This little rotifer was very amusing to watch. She seems to be struggling to cope with the Trachelomonas (green whizzy blobs). I left the original audio on, for some reason it amuses me to hear myself talking to a rotifer. Usually I put music on my videos; if you can’t stand to hear my mutterings you can always turn the sound down.
It was taken on the Nikon S L Ke at 400X with phase contrast.
Anoptral contrast- The meopta has more or less co-operated with me today and we have pictures to show for our efforts. After much huffing and puffing I managed to get the mirror, condenser and objective lenses aligned; sort of, just about, almost.
The Meopta’s condenser is still a tad out of alignment but I think I have got away with it.
Anoptral phase contrast is much like normal phase contrast as far as set up goes. You need Kohler illumination and you need to use a phase telescope to align phase rings on the condenser turret with phase rings in the objective. The main difference is that with anoptral phase contrast the phase plates are a sooty brown colour. This reduces halos around your phase objects and gives a rather soothing brown background. Very easy on the eyes..
What do you think?
Diatoms, Anoptral phase
Diatoms, Anoptral phase
Diatoms, Anoptral phase
diatoms, anoptral contrast
Diatom, anoptral contrast
Diatom, anoptral contrast
Diatom, anoptral contrast
Diatoms, anoptral contrast
Diatom, anoptral contrast
Diatom, anoptral contrast
Diatom, anoptral contrast
Diatom, anoptral contrast
Diatom, anoptral contrast
Diatoms, anoptral contrast
Diatom, anoptral contrast
Diatom, anoptral contrast
Diatoms, anoptral contrast
Spock’s sister is cross. She has had an argument with a microscope. The argument lasted all day and so far the microscope is winning.
I have a very groovy Meopta anoptral phase contrast condenser and I bought a cute little Meopta microscope to put it in; today I thought I would get everything set up and take some pretty diatom pictures for you to see. It didn’t happen.
Anoptral contrast works in a similar way to phase contrast but the phase rings have sooty phase plates, this means you get less of a halo than with normal phase contrast. It also means you get some really pretty pictures with a beautiful brown background. At least that’s what should happen.
What actually happened was I set up my external illuminator (with condenser lens and iris), adjusted my mirror. Did all the usual Kohler type stuff but no matter what I did the condenser iris was so far off to one side that it was crazy. I can only just see the edge of it. I managed to get some nice dark ground images but that’s not what I was aiming for. No point attempting photomicrography.
The condenser fits the carrier perfectly, so why is it so badly misaligned?
Either the condenser is misaligned or the objective turret is misaligned. There are no centring screws on the condenser or on the carrier. Only phase wrenches, oh to be aligning phase rings!
I haven’t the faintest idea how to alter the objective turret. I twizzled the monocular tube but that didn’t seem to have any effect. I’m sure the problem is with the condenser. I really hope there are no prisms out of whack. I don’t know what images are produced by an out of alignment prism but I’m absolutely certain I would not be able to fix such a problem. I don’t have the tools or the skill set.
I’m cross and i need to consult the oracle (my friend Merv). He’ll know what to do. I’m sure he’ll know what to do. If he doesn’t I shall cry.
I shall get it sorted out and I shall post pretty pictures. watch this space….
PS saw the quack, no obvious signs of intracranial hypertension. Optic nerves look healthy (thank goodness). Blood pressure a reasonable 120/78. She took bloods. Headache from hell won’t budge. It’s been weeks but at least we still have the NHS. I do love the NHS.
Here’s my onion skin, as promised. I’m not completely satisfied with the pictures. I can definitely see a rainbow across the images and I think my light must be set up wrong. I was sure I had it correct but aligning the lamp is quite tricky. The instruction book suggests using a mirror to help you position the light and to focus on the filament when setting up kohler illumination..
I don’t have the mirror that was supplied with the microscope and I haven’t managed to get any other mirror to work as suggested. I have centred my light bulb by eye as best I can but there’s a definite rainbow.
My phase rings are definitely where they should be.
I suppose they’re not too bad. I have only taken photographs a few times and I can’t expect to achieve perfection quickly. People dedicate their lives to microscopy. I have dedicated about two years in total. I have only been taking photographs for a few weeks.
I should give up working. There just isn’t enough time to do everything I want to do. I have things to sew too.
I never had this trouble with electron microscopes. I had completely different problems with them, like the sample burning up in front of you. That was always fun!
I shall have another bash at it and hopefully I shall be taking rainbow free pictures soon.
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Written
on January 22, 2014