12 Images of Christmas -- Day 12 Added

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 3:20 am

Thanks Jacek. I should have mentioned that the total field width is about 14mm. I'll edit the post to include that.

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 3:23 am

Intriguing. Nice slide, too!

Would the method "work" over the full 1x to 6.3x range of the 'scope?

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 3:32 am

Thanks Chris. Yes, I have played around with this approach to widefield photography through the stereo over a range of stereo zoom settings. I don't want to interrupt this thread, but I'll maybe show some more in a separate thread.
The slide was mounted by F. R. Rowley of Leicester, UK, marked as mounted in balsam in 'benzole' and is dated 1887!

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 2:13 am

Time for the next image, and we are over half way through our twelve images. This one's another personal favourite. It shows pigment scales in the skin of the porbeagle shark Lamna nasus. The slide does not have the maker's name and was probably made by a talented amateur. The style of the mount and label suggest that it was made in the early part of the 20th century. The image was taken on a Nikon Diaphot with a Nikon X20 Plan DIC objective, DIC illumination with colour from a plastic film retarder, stack of 8 images processed in Zerene.

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 8:33 am

For my eighth image I'm returning to the theme of animal histology. This image depicts a vertical section of a rabbit tongue injected to show the capillary bed. Though not definitively labelled, this has all the appearance of the injected slides imported from Germany and sold by the English firm of Smith and Beck in the 1860s. The quality of the injection is supreme and the slide responds beautifully to polarised light with a retarder to reveal not just the capillaries but also the musculature in detail. Leitz X6.3 Plan Fluorite objective on a Nikon Diaphot. Polarised transmitted light with a plastic film retarder. Stitch of 57 images With Microsoft ICE. Images taken with a Canon 5DMkII camera mounted on the Diaphot front port. The background has been set to grey in post processing.

zzffnn · Post by **zzffnn** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:50 am

Amazing images! Thank you for sharing!

carlos.uruguay · Post by **carlos.uruguay** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:12 pm

Nice and interesting

Jacek · Post by **Jacek** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:57 pm

beautiful

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Thu Dec 31, 2015 8:33 am

Thanks everyone. This is a link to a larger 65 MPixel version of the rabbit tongue. https://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=70 ... 5f699de136 It has not been edited as carefully as the smaller version, so the edges are a bit ragged at high zoom, but it's fun to zoom into and see the details of capillaries and muscles recorded. Use the mouse wheel to zoom. Please note that this image is copyright.

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Thu Dec 31, 2015 8:49 am

For today's image I thought I'd go to something living, as all the rest have been prepared slides. This is a Micrasterias desmid, not sure of the species, thomasiana? No doubt someone will correct me. Stitch of two 15 image stacks processed with Zerene PMax. DIC illumination on a Zeiss Standard, Zeiss X40, 0.95 dry planapochromat. Canon EOS M camera afocally coupled with a 40mm legacy prime lens connected via filter thread adapters to the 28mm eyecup threads on a Leitz Periplan 10X18 eyepice. As Pau has noted the compensation offered by the Periplan eyepiece is a pretty good match for the Zeiss Planapochromat. Residual chromatic aberration is manageable in post processing.

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Fri Jan 01, 2016 3:03 pm

Great shots. Very enjoyable set of images.

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Sat Jan 02, 2016 3:30 am

Thanks Charles, your compliments are greatly valued. Most years I try to make a calendar of 12 of my better images, these are mostly culled from my 2016 effort.

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Sat Jan 02, 2016 3:40 am

Sorry I missed a day yesterday. Not due to a post New Year's Eve hangover but more to a double dyed stinker of a cold (apologies to users of Google Translate!). Anyway today's image is of a fossil diatom from a mount by Steve Beats. I know this species perfectly well, but I can't put a name to it in my currently medicated state. Zeiss Standard DIC with the Zeiss X40 0.95 dry planapochromat. Stitched from two 13 image stacks with Zerene PMax and cropped from a larger image which included another diatom, (join rather visible if you look closely).

Jacek · Post by **Jacek** » Sat Jan 02, 2016 5:09 am

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Sun Jan 03, 2016 9:02 am

Thanks Jacek.
For today's penultimate image, I am returning to the slide of Arachnoidiscus diatoms on seaweed. This is a low power stitch of 14 images with Microsoft ICE. Nikon Diaphot, Leitz X2.5 Plan objective. Illumination combines polarised light with a plastic film retarder with dark ground produced by a stop placed on the condenser.