My recently purchased microscope came with a 40x phase contrast objective.
Today I received an Olympus CT centering telescope and did my best to setup the objective.
Images through the eyepieces look bright and sharp but the screen images were not so clear and not as sharp.
Captured images also not as 'good' as those seen through the scope.
Possibly I haven't aligned everything correctly.
Is this what one would expect? -
NUM10057
How about this? I'm not sure I like the effect I'm getting
NUM10058
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
Try some very thin, very flat subjects. PC, especially with a 40X and it's relatively large NA, can be really tough with something as 3 dimensional as the diatoms you have tried here. These do look like you're getting a good phase-contrast effect, but they do look a little soft. It will be easier to make an assessment when you've imaged some thinner, "flatter" subjects.
Thanks Charles.
I also noticed that the images, viewed through the scopes eyepieces, would not tolerate any OOF objects. That is, there was one sweet spot focus on the diatoms, a micron or two above or below and yuk. Totally ruled out any consideration of stacking. So everything just 1 frame.
Looking at the many diatoms I saw with PC through the eyepieces was far more interesting than looking at them in brightfield. But the photos were disappointing.
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
Olympus, in one of its brochures, comments that with Nomarski Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) microscopy "..there is no halo, such as appears in phase contrast microscopy".
So true.
Compare this diatom image with the PC one above.
40x S Plan achromat, 2.5x NFK photo eyepiece, 1.25x BH2-NA intermediate tube.
NUM10086
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.
Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives
