ID Help For A Flagellate Or Ciliate - Video Added

[Mitch640]

After viewing hundreds of images of these little guys, I still have no idea what this one is. I could not see a flagellate whip, or cilia, although, he was able to roll along his axis, moved very slowly and smoothly, almost like a daitom. In fact, I have seen faster diatoms. Kind of a cute little guy though, resembles a bottle nosed dolphin who's lost his tail.

Here's the video of the Euglena.

This is full frame using the T1i, 4x Objective with a 2.5x adapter projecter lens. Shows his size next to a rope of cyanobacteria.


A crop with 10x objective...




Any thoughts on why I am getting double lines along his outside shape?

[NikonUser]

Some type of Euglena; that's a good place to start looking.

[Mitch640]

Thanks NU, I should have known that. LOL Been looking for one for weeks. I have a video of him processing now, the video looks better than the stills.

[rjlittlefield]

Any thoughts on why I am getting double lines along his outside shape?

These look like typical diffraction patterns. Diffraction around a point causes concentric rings; diffraction around a focused edge causes multiple edges; diffraction around a slightly OOF edge can cause even more obvious multiple edges, depending on how OOF the edge is and what other lens aberrations there are. You may be seeing other effects as well, but diffraction and common aberrations can explain everything I notice here.

video looks better than the stills

That's common. The artifacts vary from frame to frame. Eyes are very good at picking out the clear stuff while rejecting a lot of the problems before they ever reach the level where you're aware of them.

--Rik

[Mitch640]

Thanks Rik. So how can I get rid of it, or can I? Is it the cheap objectives or something else? And these are with the Chinese PLAN lenses I bought. Probably just more rubbish.

[rjlittlefield]

So how can I get rid of it, or can I?

I don't know any way to get rid of it using the setup you have. For example I don't think there's anything you can do by changing the illumination.

Is it the cheap objectives or something else? And these are with the Chinese PLAN lenses I bought. Probably just more rubbish.

The 4X image looks pretty good. The "crop with 10X" looks soft overall, but I can't tell what that's from. The blur (though not the doubled edge) could also be due to motion, especially if you're using continuous illumination instead of flash. Too much crop is another possibility. Do you know what portion of the normal eyepiece field is captured in this crop? Certainly the quality of the objective is one possibility too. But I'm not convinced that country of origin means much by itself -- the most useful objective I have is a Nikon CFI 10X, "Made in China".

--Rik

[Mitch640]

Rik, the crop is about 70% of the full frame, so not all that much. I now have a T1i, with the first curtain sync?

There are Chinese objectives, and then there are Chinese objectives. While Nikons may be made in China, they are made under some kind of quality control and probably made with glass shipped to them, already ground. All China does is assemble them. The ones I have from the same company that made my scope, are 10x PLANs that cost about $30. LOL Probably made of old coke bottle glass, ground on a glue stick held between the first and second toes while sitting around the cookfire. I actually see no difference between these cheap PLANs and the regular ones that came with the scope, except the PLAN ones were dirty. Lesson learned.

My Fluophot arrives tomorrow morning, so with any luck, things might improve shortly.