Greetings from Lake Erie, USA

[Apteronotus]

Hi everybody,

I finally managed to join this great forum. Thank you, Oliver!

I have been watching and reading the great and helpful posts here for the last couple of years.

I have used microscopes for a long time professionally, first as a student in Biology and then later in my career as a scientist in the biotech industry, although my focus ended up being more on electrophysiology, so no advanced light microscopy techniques such as confocal or light sheet microscopy.

I started to get back into microscopy as a hobby during the pandemic after losing my job to keep busy and frankly as a means to keep my sanity.

I had an old Surplus course microscope, a Zeiss Standard 14 that I got as a graduate student (a long time ago ) and that never worked. I fixed the issues with it and then really got into Ebay for a while purchasing old microscopes and parts, re-teaching myself principles of microscopy, learning about how to join a modern digital camera to an old microscope and starting to re-acquaint myself with the microscopic world.

Here are pictures of my microscope workspace at home

Microscopy Workspace at Home

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including a picture of my Zeiss Standard 18

Zeiss Standard 18 (Upright microscope)

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and a basic inverted microscope that is sold under different brand names (mine is an Accuscope), but that I nevertheless enjoy to observe pond organisms in a petri dish.

Accuscope (Inverted microscope)

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I am looking forward to being able to talk to you directly from now on and will be back soon with questions and posts.

Cheers,

Joe

[Javier]

Welcome, Joe!

Nice scopes!

[Hobbyst46]

Welcome.

On the Zeiss Microscope, it is good that the X-Y control knob on the stage is placed along the left side of the microscope. This way the condenser rack knob is easily accessed.

Would you tell the details of the Zeiss Microscope camera optical train ? photo eyepiece ? additional lenses ? which camera ?

[Apteronotus]

Welcome, Joe!

Nice scopes!

Thank you, Javier!

[Apteronotus]

Welcome.

On the Zeiss Microscope, it is good that the X-Y control knob on the stage is placed along the left side of the microscope. This way the condenser rack knob is easily accessed.

Thank you!

The stage is a recent purchase. Because I am left-handed and used to operating the focus on the left side, I have to re-train myself to operate the focus on the right side. Otherwise, I like the stage. Amazing, the variety of stages that Zeiss made that fit the Standard.

Would you tell the details of the Zeiss Microscope camera optical train ? photo eyepiece ? additional lenses ? which camera ?

On this microscope I am using an afocal configuration for the camera. Inside the phototube is a KPL- W10x/18 and I am using a 2.8/28mm Meke manual focus objective with m43 mount which is a very compact light-weight lens. For cameras I have used an Olympus OMD-EM5 MkII or EM1-MkII. The adapter is a SVBony telescope adapter (1.25" with M42 thread) and I use M42 to M52 and M52 to M49 step rings to connect the adapter to the Meke lens.

[Hobbyst46]

Thanks.

[apochronaut]

Which end of " Lake of the Cat" do you live at.

[Apteronotus]

by apochronaut » Wed Jun 14, 2023 10:53 am
Which end of " Lake of the Cat" do you live at.

I live towards the middle of the southern shore in NE Ohio.

[apochronaut]

Still within range of one of the best algae supplies on the planet. I have taken quite a few samples from more bloomy parts of Lake Ontario and it is verdant and rich to say the least.

[Apteronotus]

Still within range of one of the best algae supplies on the planet. I have taken quite a few samples from more bloomy parts of Lake Ontario and it is verdant and rich to say the least.

That's good to know; I hope we can compare notes sometimes. Lake Erie is very eutrophic, with high primary production and a productive fisheries industry, but also suffering from frequent algae blooms especially in the Western portion due to being shallow and due to fertilizer runoff from what I read.
I have not been out there yet to collect plankton, but did so kayaking on a close-by reservoir. I was amazed about the dozens of species of algaes that I found in my plankon sample. I was able to keep a lot of it alive through the winter and used it to improve my microscopy skills. But mostly, I was enjoying the diversity of life that I saw.
My plan is to collect plankton from the big lake, too, but I will likely use a slightly more sturdy boat than my kayak.