Wandering around a drop of fresh water with oil immersion

[macnmotion]

Here are some of the critters in my 3 week old pond sample. I've kept the sample under a plant light 16 hours a day, and topped it off with bottled water when necessary. It's fun killing time looking through this sample a drop at a time. Shot with a 40x oil immersion objective using phase contrast. The FOV is 200 x 360 microns.

[WWWW]

macnmotion,

Very nice footage, with a lot of different organisms !
I liked it.

[DonSchaeffer]

Wonderful images!

[MickyFynn]

Here are some of the critters in my 3 week old pond sample. I've kept the sample under a plant light 16 hours a day, and topped it off with bottled water when necessary. It's fun killing time looking through this sample a drop at a time. Shot with a 40x oil immersion objective using phase contrast. The FOV is 200 x 360 microns.

great footage. I have never tried oil immersion imaging. Is it hard to achieve?

[Martin Parnham]

Very nice, clear and no hint of halo's. I was wondering what set up you are using.?
thank you
Martin

[macnmotion]

Very nice, clear and no hint of halo's. I was wondering what set up you are using.?
thank you
Martin

This is a Nikon Inverted Diaphot with Phase Contrast (circa 1985) that was a university lab machine until it was decommissioned a few months ago. For this video I used a 40x oil immersion objective. The camera is a Nikon D750. I've modified the microscope's power from AC to DC to eliminate flicker when shooting at anything other than 1/100 second (AC power is 50hz here).

[macnmotion]

Here are some of the critters in my 3 week old pond sample. I've kept the sample under a plant light 16 hours a day, and topped it off with bottled water when necessary. It's fun killing time looking through this sample a drop at a time. Shot with a 40x oil immersion objective using phase contrast. The FOV is 200 x 360 microns.

great footage. I have never tried oil immersion imaging. Is it hard to achieve?

Because my microscope is inverted, I have to apply oil to the objective, not the slide. If I'm previewing the slide at low power I either have to apply oil while the 40x is at an angle through a narrow opening, or apply before setting the slide in place. I've started to do the latter and just exploring at 40x. Other than that it's very simple. The depth of field is very small so there's a lot I can't bring into focus. The difference in clarity and color is just amazing.

[MickyFynn]

Here are some of the critters in my 3 week old pond sample. I've kept the sample under a plant light 16 hours a day, and topped it off with bottled water when necessary. It's fun killing time looking through this sample a drop at a time. Shot with a 40x oil immersion objective using phase contrast. The FOV is 200 x 360 microns.

great footage. I have never tried oil immersion imaging. Is it hard to achieve?

Because my microscope is inverted, I have to apply oil to the objective, not the slide. If I'm previewing the slide at low power I either have to apply oil while the 40x is at an angle through a narrow opening, or apply before setting the slide in place. I've started to do the latter and just exploring at 40x. Other than that it's very simple. The depth of field is very small so there's a lot I can't bring into focus. The difference in clarity and color is just amazing.

Thanks for the information. I guess the inverted microscope is the key to this. regards Mick

[Martin Parnham]

Thank you - a very informative reply.
Martin