Hello from Scotland

What is your microscopy history? What are your interests? What equipment do you use?
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Confuseddave
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Sep 11, 2021 4:42 pm

Hello from Scotland

#1 Post by Confuseddave » Sat Sep 11, 2021 5:39 pm

Hi there!

I'm a new microscope owner who's looking around for a community to talk about keeping this going as a hobby.

I have a limited microscopy background from having a Developmental Biology PhD, with most of my experience of using a compound microscope being with fixed and cryopreserved tissue samples, using immunostaining and in situ hybridisation (and obviously a lot of dissection stereomicroscope stuff). I'm also into photography and digital graphic design, so the microphotography part of my doctorate was one of my favourite parts, although I left science pretty quickly afterwards.

My interest in microscopy was rekindled a few years ago when I started watching James Weiss and Hank Green's Journey the Microcosmos series on YouTube, and when they launched a kickstarter selling a beginner microscope kit, I jumped on board. I don't want to get too wrapped up in whether it was good or bad value for money, and it's definitely pretty basic, but it's the microscope that I've ended up with.

It was only after that I discovered the microbehunter channel and started properly thinking about what I might want to do with my 'scope, and the different kinds of things I might want to find and look at. And that led me here!

PeteM
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Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 6:22 am
Location: N. California

Re: Hello from Scotland

#2 Post by PeteM » Sat Sep 11, 2021 6:12 pm

Welcome.

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Hello from Scotland

#3 Post by MicroBob » Sat Sep 11, 2021 6:44 pm

Welcome to the forum!
Do you already have a camera connected to your microscope?

Bob

Leitzcycler
Posts: 255
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2019 11:55 am

Re: Hello from Scotland

#4 Post by Leitzcycler » Sat Sep 11, 2021 7:02 pm

Welcome!
I have a limited microscopy background
Limited :o I tried to put up an in situ hybridisation system once and it never worked. I still get a post-traumatic stress reaction every time I see in situ somewhere.

I highly appreciate your experience!

Confuseddave
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Sep 11, 2021 4:42 pm

Re: Hello from Scotland

#5 Post by Confuseddave » Sat Sep 11, 2021 8:31 pm

Do you already have a camera connected to your microscope?
I have a smartphone adapter that allows me to position my phone camera above the eyepiece. It's a bit ropey, but it sort of does the job. It's a little frustrating, because in order to have the image fill the sensor, I need the whole phone to lie about half a centimetre further out than when it's lying flush in the adapter, which means the whole thing is fragile and unstable; I might have to jury rig something to make it easier for it to sit in the right position. I have my eye on an eyepiece adapter for my DSLR, but I'm a little bit wary and confused about what I actually need to buy (and also, I've exhausted my budget for toys for a while). There isn't a dedicated camera tube on the microscope.

I've done a small amount of noodling around with a sample of moss from a local wood, the only living thing I've been able to find so far is this nematode.


Limited :o I tried to put up an in situ hybridisation system once and it never worked. I still get a post-traumatic stress reaction every time I see in situ somewhere.
Ha! I hear you on that. My lab had spent several years beating our in situ protocol into shape before I arrived, so I had the benefit of that. Our protocols were also predominantly done on whole-mount embryonic tissues, shot under dissection scope, and then sent for sectioning if we needed to see internal structure. I actually tried a few times to do on-slide in situ's and never, ever had it work. There's a lot of steps to keep everything RNase free, and the signal is so faint on a slide, it's just impossible to know when it's gone completely. And yes, when I said "limited microscopy background" I wasn't really counting the whole-mount and tissue processing side - that was most of the day-to-day work. I'm just acutely aware that there's a whole world of histology alone that I barely touched, much less looking at any living microorganisms...

tgss
Posts: 223
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 3:48 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: Hello from Scotland

#6 Post by tgss » Sat Sep 11, 2021 8:58 pm

Welcome to the forum Dave from an ex-pat Scotsman.
As you've probably discovered there's an enormous amount of knowledge and handy hints already on this forum that judicious use of the search facility can unearth. If you can't find what you're looking for, just keep asking questions. There's almost always someone with a useful answer or two.
Tom W.

Leitzcycler
Posts: 255
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2019 11:55 am

Re: Hello from Scotland

#7 Post by Leitzcycler » Sun Sep 12, 2021 7:24 am

My lab had spent several years beating our in situ protocol into shape before I arrived
That is nice to know. I only spent one year... :)

smollerthings
Posts: 457
Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2021 12:10 pm

Re: Hello from Scotland

#8 Post by smollerthings » Sun Sep 12, 2021 9:58 am

Confuseddave wrote:
Sat Sep 11, 2021 8:31 pm

It's a little frustrating, because in order to have the image fill the sensor, I need the whole phone to lie about half a centimetre further out than when it's lying flush in the adapter, which means the whole thing is fragile and unstable;
Welcome!

I also have some frustrating experience with that smartphone adapter. And I found that it is really sensitive. In order to center the image one needs to play with degrees of freedom that the adapter doesn't allow to adjust easily (rotation along the X and Y axis of the phone, with Z being orthogonal to it). I ended up not using it most of the time. I order to get the phone to the right distance to the eyepiece, I used an old film box cover+cardboard. It does the job and I can hold the phone with one hand against the cover. But I wish I had a 3d printer for that piece. If anyone has a solution to my (our) misery, short of buying a trinocular head, I am all ears.


MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Hello from Scotland

#9 Post by MicroBob » Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:54 pm

I can't see the "Misery" image. Edit: now its there!

Generally the phone camera's entrance pupil has to fit to th eyepieces exit pupil. Here a normal eyepiece will make it easier than a high eyepoint eyepiece. I use a phone adapter where I have a separate eyepiece in a 3d-printed sleeve, sitting in the right position. This allows me to just drop in the phone, zoom in a little to get rid of the dark corners and I'm ready. This is also a nice setup to take part in Zoom meetings as the phone can just be an additional participant and I can show my microscope image to others. Image quality of my 200€ phone is good enough for forum use, but threre are a few drawbacks compared to a real camera. I don't know how well the top priced phones do.

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