Arachnoidiscus ehrenbergii

Every 30 days the site administrators will pick an image made through a microscope from the "Photography Through the Microscope Gallery" to be featured on the front page of the www.amateurmicrography.net website.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

sushidelic
Posts: 233
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 5:46 am

Arachnoidiscus ehrenbergii

Post by sushidelic »

Hello,

here's another diatom I like a lot. Extern lighting and this time the SPlan Apo 60x/1.4.
The most interesting thing was, when I examined the center closely, it was revealing some dots with defined lit and dark side, that each measured around 300nm in diameter. Should be close to the resolution limit of classic light microscopy?

Image

Image

Best regards,
Michael

PS: I hope with my recent post I didn't kill my whole quota of pics for january, and it's okay to post another one...

zzffnn
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Post by zzffnn »

Very nice image!

But exactly how did you provide "external light" for an oil immersion 60x NA 1.4 objective? Isn't the working distance of than objective less than 0.3 mm?

I found a working distance of 2mm very challenging for external light. I cannot envision how external light can pass through WD of less than 0.3mm. Are you using fiber optic coupled to microscope slide? Even that, you would need to stop down objective to much less than NA 1.4 (to around NA 1.1).

Would you please kindly show a photo of your light/microscope arrangement?
Selling my Canon FD 200mm F/2.8 lens

Pau
Site Admin
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Location: Valencia, Spain

Post by Pau »

Magnificent!

I'm also interested in your illumination technique, are you illuminating the immersion oil or the slide glass itself?

PS: don't worry, they are just two images (actually one) in a day
:wink:
Pau

sushidelic
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Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 5:46 am

Post by sushidelic »

Just two quick pics from the setup (weekend is kids' time...).
I'll explain it a bit more later!

Image
Image

Best regards,
Michael

Cactusdave
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Location: Bromley, Kent, UK

Post by Cactusdave »

Brilliantly simple. :D Your images are brilliant too BTW. :D I have done something similar with the diffusing cylinder and incident lights, I used a section cut from a breakfast health drink bottle ('Actimel' in the UK). But this was for a low power subject. I'm sure other forum members have done something similar. What I'm astounded by is that it gives enough light for high power objectives and even oil immersion. I have to try it. What sort of exposure times are you getting with the X63 objective for example? Also what camera are you using?

I'm also very impressed with how clean your stacks are. Whether it's another benefit of the lighting, I don't know, but I often find problems of halos and smearing (I call it 'melting' because that's what it looks like) of detail with stacking high power images of high contrast subjects like diatoms and radiolaria.

The example radiolaria and diatoms you have photographed are really nice examples as well. Are these mounts you have made yourself or carefully selected examples from commercial prepared mounts?
Leitz Ortholux 1, Zeiss standard, Nikon Diaphot inverted, Canon photographic gear

Pau
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Location: Valencia, Spain

Post by Pau »

I concur with all what Dave says. So simple and effective and nobody has published it before :shock:
Pau

sushidelic
Posts: 233
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 5:46 am

Post by sushidelic »

I actually have no clue, where the light passes in the end. Sure it goes through the slide, refracted, reflected on the condensor, oil, whereever... It's true, that even with only the 10x apo I'm unable to shed light on top of the eye of a daphnia, so it is basically a very oblique illumination, but due to the diffusor, it is still somewhat soft light. That helps revealing detail and for stacking :).

The diatoms are from a bunch of "stray" slides I bought on ebay, among those random diatoms you always find some that are well oriented and in good shape. The guy who made them embedded them in zrax, with literally no dirt at all.

Camera was a Nikon D800 with an NFK 1.67, and expoure times where roughly 5-10 seconds with ISO 100. Those long exposure times are annoying as shooting stacks takes ages, but at the same time, shutter shock is no issue at all.

Best regards,
Michael

zzffnn
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Post by zzffnn »

Thank you. I have never tried 5-10 second exposure. That explained most of it.
Selling my Canon FD 200mm F/2.8 lens

carlos.uruguay
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Post by carlos.uruguay »

SUPER!!!!

Jacek
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Post by Jacek »

Super !
What you have on a glass slide to obtain black background?

Olympusman
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Diatom

Post by Olympusman »

Nice image interesting ligthing technique.

Mike
Michael Reese Much FRMS EMS Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA

sushidelic
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Post by sushidelic »

Thanks a lot for you replies!

With an NA of 1.4, it was impossible to obtain a black background. Unfortunately, the 60x Apo doesn't have an diafragm, so i had to use the full resolution, and the source image looks kinda weird DIC style. Fortunately, most specimen have a clear border, so with careful masking the black BG is added in Photoshop. If you use apertures below 1, it can look similar to DF with a near black BG right on the source image.

Best regards,
Michael

billben74
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Location: Cambridge, UK

Post by billben74 »

Fantastic shot. The lighting works very well. I love it.
Really interesting technique. As I am sure many will, this is definately on my to do list.

abpho
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Post by abpho »

Wow. Amazing. Looks like a maze. Very hypnotic. Congratulations on making the picture of the month too. =D>
I'm in Canada! Isn't that weird?

sushidelic
Posts: 233
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2016 5:46 am

Post by sushidelic »

Thanks a lot! 1000x thanks a lot!

When i decided to get the Vanox back in october last year, I wasn't really sure wether this is just an expensive crazy idea out of a midlife mood.
But now i have found something that really adds to my life, and the results are encouraging me to keep experimenting and discussing, and shooting :).

Well, thanks again!

Best regards,
Michael

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