Oil Immersion Demonstration

Using the Amscope M600A and modified Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000, I demonstrate the use of oil immersion vs. without on a small cluster of cyanobacteria at very high magnification. Approximate magnification is 2000x or more.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• microscope
• amscope
• m600a
• logitech
• quickcam
• pro
• 9000
• microbiology
• cyanobacteria
• oil
• immersion

[ParaglidingManiac]

What type of bacteria are these and what magnification did you use to make this video?

[NightRunner417]

@ParaglidingManiac They are some type of cyanobacteria, taken from green water at a fountain at my workplace. The magnification is VERY relative, because I use a projection technique where the eyepiece is removed and only the objective lens (100x oil immersion type) projects onto a bare CCD imager sensor. Magnification is affected greatly by distance between objective and sensor, as well as video playback resolution on your end. A good guess is more than 800x, possibly much more.

[Huffdev]

What makes oil emmersion better



[NightRunner417]

@Huffdev The way I understand it, glass optics have a resolution limit beyond which an increase in magnification only gives a larger image with more blur. Oil immersion eliminates some of that by bridging the gap between lens and slide with a glasslike fluid, thus eliminating entry and exit points for light which add to distortion. Oil is the only way to get every last bit of performance out of a glass lens microscope.

[NightRunner417]

@MrBrownns You type like a Youtube psychoanalyst.

[NightRunner417]

@ArielCaboob Just to make sure you understand, you remove the eyepiece, remove the camera's lens, and place it over the empty eyepiece tube. I should think that with a trinocular, you simply can choose from three eyepieces to remove vs. my one. Remember, any time light is split by any means, the final light power is divided. Thus, my monocular scope has more light to work at the one eyepiece with than a binocular or trinocular would at each eyepiece, very important when working with a cam.

[ArielCaboob]

@NightRunner417 so you put it over the eye piece. What about those that have the trinocular one, is that the same than putting it over the eye piece?

[NightRunner417]

@ArielCaboob Yep, that's right. The act of projecting the objective image directly onto the camera sensor inflates the magnification considerably, and then blowing it up onto a big monitor screen probably doubles it again. The result is MUCH higher magnification than the scope is rated for. To get equivalent mags, you'd need a very high power eyepiece, and then you'll be battling illumination and heat. For these and many other reasons, camera projection imaging is definitely superior.

[ArielCaboob]

@NightRunner417 wait so when you look through the microscope you don't see it like that? I'm about to buy a variscope with 2000x zoom trinocular. Would i need like a 60x eyepiece(x100) to see it like that?

[MrBrownns]

u sound like u hate ur life.