Bacterium Flagellum and Mosquito Larva NIR Videos

curt0909 · Post by **curt0909** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 11:33 pm

Bacterium Flagellum. I didn't notice that the flagella were visible on my view finder while I was taking the video. It was after while reviewing the footage that I noticed it. I think these results could be greatly improved by using UV light. 100x 1.30 Reichert Plan Fluor 'white light' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMkMRXu2 ... ature=plcp

Mosquito larva. Using >950nm light and a monochrome ccd camera its possible to get much better penetration through a thick opaque specimen like this to visualize internal structures. 4x 0.10 generic objective. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CLb5RT8 ... ature=plcp

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 9:50 am

The mosquito larva shows very nicely the tracheae. Is worth to explore this technique. I don't think it may provide any advantage with bacteria, but a visible vs. NIR would be nice comparison.

curt0909 · Post by **curt0909** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:41 pm

I think bacteria observation would benefit more from a narrow band UV light. NIR is a longer wavelength so resolution would be sacrificed. I used a 100w halogen light with >950nm pass filter to make the mosquito video. I think the large band of NIR light blurred the image a bit. I've since bought a 950nm LED to try that I think will give better results since there will be a much narrower band of light.

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 2:42 pm

Agree with Pau. The mosquito larva is very interesting with this lighting method.

I think bacteria observation would benefit more from a narrow band UV light

You can undeniably get greater resolution that way. Personally it just makes me "nervous" directly observing (through the eyepieces) with such short wavelength light sources. It would be interesting to do via a monitor viewing arrangement.

curt0909 · Post by **curt0909** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 10:12 pm

Charles Krebs wrote:it just makes me "nervous" directly observing (through the eyepieces) with such short wavelength light sources. It would be interesting to do via a monitor viewing arrangement.

That's a smart move. I wouldn't recommend using eyepieces for this. 365nm would be ideal and is invisible to our eyes anyway. Even our Canon cameras can't see it. You'd have to use an unfiltered sensor like those found on industrial cameras.