shawngibson

<p>Thanks everyone. Based on all of these observations, here is my plan:</p> <p>1) Buy a piece of wood and ask the guys at Home Depot to create an inner bore slightly larger than I need. Add a thin bit of rubber from there. From there, I have a tool and die kit, and can add bolts. For example, into the wood, but not the rubber, to lock the wood into the fine-tuning knob. The rubber will prevent me from destroying the knob.</p> <p>2) If that's not enough, glue a stick to the outer ring, one much smaller than in my image.</p> <p>Maybe?</p>

<div></div>

<p>>> but over what angle is such a contraption free to rotate before it hits the scope?</p> <p>Shouldn't matter, I think? Most of the time I'll need this 'aid' at 10-40x; Probably the most I'm dealing with, with say an unmounted drosophila ( tremendously large Dof) is probably 75 degrees at the most. I've never done a focus stack that was more than my wrist could handle, if that makes sense...</p> <p>For the record, it's not such a problem with the stereo, just the compound; here's a small chordate spine (part of a sardine).</p> <p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18107813-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="545" /></p> <p>Shawn</p>

<p>Thanks everyone. Somewhere within these advice posts is the answer. As Bill C notes, this is a student grade compound scope. Being a new hobby, I couldn't consider a $3000 product. </p> <p>Having said that, the fine focus is perfectly capable of very minute adjustments. I have a 14mp OMAX camera connected to it, and indeed, I can make very small adjustments. Problem is as stated, the knob is too small for my ADHD fingers.</p> <p>Some radiator rubber hose mounted over the knob (unfixed), a radiator hose clamp from my bike over that, hot glue to a Popsicle stick on the clamp. Might work!</p> <p>I could also accomplish this with Velcro: Velcro snotglue to knob, other side of Velcro attached to inner Velcro...hot gun glue to Popsicle stick.</p> <p>But let me get back to the basics. Here's my crappy Photoshop vision...</p> <p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18107432-lg.jpg" alt="" width="953" height="484" /></p> <p> </p>

<p>My stage raises and lowers, but again, it's a question of precision. I'm new at this, so hopefully it's a knowledge thing, not a need-two-grand-to-be-precise thing.</p> <p>A clamp on the fine focus with a 6" screw and my hand on the head of the screw, that's what I'm hoping here...not precision, per se, just smaller movements.</p>

<p>Hi Dave, thanks for your response. The problem is I need to make very, very small adjustments with a 40x objective, in order to capture the entire depth of field. My hands are definitely shaky. Think of a fruit fly on a slide, which has not been compressed with a top glass. At 40x, to catch the entire DoF, that's at least 50 images, if not 150. Most I've done is 150 stacks at 10x, not 40x. Small adjustments at 40x are impossible for me, very haphazard.</p> <p>I need to increase my leverage on a small dial.</p>

<p>Couldn't find a proper forum to ask this question.</p> <p>When dealing with incredibly small focus adjustments, i.e. with a microscope, I'm having an impossible time making very small adjustments.</p> <p>On a microscope, if I add a clamp to the fine focus knob, and a very long stick, and hold the stick at the far end, will that allow me to create finer adjustments? The scope can handle fine adjustments, but I, as an old human, can't.</p> <p> </p>

<div></div>

<div></div>

<p>Mom?<br />Yes son.<br />Am I an Elephant?<br />No son. You're upside down. That's your leg.<br /><br />Mom?<br />Yes son.<br />Are you an alien in a time capsule?<br />No son. I'm a fly, like you.<br /><br />Mom?<br />Yes son.<br />I think we're trapped in a jar.<br />Yes son, that's our life. That and laundry.<br /><br />Mom?<br />Yes son.<br />I think there's a snake behind you.<br />No son, your father is dead.<br />Uh, Mom?<br /><br />Go to sleep, son. <br />We'll talk about this when you are older.<br> <br> <img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/18105684-lg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1142" /></p>

<div></div>

<div></div>

<p>Hey all,</p> <p>Finally got a few slides and learned a bit. Took my first photomicrograph this evening, a bee leg. Thanks for all the help I received. I'll have a million more questions, I'm sure!</p> <p>http://www.photo.net/photo/18100785</p>

<p>Good to know, thanks Edwin. And now...time for a laugh. I received my 100 Specimen Home Schooling microscope slides today. I opened the box and...it's 8 decorative glass roses. Yep. Ugh. Order mix-up, or someone is telling me it's time to get a little pastoral in my life...</p> <p>Wonder what glass looks like at 40x?</p> <p>LOL oopsie!</p>

<p>Just bought this as hopefully a low mag variation of the high mag microscope I already bought:</p> <p>http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B004OPOA9E?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00</p> <p>So much to learn. I need to stop spending any more money now. Once all of this is in my hands, I can learn and ask legitimate questions while exploring.</p>

<p>Sorry for the delayed response, I'm still waiting for my prepared slides, so as of yet I have nothing to look at lol.</p> <p>Model organism is indeed the word I was looking for, thanks:)</p> <p>I realize I'm a bit all-over-the-board here, but it appears that my desires require 2 different types of scope, i.e. one for macroscopic specimens (dead arthropods for the most part) and microscopic specimens.</p> <p>Is there typically the ability to standardize on 'peripherals' (for want of a better term), when working with high mag and low mag microscopes? What I mean is, the high mag microscope I bought is this Omax:<br /> http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B005LIG4RE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00</p> <p>I'd be willing to purchase some variation of this (link below) low mag scope, on the assumption that some things will be interchangable, i.e. get one good quality digital camera setup:<br /> http://www.amazon.ca/OMAX-5X-10X-15X-20X-30X-60X-Digital-Binocular-Microscope/dp/B007M1X0K2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1442679518&sr=8-5&keywords=omax</p> <p>I don't see the need in buying the usb camera with this, since I already have one, and will replace that with something better as funds allow, hopefully in a manner that will work with both microscopes.</p> <p>I've done a lot of reading/youtubing, regarding staining, dark fields, light in general, and a whole bunch of other things. All of it is going in one ear and out the other right now because I have no ability to experiment/learn/create microscopic art until my prepped slides arrive.</p> <p>As is usual with me, I'm putting the cart before the horse. Patience grasshopper specimen, patience...</p> <p> </p>

<p>Another question, more about biology than microscopy. I know there are some organisms that are considered the 'standard'' i.e. fruit flies and mice. What is that called, and what are some of the other 'standards'? Across metazoan phyla, what do scientists typically work on? I assume this has to do with abundance, ability to work in a lab, and how quickly generation occurs. What is the term I'm looking for, in order to buy specimens across phyla so I can look at them in my microscope? </p> <p> </p>

<p>Thanks Edwin. May I ask what the magnification is in your mosquito image?</p> <p>How would an image like this (link below) be created? It looks like someone took a slice of a bee, since it's transparent and seems "sectional". My brain thinks, freeze a bee and use a Star Wars laser to cut a thin slice...clearly above my knowledge lol.</p> <p>http://www.microscope-microscope.org/gallery/Ingram/Images/art_honeybee-L.jpg</p>

<p>>>Those slides can be bought, but are not cheap. Know anyone in high school or taking college biology.</p> <p>I've been looking online but am not having any luck. Any suggested website? I don't know any students:(</p> <p>Microscope arrived, but still waiting for slides.</p> <p>I've also been trying to find a walk-in store in Toronto for microscope supplies...again not having much luck. Maybe I need to try and find a U of T professor to give me some local guidance...over a beer or two:)</p> <p>It seems staining will be important for my own specimens. And a darkfield condenser:</p> <p>http://www.amazon.com/OMAX-Darkfield-Condenser-Biological-Microscopes/dp/B0084F8SFM#customerReviews</p> <p>And I'm not sure, but I think I found a 1x condenser that will allow me to view a cockroach?</p> <p>http://store.usascopes.com/acoble.html</p> <p>It's the "1X Plan Achromatic Objective Len" but I have no idea if it will fit the microscope I bought, above.</p> <p>Finally, IF I can fit a cockroach (ant, isopod, teeny weeny fish) into the above-modified config, would I be able to use this (link below) to see the way I'm used to (i.e. like a photoshoot lol)?</p> <p>http://www.amazon.com/AmScope-LED-6W-Powerful-Gooseneck-Illuminator/dp/B007LBELH4/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1441924832&sr=1-1&keywords=microscope+light<br /> Very frustrating to be starting on a brand new path. I feel so dumb lol!</p> <p>Shawn</p> <p> </p>

<p>So much new terminology. I'd never heard of 'objectives' before.</p> <p>Microscope and slides should arrive this week. Probably best if I refrain until I've put a specimen on the microscope and project it onto a screen from there.</p> <p>I hope there's a Tardigade in the slides; for that matter, I hope to see a Tardigrade and a Hydra, live, someday....on the same slide, moving...</p>

<p>Very helpful, thanks Rick. </p> <p>So basically, I've purchased a semi-decent microscope for looking at slides with the light only being transmitted from below, and because of the physical limitations of the microscope, I need very thin specimens. If I'm correct, something like drosophila will give me more of a silhouette, yes?</p> <p>Is it possible to <strong>modify</strong> this microscope to view larger things, i.e. say a cockroach? If I bought a lens that is maybe 10x for example, and created my own light source ABOVE the specimen?</p> <p>And...can I upgrade the camera? I see that there are Leica/Nikon/etc. lenses that are worth 10x the price of this entire kit. Can I purchase bits and pieces and upgrade as needed...or is this just a student'level compound microscope that will never be able to view a cockroach or a cast?</p> <p>I bought a fairly decent (I think?) group of slides: </p> <p>http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0055E8620?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00</p> <p>On a completely different note, since I've not had much luck with Google, can I view various embryos in their stages of development, say a protostome, a deuterostome, etc.? Do such slides exist? For that matter, a chicken embryo through its various stages, and say, a pre-amniote like a frog?</p>

<p>Question, do microscopes work in the same way as a camera lens as regards depth of field? I am still dealing with an aperture in order to make the DoF larger or smaller, yes?</p> <p>So much to learn...</p>

<p>Thanks Edwin. I figure at a $300 buy in, and a lot of prepared slides available on the web, and life itself available to be bottled up and taken home, I can't go wrong at this point.<br> I have lots of lights available, so hopefully for things that aren't on slides, I figure I can create my own light source(s).</p> <p>What I don't understand yet, is if I can fit something like a cockroach or fruit fly under the microscope, or a small fossil. I assume I can. I also assume that the smallest magnification will be 40x. So, if I can drop the 'base' (if I may call it that) so that the lens is as far away as possible from the specimen, I assume that means I might be able to view, say, just the head of a bug?</p> <p>I got so frustrated at my lack of knowledge here, and all of the fast reading became a blur. So I purchased the one linked above hoping it will be a good starting point. That's all I want at this point, because I have a lot to learn.</p> <p>Shawn</p>

<p>I just ordered this as a starting point:</p> <p>http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B005LIG4RE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00</p>