My new microscope

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 7:38 pm

Yesterday I received my Olympus BX53 DIC microscope after many months of research, asking questions on this forum, reviewing demos and finally taking the (expensive) plunge. Now it is up to me to learn how to get the best from this microscope.

Here are some random photos I took today. Comments / critique welcome.

Copepod nauplii, DIC, 40x

Barnacle stack (50 photos, Helicon method A I think), DIC, 20x

Barnacle, Polarized, 20x

Barnacle, Polarized, 4x (not aesthetically pleasing but interesting nonetheless)

Rotifer, 40x, DIC

No idea what this is. DIC, 40x

Here is a video clip of above (63MB): http://www.waldonell.com/images/20120728-MVI_0082.mp4

Smaller one (8.5MB): http://www.waldonell.com/images/20120728-MVI_0082-2.mp4

Litonotus · Post by **Litonotus** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 9:37 pm

congratulations (: I'm sure we will see world class images soon (:

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 10:59 pm

Top quality pictures from great optics...

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 11:49 pm

You are fortunate indeed to have such a great instrument and I'm sure it will give you a huge amount of pleasure. Your pictures are already very good. Learning to 'fine tune' the DIC settings is always good advice for someone with a new DIC-equipped microscope to play with.

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 12:05 am

Thanks for your comments. The biggest thing I am struggling with at the moment is getting even illumination across the field of view. To get the maximum DIC contrast I adjust the slider, and stop before the view goes black. But just before it goes black and a bit before that point, the illumination is uneven.

How do you prevent this? Currently I am fixing it in post but it is a pain.

arturoag75 · Post by **arturoag75** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 12:34 am

Congratulations,

it's a really stunning scope and great shot yours ones!
what optics ? fluorite?
best
arturo

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 12:55 am

arturoag75 wrote:Congratulations,
it's a really stunning scope and great shot yours ones!
what optics ? fluorite?
best
arturo

Thanks. No, I have the UPlanSApo's.

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 1:26 am

Obtaining even illumination across the field is the major headache for all DIC applications. The difficulty in giving precise advice is that all manufacturers implement DIC in rather different ways. In general it is necessary to carefully independently adjust whatever variable settings are available both before the light enters the objective, including the diaphragm and also those available after the specimen, before the light enters the eyepiece. If you are not familiar with it, this article may be helpful http://www.olympusmicro.com/primer/tech ... ation.html read in conjunction with the specific instructions you should have for DIC on the BX53.

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 4:56 am

Waldo,

Congratulations.

Nice pictures with an excellent instrument. Please show us pictures of that beautiful instrument.

Rogelio

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:35 am

Here is a quick one... Pardon the annotations - I did that for someone.

Litonotus · Post by **Litonotus** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 10:27 am

that is a great scope (:

fluorescence module?

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 10:36 am

Litonotus wrote:that is a great scope (:

fluorescence module?

That was the only sane way I could get DIC working (the standard arm does not have a position for the analyzer). And yes, eventually I want to add fluorescence so now I only need the cubes and the light source.

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 11:13 am

Wow, beautiful scope.

Rogelio

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 11:19 am

RogelioMoreno wrote:Wow, beautiful scope.

Rogelio

Thanks, but you still make more beautiful pictures than I do

Jacek · Post by **Jacek** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 12:32 pm

Wonderful microscope. You're in luck