Native flower & a wound & first flash shots

[Simon W]

Ok, concentrating on lower power this week. This first shot is from a tiny flower (about 6mm) from an aussie shrub, I have no idea of its scientific (or even colloquial) name, it was just a pretty little starter subject.

Craig was right, the SPLAN FL2 objective is very nice, great for such subjects. I estimate the on sensor maginification at about 6x, even though the basic maths of 2.0 times 2.5 (FL adapter) times 1.6 sensor is 8. I'll do the correct measurements one day..

This was my first flash shot (literally, I'd never used an external flash with my cam), taken with a curled bit of paper in front of the subject per 'Gastronaut's' great method.

I found that some of the 30 or shots were inconsistently exposed, due to my handholding of the flash and non-use of manual exposure, thanks to craig I'll do all manual next time.

I assume that perfect exposure might make the image even sharper once stacked? The image is nowhere near as sharp as in the eyepiece. I didn't have the (very tiny) flower properly set in glue, i'm sure that was asking for trouble. Even though the paper was in front of the subject, I bet it moved.



This second shot shows the stack before I removed the out of focus green shoot as circled. In the second you'll also see the cloning work I originally did to remove the massive amounts of dust marks from my sensor - you can see dozens of them on the first shot! Upper left of the first image looks like I've overlaid a rain image!

I'm really enjoying all the raw editing options in photoshop elements 7.0 (yes, it's that old), having never been aware of them before. Raw rocks.



This last shot is a much higher magnification (10 obj) shot of my wife's similarly sized finger wound stuck on a bandage. Gross I know, but I loved the colours and patterns in this (yes Charlie, I know I did bad again..) brightfield lit sample, along with what I was able to extract via Raw editing.

Actually, I really love some of the surreal/impressionist patterns that we see in microscopy, must be my different brain setup!

[Charles Krebs]

I estimate the on sensor magnification at about 6x, even though the basic maths of 2.0 times 2.5 (FL adapter) times 1.6 sensor is 8.

Forget about the "1.6 sensor". The magnification on sensor should be very close to 2(objective) x 2.5(NFK photo-eyepiece)= 5
To be completely accurate you do need to measure and check with a stage micrometer (calibrated slide). But if you are using the Olympus components correctly "spaced"(as you are) then it will be very close.

[Simon W]

I read your Scale Bar instructions Charlie, so will use those easy to follow instructions to be sure next time. Now that I think it through, yes the sensor size/crop factor shouldn't be part of it. Oh well!

Received the two bargain 20x and 40x Splan Apos today, oh my freaking god they are so heavy! Another level above the apos.

I have worries about the quality though, so will test tomorrow and return if not happy, I have that agreement at least. One of them, the 40x, has some of the black (painted?) ring surrounding the actual lens chipped off, but an initial look through the rear of the obj. looks good. I'll compare to my current objectives and might even post a comparison. At equivalent of 2 for one, I had to give it a go. Wish me luck, or I've just wasted postage...

[Charles Krebs]

Just remember, with these Plan Apo objectives you definitely need a cover slip (0.17mm, also known as #1.5). The subject needs to be right up against the cover slip. With the 40X you need to play around and be sure the adjust collar is set to give the best image.