanks much, Chris Dee.

I am beginning to look at water and soil samples. Is there a basic reference to help me identify what I find? Not looking for a technical college text - more like "microbes for dummies".

Here's a link to an interesting experiment. Has anyone here done this?
https://rsscience.com/how-to-see-bacter ... handprint/

Just about anything in your fridge or cupboard. Aspirin, starchy foods, dust, cheek swab, blood if you happen to have a cut, fabrics, paper towels, your fingerprint on tape, greenery around your apartment building, and the list goes on. My microscope is of the same 490 series and I've had lots of fu...

Thanks, Guys, for the links. I'll give this a try
Mary

Wes -
Your detailed response just leads me to do some online research into the process - just out of curiosity. My "lab" is one end of a dining room table. I lack knowledge and resources to go much beyond what I'll get from the kit.
Mary

Thanks for quick responses. My curiosity now demands that I buy this kit. Looks interesting:
https://www.homesciencetools.com/produc ... ion-anchor

Mary

I am intrigued by a student kit to extract plant DNA. What optics are necessary to view DNA?

Hi, Bob -
Thanks for your reply. I disassembled it and still couldn't figure it out. At a cost of $23 I simply ordered a new one. Much less frustrating. I'm using a student scope from AMscope. I'm a rank beginner so it fits my capability at this point.
Mary

messed up on the image link it's here.
https://omaxmicroscope.com/a112-x-y-mec ... scope.html

Maryfox

I have a mechanical stage on my student microscope similar to the photo on this page. https://omaxmicroscope.com/a112-x-y-mechanical-stage-for-biological-microscope.htm Worked fine yesterday. Today the Y axis knob will not move. It will not turn clockwise; and turning it counter clockwise screws the...

Thanks, BillT. Interesting blog - too bad it died.
Mary

So I finally watched Oliver Kim's video "Crystals made with fire under the microscope" Should have done before my original post.

Linear My web searches have taken me to diagrams describing circular. Not for me. Nor do I want to think about wavelength ranges, retarders (whatever they do), etc. At this stage of my life (retired) I'm looking for simple, not necessarily easy, but simple. I'm waiting for my round (not circular) l...

Thanks for your suggestions and especially for the quick responses. This is a very impressive forum on a truly great website. Most of what I've learned so far has come from this site and forum. I visit several other topic specific sites and a big difference is that everyone here is helpful, and not ...

I finally learned about polarizing film. My budget student microscope doesn’t have any place to put normal polarizing filters. My ‘net searches took me to a clever device, (pic above) but the site referenced in the article no longer exists. The article was written in 1998 so that’s not a surprise Is...

Thanks, Michael Great info there.

Thanks, Mike. You've added to my meager knowledge.

I'm looking at Beginner Microscope Experiments on microscopemaster.com For the experiment looking at leaf structure, it call for glycerin as a mounting medium. Why? When is this the correct choice?

Thanks very much for your help. I'm disappointed at the facts, but it's true that You Get What You Pay For. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to upgrade, but in the meantime I'm enjoying having a closer look at the things in my world.

Yes, Michael that's what came with the scope. I plan to upgrade when the budget allows.

Thanks for your replies. My scope is an Amscope M149 student microscope. The camera model is MD35. Since the whole thing cost less than $130, I'd suspect that it doesn't have its own optics.

A very Newbie question I have an inexpensive Amscope student microscope with 10x and 25x eyepieces and a 640 x 480 USB camera that fits into the tube. There are adapters that fit to the eyepiece to accommodate the camera. When I have the camera directly into the tube with no eyepiece, everything’s g...

Thanks for the welcome messages. Kosher salt is somewhat interesting. I'll try dissolving and evaporating table salt - sounds interesting. I also have Maldon (flake) salt to look at. Mold is next - there's some moldy cheese in the fridge. All of this helps me learn about my scope. Retired in '04 at ...

I am about as newbie as they come. Bought one of those cheap digital microscopes last summer. Had some fun with it, but it was like a “gateway drug” – I want more. Christmas brought me an Amscope student microscope with a USB camera. I have no particular area of interest; I just want to know about e...