Couple of diatom slides using 405nm light
Posted: Fri May 06, 2022 10:50 am
There is something very beautiful about diatom structures so I try and keep an eye out for diatom slides on ebay. I had a couple turn up this week - a 7 form Test Slide from Klaus Kemp and one antique one by John Barnett with a group of 4 Eupodiscus Radiatus diatoms. These are some quick images of the slides taken using 405nm light, in low magnification (Olympus Splan 20x) and high magnification of a smaller part of each slide (Olympus 60x Splan Apo).
Smaller magnification images. And higher magnification ones. I'm not too happy with the lighting or how I processed these, but I just find the structures really beautiful. Next time I think I will try the 2.5x photoeyepiece (this was the 3.3x one and it was what was on the microscope). Also, I cheated a bit with the 60x Splan Apo and used glycerine rather than immersion oil, as it is so much easier to clean off. Lighting was a using a mercury xenon lamp and I used a 405nm bandpass filter. Standard brightfield imaging with a basic Olympus Abbe condenser.
Smaller magnification images. And higher magnification ones. I'm not too happy with the lighting or how I processed these, but I just find the structures really beautiful. Next time I think I will try the 2.5x photoeyepiece (this was the 3.3x one and it was what was on the microscope). Also, I cheated a bit with the 60x Splan Apo and used glycerine rather than immersion oil, as it is so much easier to clean off. Lighting was a using a mercury xenon lamp and I used a 405nm bandpass filter. Standard brightfield imaging with a basic Olympus Abbe condenser.