A single shot using a Heine condenser set for darkfield. The Heine can be a right faff to set up but produces some really good results when adjusted "just so". In addition to better contrast, it does seem to squeeze extra resolution from any given objective too (compared to a standard NA1.4 condense...

Betty, yes, I'm aware the coverslip I'm using is not the best/optimal quality and that might be affecting the result. I had (have) Thorlabs 1.5H coverslips (170 ± 5 µm), but I'm unable to find 'em. I guess I'll have to buy some quality coverslips and re-test the objective. - Macrero As I understand...

That's a neat and compact idea for the diffuser. I'll try that for my Nikon TU 50/0.8...

One question: I know the distances involved are very small, but the mag and NA are relatively high too. Do you notice any shift or change in lighting as the objective advances for stacking?

Cheers
Beats

You are travelling a familiar road but it looks like you have a good handle on the important issues. Like you, I tinker endlessly but along the way I found a fairly general purpose solution that I still use. I described it in post that touches on a few of the points/issues you raise. Assuming you ha...

Nicely done Jonathan. I cleaned a bit of diatomite from Allan's farm a few weeks ago and have been sporadically searching strews and picking out forms since. I must have seen hundreds of B. coronata (B for broken) but none even close to being as complete as yours. About 3/4s complete is the best I'v...

Thanks folks. These guys are tough to set parallel to the cover. Impossible with my wet adhesive since they rock to the side. Even with solid Debes I find that I need to moisten with breath and then quickly use the needle to push and square the form to the cover. Amen to that! I use a ridiculously t...

Hello all, Here's a 40x brightfield stack of Auliscus oamaruensis, from the Allan's farm deposit, Oamaru, NZ AO-zerene_1--pmn.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53515761820_c51df8ce65_o.jpg Given the straight brightfield illumination, the form looks somewhat flat in the shot above. Unlike the s...

I shared some a long time ago: https://www.instagram.com/p/CLFGPuIBFre/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Those are lovely images! I am intrigued that in these images the large "holes" in the main body indeed look like empty holes, where the corresponding things are filled with a sort of grid in Beatsy's...

PS. I have a *tiny* cleaned sample of the Russian diatomite that K. tripedia is found in. Sadly, I only found two broken examples in the whole sample (enough for two moderate-sized strews). One of the finds at least has two of the "stalks" intact - but it only acts as confirmation that the species ...

Always nice to see a SEM image to check optical images against. Thanks for sharing those. As it happens, last night I finally found a perfect K. elaborata and I'm currently figuring out the best way to mount it for extreme macro. The goal is to produce an (optical) image much like the first one you ...

Thanks both. I won't need conical path then as I don't do rocking images. I now know why there's a Y-Shift parameter too, which I won't use either. Perfect. Cheers.

Hi Nick, welcome to the group.

All that for $300!!? Good grief. That's at least 20 Christmases rolled into one there. Both exceptional scopes, but particularly the Vanox with DIC. Congratulations!

Cheers
Beats

I searched this forum and tried Google, but I can't find much (any) information on the "conical path" option, only references to having used it and one oblique reference related to rocking and x/y shift.

What does conical path do and when should, or shouldn't, I use it?

Thanks
Beats

...now i also see the cup shaped morphology of the protuberances. It's true that what you see in the stereo *is* cup-shaped, but that's the inside/bottom surface of the hollow ocelli, connected to the stalk. The hi-res views show a different pattern with near-parallel rows of pores running right ac...

Haha, not SEM. But I did find a colour REM image of the big pores online. https://www.ultrastruktur.bio.lmu.de/de ... marin.html

It's rather satisfying to have resolved so much optically. Nothing like the REM, of course, but pretty good for the resolution available.

Cheers