Mistake # 11: Don't tell your wife what you discovered living in the cats water dish, she will change the water and you will lose all your specimens. 😞
Thanks for the video! I am 59 so it has been many years since my last biology classes. I got a used Zeiss KF2 specifically, to do basic veterinary fecal examination and blood work for my dog. I am excited to explore other things out in the world as well and see where this leads.
Turning down the light intensity when shutting down or starting up is a great suggestion, but with LED lamps (which most modern scopes use) will not be affected by heat-shock. Even after 10+ years of doing microscopy, I always lean a lot when watching your videos. Thanks.
I never turn mine down before turning off so was a bit worried at first when he mentioned this. But then thought that must not be for LEDs. Glad to see your confirmation comment listed, and it was listed at the very top!
I was never taught to use a microscope properly, and then I was expected to observe microscopic specimens! I feel a lot more prepared to use a microscope now, so thank you!
Hello! I love your videos :) I'm doing a project at the moment where I leave dry grass in a cup of water and look on my microscope every week at the new species, this is a really good way to view many different species if you ever want to review a specific microorganism :)
In No. 7, you direct viewers to rotate the high power objective into place, but in the video it is not rotated...instead the stage is raised! Hope this helps.
Ok , i just learned about the condenser , and 9 other things i did not know :) Thank you , the lamp , the dust, the oil , new things that probably saved my microscope in the long run !
🤚 Guilty of using the 40x with oil and not covering in the beginning. **Cringe**I made a dust free area where there’s a gentle mini slow fan in the air vent made of anti static acrylic with excellent lighting and I’m able to clean the lenses (I’ve found $900+ CAN microscopes on FB marketplace for under $50 but are quite dusty and dirty) so I’ll clean it up then put it inside to do the fine detailing of lenses, taking apart every layer.
Fantastic. Great video. Very helpful. I've watched several of your videos and your enthusiasm for microscopy is infectious. Your students are very lucky. I hope they realize that. Thank you for creating good and helpful content!
In general, those canned air cans shouldn't be used at all. They aren't good for PC parts, and they aren't good for microscopes apparently. The might be ok for dusting off a keyboard, but even that you don't want a bunch of odd chemicals around as they could migrate into the circuitry
I have a SW380T that I just got. This is a good video. I have not found anyway at all to make the 40x or the 100x oil to work. I did not even know that I needed oil, from the little bottle, to put it on the item and then dip the 100x lens into it. Good to know. But that does not explain why I cannot see anything in the 40x with out oil. Because it is without oil if I remember correctly. I have put the items in the middle, and I can see everything in the 4x and 10x. Just baffled that I cannot see anything at all in the 40x. Can you make a quick video where you show how to do it / how easy it is, between 4x, 10x, 40x, and then add some oil and show the 1000x, please.
I have the same problem. The microscope works great on 4 and 10 but when I try to change the objective to higher it seems to lose focus. I wonder if its a manufacture problem or I am doing something wrong. I also don't change the high of the stage, i only focus the image with the fine knob. If anyone has any idea please let me know.
@@J0yB0y31 ill try to fiddle a bit more. I will let you know if i figure something out. Tell me if you find a solution, please. I ordered a 60x just to try it out and see if i can see something with it. It will be here in... 1 month heh
Every objective will lose a bit of focus, when changing objective. Make sure that the objectives are screwed all the way in. turn up the light and close the condenser. Also make sure that the filter holder is not blocking any light. Careful that you do not use oil on the 40x objective (only use clean slides without oil on them)
Also make sure you’re looking through the coverslip and not the slide. The slide is much thicker and your 40x wouldn’t have the working distance to see through it.
@@J0yB0y31 if the word oil or oel is not engraved into the objectives lettering ID then do NOT put immersion oil on it. It is NOT just an oil, but one with very specific characteristics. For high power objectives it increases the light correctly improving image quality. Read up on it .
Hello I know you get this all the time. I just bought a selfie Katt I guess that is what it is called any it is listed as 200x5000. Fit and finish are seemingly nice batterie powered, not really bright led but I took a blood sample and placed it on the device and the image of my blood cells looked so cool. I paid 98 dollars on Amazon for it. It has the 4 rotary lens. Please forgive me for my total and complete lack of knowledge on this. I'm 63 disabled and very bored. I loved it as a kid and thought I'd give the hobby a try .my question Please you can't hurt my feelings here. Do you think this is a decent Micoscope? Thanks David.
Welcome to the hobby David! I also just got my first scope yesterday (SWIFT 380B) ! The Selfie Katt compound microscope is the entry level. It is just above the "toy level". Nothing to be ashamed of. Here is what I have to say about it: You have a feature that most expensive microscope don't have: top illumination! To be used with 4x and maybe 10x objective. Seriously a cool feature. The 4 objectives 4x-6x-10x-100x are ok quality and standard thread (if you want to upgrade one day, it's easy to switch with another objective) Your scope don't have a condenser, so the 100x will give you very bad image (and it require immersion oil, nobody want to work with that). The useless items: The 50x eyepiece; they are too powerful and will only give you bad image quality. 100x objective, since you don't have a proper condenser, you will get bad image quality (all 100x require the infamous/messy immersion oil) Note that I also have a 100x with the proper condenser and I won't use it (because of oil), I might buy a dry/regular 60x one day. My advice: Have fun with it, watch beginner video to know about the hobby. Find pound water with debris/algae for your first samples. Use microscope slide and cover slide to get good image when you use your 10x objective. Learn how to prepare sample and what to look. Don't expect to have high magnification, without proper condenser you won't get a nice image above 30x objective. You cannot retrofit a condenser on your model. From my understanding, you have 50x and 6x eyepiece. The 50x is useless, but the 6x is great. If you don't have a 10x objective, I will suggest you to buy a 15x objective. Let me know your setup/equipement. Possible upgrade: 15x eyepiece (10x is the standard, but 15x in your particular setup will give you the best ROI to get larger image without getting too bad quality). AliExpress, under 20$ Higher magnification objective under 10-15$ on AliExpress: 20x or 30x objective will give you the best image. I don't think 40x will be as great (you don't have condenser). Once you buy a 20x objective, remove the useless 100x Let me know if you have another question. Alex from Montréal
@alexandrevaliquette3883 . Wow, well, I certainly appreciate your reply, too, my question. To be honest, it kinda defeated my interest in pursuit of said hobby . But I have many.
I picked up an american optics model one fifty microscope that is in great shape. However, the main triangular shaped prizm inside has extreme internal cloudiness and this makes viewing objects very annoying and extremely difficult. I know that A.O hasn't made microscopes for many years, but, they still have an active website which states that they have alot of replacement parts for these machines still available. I cannot get any replies back from these people via e-mail or leaving voicemails. Any suggestions? I really hate to discard this microscope due to a piece of glass the size of a quarter. Great video!
Seems to me that the newer digital imaging software, such as ToupeView ( for Bright-field) with a mid-range 14M OMAX digital camera negate the need for higher power objectives. In that, the max resolution for light microscopy tops out at 1300x based on the limits of 550nm resolving power. A 35 mm film camera 35x24mmm neg.) has a resolution of about 18+ M of USEFULL resolution. The debate rages but just based on my observations it seems I can enlarge an image taken with a 40x objective to at least equal that of a 100x.
Objective lens has numerical aperture that defines the resolution of that objective. Any zooming feature will just increase the size ( magnification) of the sample not the details which comes due the resolution of the objective.
The theoretically possible maximum resolution is achieved with oil immersion lenses, with oil of course because angle (Greek alpha) in the equation for resolution is directly dependent on the Refractive index of the medium in the gap btw lens and slide. Image without oil is poorly resolved even if focused precisely (possible with some 100x lenses), adding the oil to replace the air gap and refocusing clearly show significant enhancement in resolution. So magnifying an image taken with the best and precisely focused 40x objective will at the most nearly approach the resolution of a 100x objective without oil.
I have a question how to use a phone on a microscope with no phone adapter can you please tell me or make a video on it im very curios because i want to take pictures and videos of my finds.
you hold the phone camera in front of the eyepiece, but maybe there has to be a distance of a few milimeters. it has to be perfectly centered and not tilted. you need a very steady hand and much patience. but it works. You can put the other hand around the eyepieces (wrap fingers around it) and then put the mobile phone on your fingers as a rest.
