Pictures Under a Microscope

The Fisherman · Post by **The Fisherman** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:52 pm

So, I wanted to take pictures of things I was viewing under a microscope, and for whatever reason, I thought that if I put the camera over the eyepiece of the microscope, I could take the picture. Needless to say, it didn't work.

I've seen various pictures, I beleive most notably by YuccaPatrol, of things under a microscope.

How exactly is this accomplished?

I would just search the web, but I thought this would make a good addition to the photography section.

-John

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:10 pm

You will need a specialized microscope that can take pictures. I will pm you.

The Fisherman · Post by **The Fisherman** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:29 pm

Thanks Neonshrimp, the info was very helpful.

For reference, the Intel Play/Digital Blue Computer microscope, models QX3 and QX5 are suppost to be very good and affordable.

Is it possible to put a live specimen under a microscope? If so, how would you go about doing that?

-John

pturley · Post by **pturley** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:19 am

small petri dish.

The Intel Microscope both come with one.

The Fisherman · Post by **The Fisherman** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:05 am

Thanks Pturley

Hopefully this thread will be as helpful to others as it has been for me.

-John

iturnrocks · Post by **iturnrocks** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:46 pm

The Fisherman wrote:Thanks Neonshrimp, the info was very helpful.

For reference, the Intel Play/Digital Blue Computer microscope, models QX3 and QX5 are suppost to be very good and affordable.

Is it possible to put a live specimen under a microscope? If so, how would you go about doing that?

-John

I have a QX5 and I couldnt call it good, but for under $100, I guess you cant beat it. There are some adjustments you can make to it to get better pics. Here is a link with a decent review and info on upgrading.
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artdec04/dwqx5.html

I took out the diffuser on mine, and I stick an LED flashlight underneath which really helps. For really small live inverts I use a dropper and put 1 drop of water on a slide and then with a tissue, I remove water from the drop until the invert can hardly move but is still wet. Then I zoom in and take the pics. Here are some pics Ive taken. Also I take videos and convert them to .gif with Adobe Imageready.

Triops at 1 day (60x)

Seed shrimp, ostracod at 60x

Seed Shrimp, 200x

Scud, 60x

Mosquito larva, combination of 3 photos at 60x

Daphnia (Moina) 60x- reduced- I use this as my avatar in some forums

James Green · Post by **James Green** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:31 pm

Hey guys this is actually my first post on the board so I thought I would make it a good one. Since I lack the message board savy needed to post images into the body of the message I created a gallery of some photos I took of a deceased cherry shrimp under the microscope. The quality is pretty good considering I was simply photographing through the eyepiece. Hope everyone finds them as fascinating as I do.

Also on one photo that I tagged with a comment I would guess that the red tissue sections with a semi-starlike pattern are what gives these guys their wonderful red color, but it's just an educated guess.

pixl8r · Post by **pixl8r** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:44 pm

James,
Nice pictures. They sure do look interesting under a microscope.

FYI, it's not difficult to imbed a photo in a text message.

First, you should have the image hosted online. Some places let you post images that are hosted from your PC, but if your PC is offline, no one can see the image.

Second, use the 'Img' button to insert the opening image tag [img]
Next copy the URL, such as HTTP://www.fakeserver.com/image.jpg

Third use the 'Img' button again and it will insert the closing image tag [/img]

Edit: Oh, If I wasn't clear the line has to be contiguous, without breaks. So it would be [img]URL[/img]

Wow, this forum version is really picky about posting invalid code

James Green · Post by **James Green** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:07 pm

Thanks for the good review. Yea i figured I would run into the tricky code problems or an unreliable host as I no longer have any domains to my name. Thanks for the help, I will give it the old college try next time.

pixl8r · Post by **pixl8r** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:18 pm

Well, as you discovered, you can host images right here!

There are plenty of free image hosting sites out there, you don't need your own domain. These are two of the more popular.
http://photobucket.com/
http://imageshack.us/

Personally I just started using photobucket http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x130/pixl8r/

mikedmatthews · Post by **mikedmatthews** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 9:48 pm

i borrowed a buddies digital blue a couple weeks ago. it was pretty cool to watch the larvae, but the pictures didn't look very good. also the difference in magnification between settings was too big to really be useful.