Euglena acus and Euglena ?

[Charles Krebs]

The first shot is (I think!) Euglens acus. Typical long, thin, "ram-rod" straight body. Taken with the 100X.

The other two Euglena were smaller, and much more "fluid", squirming into all sorts of configurations. I though perhaps E. deses, but the posterior looks wrong, so I won't offer a guess. (I marked these last two as being taken with the 100x, but it may have been the 60/1.40... I was busy switching between the two objectives and between different subjects).

Olympus BHS. Olympus 100/1.40 S Plan Apo. Olympus NFK 1.67x photoeyepiece.DIC illumination with electronic flash. Canon 50D.


Olympus BHS. Olympus 100/1.40 S Plan Apo. Olympus NFK 1.67x photoeyepiece.DIC illumination with electronic flash. Canon 50D.



Olympus BHS. Olympus 100/1.40 S Plan Apo. Olympus NFK 1.67x photoeyepiece.DIC illumination with electronic flash. Canon 50D.

[Mitch640]

Amazing detail Charles. Beautiful colors.

I was experimenting with my T1i, a 550ex flash and the Fluophot the other day. If I remove the condenser and mount, flip the flash head to 90° and lay it pointing up, over the Halogen light source in the base, and connect with my long off camera cord, I can get it to flash up through the slide.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any custom function to allow the camera to over ride the 1/200s shutter speed, and even at 1/128 power setting, all I get is whiteout images. Do you know of a way around that? Do I have to take it out of live view to fire?

[NikonUser]

Removing the condenser doesn't sound like a good idea, OK for a 4x objective but not for the higher powers.
On my scope I place the flash behind the halogen bulb - the 2nd best place for it (the best being at the level of the halogen bulb). Can you do that with your scope?
You could leave the condenser in place and place a mirror beneath it and aim the flash at the mirror.
Otherwise with the flash in place of the condenser simply add diffuser material to the flash head: styrofoam, sheets of paper, plastic from a food container, or if you want to get fancy add a neutral density glass filter.
Lots of ways to reduce flash intensity.

[Mitch640]

I could just remove the lamp box on the back of the scope base and shoot the flash in there I suppose, but the question was more about the Canon T1i camera itself. I am use to higher end camera bodies that allow me to use TTL technology. With the T1i, I get some kind of error when I try and use the custom functions for an external flash. I can't control it from the camera at all. I know Charles has used this body and wondered if he had any ideas.

I am going to sit down with the flash and the camera and both their manuals and see if I can work it out. Seems like a good thing to do on a boring Sunday morning. LOL

[Charles Krebs]

Mitch,

I've never used a T1i, but there should be no problem doing TTL (E-TTL II) flash with the proper cord (Live-view or no live-view). You are not locked into 1/200 second (but if you want to use a faster shutter speed along with flash you need to use the Hi-Speed mode of the 550 EX).

You need to keep the condenser in place. The easiest approach is to set a piece of glass at 45 degrees between the condenser and light port in the base. (A blank slide will suffice, something a little wider would be better).
Then direct the flash into the angled glass from the side. Enough light will reflect off of the glass up through the condenser. And, you will be able to use the base light for observation at the same time. (You may need to keep the microscope illumination at a lower than normal level when taking pictures so that the exposure is make using only the light from the electronic flash).

[Mitch640]

Playing around with the camera and flash yesterday, I think the problem is the "correct cord". I bought one of those 16' extended off camera cords awhile back, which worked fine with the 1D MkIII, but gives some kind of not connected error on the T1i. I do have an old Canon brand cord, but it's only 2' long. Not enough I think.