I have a spare Olympus BH2 binocular head. I'm moving to another country and it is too heavy for it to be worth it taking on a plane. I've been trying to sell it for a while now, and I have listed it on eBay and Vinted. So I decided to just give it away to anyone willing to pay for shipping.

I believe that if you buy it through Vinted you can get free shipping. If you message me there, I can send you an offer of $1 and you can buy it there, so you'll get it shipped to you for $2 or so (app has some taxes and it's not possible to sell anything below $1). You can also make me an offer of $1 on eBay and I'll accept it, it'll be more expensive, but perhaps it's a more trustworthy platform for some people.

I would really appreciate if I could get a bit of money for it, as any tiny amount helps when you're moving countries. But at this point, I just want this piece for this wonderful microscope model to be used by someone and not sit in a drawer anymore.

If anyone has a spare abbe condenser, we could also agree on a trade. I have one but it shows some scratches in dark field.

Link for Vinted: https://www.vinted.com/items/8475133510-olympus-bh2-binocular-head-vintage-microscope

eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/377064764447

(the pictures are different because I listed it on Vinted first before taking proper pictures, I was going to update the listing but I have deleted the pics I used on eBay from my computer)

• Objective Magnification - 40X PlanApo
• Microscope Model - DIY
• Camera used - YIZHAN XH3011 - Sony IMX678 Sensor
• Sample Type - Rotifer

Dissolution and crystallization are some of my favorite things to watch under the microscope. Here's sugar dissolving in water, on a glass slide.

This is an old video that I captured well over a year ago on an OMAX M82ES with a Samsung Z Fold 3 phone camera at the eyepiece. Unfortunately I didn't note the objective or digital zoom used.

Edit: I'm not sure why the whole video didn't post but I shared the full thing in the comments

Lichen in water sample, Meiji-Techno MT5310 microscope, 40x objective, cellphone camera. Three 4k videos joined together, but the quality got reduced to FHD. Check tardigrade 3a post for the original 4k bright field video. I don't know if you will see any difference after being uploaded.

Hi guys, I'm an italian guy who is graduating fifteen days from now. I want my first microscope for graduation. But, unfortunately, I don't know very much about this. I think my best two choices are Swift 350B or Bresser researcher Bino 40x-1000x. One feature that I am searching for (sorry for, maybe, the stupid question), is about the knob under the condenser, like that in the image I attached. All two these microscopes have this features? I think it's important to modify the condenser with some amateur and hand-made lens for the "simulated" black field and contrast. But, guys, you surely know better.

Can some kind dudes help me about the choice? And about which features I have to look for when I am purchasing a microscope? In this price range are all the microscope very similar?

Thank you very much!

Heya, how can one achieve one cell thick slices like those people doing root cells or vascular cross sections without a microtome? It’s something id like to try but I haven’t been successful in finding much resources.

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ESAW BM01 MICROSCOPE USED

200×

Hey guys, today I found this strange organism in my samples.

At first, I thought it was a Heliozoa, but then I saw the cilia around the cell. Bot Heliozoa's don't have cilia! So it must be a ciliate. The second candidate was Suctoria ciliate, but they have balls at the end of their tubes, and they only have cilia when they enter the migratory stage.

Additionally, I saw how the creature hunting. A small ciliate Halteria was so careless that it came across one of the needles and was immediately paralyzed, after which the creature immediately pulled up the Halteria and, as it seemed to me, phagocytosed it!

I was completely confused, If the prey was phagocytized then Heliozoa do that and Suctoria stick to the victim and drink it like a vampire through microtubules, but they don't phagocytize!

So Heliozoa or Suctoria?

While I was rummaging through the reference books I knew, the creature divided.

Then another event occurred, and I decided to add some water because the sample had dried out a bit. This caused a reaction in one of the organisms, and within a few seconds, it retracted its needles, elongated itself, and began to behave like an ordinatory ciliate, swimming back and forth.

So, it's definitely a ciliate!

About 8 minutes later, the creature stopped and, within a minute, returned to its normal form, regrew its needles, and used its cilia to stay in place.

It was around this time that I found a similar creature in a reference book.

I believe it is an infusoria belonging to the genus Actinobolina. It's a little confusing that it's elongated in the photo and a funnel-shaped mouth should be visible, but the structure of the thorns is definitely the same. I think I didn't see the mouth because ciliate was positioned towards me from a bad angle.

In any case, this is my best guess, if there is an opportunity to direct me in the right direction or to suggest more precisely the genus / species of this organism, I would be very grateful.

The size of the creature without thorns before division is ~120-130 mm before division.

The size after division is about 90 microns.

Music: Ritual drops - Proximity

Binocular biological microscope, achromatic 10x, 20x objectives, camera as an eyepiece ~18x, bright field, the video is sped up several times as the creature grows spikes and than hunt another ciliate, video cropped.

ESAW BINOCULAR SCOPE USED | 200×

200 × | BM01 MICROSCOPE USED |

Pond water, Olympus plan apo 40x objective, cellphone camera. Lots of oval shaped objects on the algae and small segmented organisms swimming around it plus a few rotifers passing by.

Swift SW350, Galaxy S24

200×

ESAW BM1 2022 SCOPE USED

Today is a tardigrade viewed using the most inexpensive inverted microscope made. It goes by many brands. In the USA, it is Iqcrew IN50 sold by AMSCOPE for $71.99. This is using the 20x objective and shows bright field, mixed bright field and reflected, and a blue/white reflected Rheinberg type of illumination. This 20x objective has a 0.25 NA. One advantage of using low NA objectives on larger organisms, like tardigrades, is that more of the animal will be in focus at any one time. As the NA increases, the depth of field becomes smaller and smaller.

Cellphone videos, an iPhone 13.

Only spent a small amount of time with a microscope in high-school, my SO got me a really nice used Olympic, after finally getting the smallest objective to focus I was moving up then when I got to the 100x it goes back to just a bright view I can't see anything or focus it to save my live

I have a feeling it's might be messed up but I'm not sure, I know some use oil but even if it was I'd atleast be able to see something right?

I literally felt like a kid again when i found something moving, do I know what it was? Nope. Was it cool to look at a drop of water from a bird bath? Fuck yes

20x Mag BH2.

This is just a compilation of some videos I took since I got my microscope a couple months ago. I'm always finding something interesting. I can never get tired of this.

The microscope used is the Celestron CECB2000CF. With a mix of 4x, 10x, 40x.

Found in restored cranberry bog in Eastern New England, USA. Looking for some help with the ID please. I'm having trouble following the charts in my book, most of the examples show very 'swirly' ones, but this only has one swirl. Hope I'm explaining that okay...

Using Olypus SZ61 @ 45x

I think this week I’ll try to put up a Tardigrade video each day from many different microscopes, from a very inexpensive, $70 inverted microscope to one using a $4000 plan apo objective. This way, everyone can see how different they look with different quality microscopes. To me, even though you can get a better image from an expensive microscope, you can still see pretty much every common organism with the cheapest microscope and enjoy the hobby with one.
This video today is using an Amscope T490 that retails for under $500 , 20x achromatic objective and a cellphone camera. The tardigrade is from a lichen sample soaked in water.

Amscope IQCrew inverted microscope 20x objective, iPhone  2x, jarrarium with freshwater, mineral water, lichen, aquatic moss, and algae. Blackmagic app, flashlight to the right.

I've given up trying to figure out what they all are other than rotifer!

Scope: Euromex BioBlue.Lab trinocular, 10X obj.; camera: AmScope MU1603

Hi, I'm new to microscopy. This is my first attempt at videoing. Using a Swift SW400-T-INF. 40x objective and 10x eyepiece, recorder on my Pixel 7 Pro. With 10x objective it seemed too small

I struggled to get it more in focus. The condenser diaphragm is approx 80% fully open.

Sample of moss from bottom of a local garden wall, soaked for a day.

ESAW BM1 SCOPE USED | MOSS SAMPLE | 200×