I regularly test Mitutoyo objectives for forum members, so I've tested far more such optics than I care to count. This is likely far more Mitutoyo objectives than anyone else on the forum has tested. My testing numbers may even exceed the total of all Mitutoyo objectives tested by the entirety of al...

This last one was with different setup and without filters... anybody knows why there is almost no color (except some magenta/purple fringes I removed in post processing)? Bbobby, First, nice image of the solar corona (glowing atmosphere of the sun) during totality! Likely you've combined several e...

Friend and forum member Robert OToole has died. Robert-OToole-bio-pic-300px.jpg (Photo from www.robertotoole.com, which holds the copyright.) Robert posted here as "RobertOToole" for more than eleven years. He also authored and maintained the encyclopedic site closeuphotography.com , where he extens...

Right before that reply, the Yuji were linked (which I found online as well) but they're a bit more pricey. Mkbn, This won't answer your query, as it's neither inexpensive nor more current--but I can add a little information to my post on the Yuji COBs that you mentioned above. I still haven't gott...

Dennis and Scarodactyl, If this is the stand I saw portions of, it is a solid setup and should be very good for Dennis' current purpose--perhaps after some illumination tweaks. If it is this stand, I hard-mounted a stepper motor on its BHMJ focus block. Dennis, with that excellent Mitty glass you ha...

I'm really glad Robert offered to help! I test objectives fairly often for forum members, but will be traveling soon, and would find it ticklish to get someone else's objectives tested and out the door in time.

Your objectives will be in excellent hands with Robert.

--Chris S.

FotoChris, you might be onto something. My rig had some issues initially; among others I had to dial in -22 for the fine focus. Sounds as if you are using autofocus? I would recommend turning it off for critical tests of lens sharpness, especially at magnifications approaching 1x. Here, you probabl...

Dario, My 50x/0.55 Mitutoyo has an "E" serial number. I've used it as a benchmark to test a number of Mitutoyo 50x/0.55 objectives for forum members. Some of these lenses are likely older than mine, and some are definitely newer. My lens has never been second best to any other. So I would advise you...

I'm also a new user of Zerene and my i7 Windows laptop does not run it very well. Welcome to posting! :D The thread Rik linked to--near its end--mentions overheating as a possible culprit for slow PC performance. With a desktop or tower PC, overheating is indeed occasionally the culprit for slow pe...

That one is a beauty. Glad I already have one, or I'd be reaching for my wallet.

--Chris S.

Adi, The rainbow-like effect--is that speckle? Does it go away if your light sources are more diffuse? I'm guessing that it is/does. Also, that greater diffusion will increase resolution--though resolution is not bad here. I do realize that greater diffusion would decrease the amount of light hittin...

Thomas, Before you buy that Olympus lens, STOP for a moment, and read this. The Olympus 10x lens is an infinity lens. Your Amscope 4x achromat may be a finite lens. It is important that, before you buy a microscope objective, you know the difference. Finite and infinity objectives need to be set up ...

Insects are not something I study, and others with more knowledge will surely weigh in. But most online photographs don't portray how much red is on a BMSB. Also, remember that there will be a number of instars that may differ in appearance. Members of our forum have posted images of this bug that a...

For ID, look at Halyomorpha halys , the brown marmorated stinkbug. They are an invasive species common in much of the US. They like to overwinter inside houses. Their numbers have thankfully fallen off in my area, so I suspect that some natural enemy has caught up with them here. But I still kill se...

Robert, I agree that passing off AI-generated images as photographs is wrong--even more so if done by a news organization. I could not quite follow how you determined that these images are AI-generated. For the one source, at least, they seem to be labeled as photographs--albeit royalty-free, which ...