Hi Bud, Darax is essentially the same as Zrax but can be difficult to get - as you're finding. I'll send you a PM with a contact who may be able to help. There are also alternatives like Hyrax, Pleurax and others but I have very limited experience with those and don't use them now (I've got enough D...

... Personally I hope to see high-res global shutter cameras in the near future instead of stacked sensor cameras. The Sony A9iii has global shutter and 120fps RAW. Approaching a couple of years since release and only 24.6 megapixels, but there could be a high(er) resolution offering soon. You'll n...

Works well. Nice job.

Cheers

Ahh, so the main difference (compared to a typical extreme macro setup) is using transmitted instead of incident illumination, right? That, and shooting through a coverslip, maybe? Certainly blurs the lines between macro and micro approaches. The made up term "macroscopography" springs to mind... :D...

Nicely done! To my eyes, it actually has a kind of "extreme macro" look about it. Not sure if that's the scopes lineage, or just autosuggestion from knowing you made it from macro-parts. Either way - I like the look. Certainly not the typical microscope image of such critters. Do you intend to post ...

Wonderful. Is this still using the Oly UPlanSAPO 100/1.4? Yes, that lens again. Turns out tt's the only Oly objective I have that's corrected (enough) for 365nm. At first, I thought the Oly PlanSApo 60/1.42 worked OK too, but I discovered that less than half the FoV works well(ish) enough. Beyond t...

Lastly, a cleaned-up 365nm UV version to complete the set. My favourite, though I'm not sure which type (BF or faux-DF) is better as they enhance different features...

Cheers
Beats

Hi all, Here's another image of the same diatom - an outcome of ongoing experiments to (semi-automatically) match the exposure and "look" of monochrome images shot under different conditions. It's a 200-image stack captured with an Oly UPlanSAPO 100/1.4 under 450nm blue light (straight brightfield i...

You also make several good points Lou. I think the "direction taken" will be influenced mostly by currently available kit, preferred workflow and personal preference. You reminded me of two more salient points too... My Sony A7riv produces 14-bits per channel output in all shooting modes except bulb...

PS. I forgot to mention the reason for doubling the sensor megapixels resolution over what's strictly needed was to accomodate lower power objectives that still have relatively high NA. For example, a 10x NA0.3 objective can resolve about 0.75µm under UV light which would direct-project onto the sen...

As Lou has suggested, I also considered astro CCDs for my near-dedicated diatom setup, based on an Olympus BX61. However, I found a few limitations/complications that made me choose to use a Sony A7r4 I already owned (pixel-shift capable). The main negatives with the astro solution (for me) were cos...

Only slides for permanent mounts or open strews of diatoms (used for searching and picking out good forms) actually need flaming. It isn't necessary for things like a temporary pond sample. However, I do end up flaming all my slides after cleaning - mainly out of habit and inertia from so many repet...

Hi Beats. I am not familiar with “flaming” a slide. Would you mind explaining how you do it? Also what is your preferred method of cleaning a slide. Thanks. Hi Bud, I flame slides with a chefs blowtorch, refillable with butane. Just pass the flame over the surface of the slide a few times. As well ...

...Any suggestions for other strategies for finding the correct compensation would be most welcome! Hi David, The "textbook" method of finding the best correction setting is to find a speck of something, just a tiny dot, and adjust the collar until the OOF image of the speck looks identical on both...

Assuming you buy reasonable quality slips and slides, you'll find that thickness varies a little more for slides than it does for coverslips (within a brand and within the same batch/box). The thickness of slides is far less important than that of coverslips. The "0.17" marked on (most) objectives i...