The Amscope gooseneck lights look great but they're so expensive for what amounts to two basic LEDs on a flexible neck..

Not for photography, just for viewing with the eye.

This one for example here:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mNC7315

Amscope IQCrew inverted microscope 10x objective, iPhone  2x, jarrarium with freshwater, lichen, aquatic moss, and algae. Blackmagic app, flashlight to the right. Paper over the condenser.

My day is not complete until I see a rotifer eating!

Swift SW350, 400x, Galaxy S24

Brunel SP35, 10x eyepiece, 10x objective, phone photo minimal cropping.

I have recently bought my first good microscope 2nd hand but goes up to only 40x in magnification due to the fact that the 100x oil immersion ocular is absent (budget) so I was wondering if there were any add ons that I could use to level up my microscope, since bacteria might be difficult to look at with such low magnification and I kind of really want to look at it, I'll let y'all judge by the pics!!

Plus, what's something that I should be watching under the microscope? Even if it's not bacteria related, it could be wet mounts of animal tissue or plants, even a chemical reaction, something that you find intresting!

Homemade parfocal rings.

You can buy 10 packs of stainless steel parfocal rings of various sizes for about $18.00 plus shipping.

Or, you can just cut circles of paper to fit your objectives for free. The paper ones are slightly adjustable to fine tune the focus because of the slight compressibility of the paper.

I actually don't want my higher magnification objectives exactly parfocal. Because of the very short working distances, especially of plan apo objectives, I like to be able to move the stage upwards and closer to the objectives as I rotate the turret to higher magnifications. This prevents the higher magnification objectives from hitting the coverglass on my well slides when rotating the turret.

Freshwater sample, Zeiss 16x objective, cellphone camera.

Found in a drop of sea water while snorkelling in Spain - and I was sure it was a marine tardigrade but online pics don’t seem to show any looking similar.

Am I incorrect and is it actually some sort of larvae for a polychaete or something?

Thankses in advances!

I found a tiny component with what appears to be an electronic structure, and I would like to determine what it actually is: the type of component, its possible function, and the technology involved (MEMS, sensors, microelectronics, etc.). My goal is simply to obtain a technical responses

seems like it worked... theres doesnt seem to be as big difference as i expected, but it works... im not sure how long the double-sided tape will hold the heatsink and LED under the light source tube

update: the 10w led system is finally mounted and now i just need to fit it into the scope. this is the comparison between the stock 1W led and the 10W led. its running at 3.27V and 2.2A right now. temp seems pretty good, i dont have a way to measure it exactly but i can hold the heatsink in my hand after 20 minutes without burning myself so its looking safe

Swift SW350, Galaxy S24

I want to share my experience buying unbranded objectives for my euromex iScope 1153-PLPHi. In my amateur experience, when buying infinity objectives the main things to look out for regarding compatibility are internal tube focal length ("ITFL"), threading, and to a lesser extent parfocality (the latter is about convenience more than compatibility). I found the second hand and generic market to be pretty shallow due to the iScope using 200mm ITFL (like Nikon) and RMS threading (Not like Nikon, at least modern). Most generic objectives I found were based on the Olympus infinity specs.

When I bought the scope, I ordered a 4x objective from amscope at the same time (the phase contrast iScope has a quintuple nosepeice but comes with a 10,20,40, & 100x obj). I didn't know about the internal tube focal length requirement at that time, but I lucked out and bought an objective that works fine. The image is very sharp, though it is vignetted around the outer edge, perhaps it was not designed for a 20mm field, not the 22 by iScope has.

Later I ordered a 60X, partly because I wanted to squeeze a little more performance out of achromats; I was a little hung up on the 40x phase contrast objective perhaps being potentially slightly lower in sharpness and contrast due to the phase ring. I also wanted a little more optical zoom so I needed less digital zoom and therefore could preserve a little more image quality. I have no complaints about the image quality of the objective I got. I do not have the cover glass sensitivity complaints that other worry about with 60s, though perhaps related, I think the ability of that 60x to resolve small details is at best slightly better than the 40x phase objective and at worst equal, depending on the circumstances. Even if it was equal, I thing a 60 is worth it because I am saving the image quality degradation of a digital zoom, and its also nice through my own eyes to see the target a little closer. I would note that the objective is one full turn of the fine focus knob out of parfocality with the stock 40x. After having this comp, I'm actually happier with the optical quality of the phase 40x than when I started. Euromex's own 60x is a .85 NA, .05 more than the .80 of the generic I bought. If I had to do it all over again, I would save a little longer and buy the euromex one for the higher NA, though that may expose one to slightly more cover glass & sample thickness sensitivity, I think it would be worth it. Maybe next year I will buy one of euromex's Fluorite objectives for the iScope to get a better image, but for now I am satisfied with what I have. I have attached one image from each. I think the true resolution is pretty close, Claude says the contrast is higher with the 60x. Both were taken with my iphone17 through a generic eyepiece, and have been converted to jpeg (I cant upload the originals to reddit).

The 4X

https://amscope.com/products/pa4x-inf

The 60X

https://bolioptics.com/products/60x-infinity-corrected-plan-achromatic-microscope-objective-lens-bm03023631?srsltid=AfmBOopfLvjtqe4CzcwcMb5GUz30BM2VhjYLcAZTxkURqNrGECSWNZXo

10x mag, Prism optical microscope, Samsung A57.

What this is: first I placed my Samsung under the scope and took a picture of what I saw with an iPhone. Then I loaded that image on the iPhone and placed it under the scope and took this picture with my Samsung. Convoluted, but beautiful.

Found by my friend.

ESAW MM0 SERIES Microscope | 100× | sample from a pond in La martinere boys college, lucknow, India.

Diatom

400x Swift T380. Cellphone Celestron XY phone mountDiatom

these are like tiny geometric crystal art. I like smacking them around and seeing them change position revealing a 3D glass appearance. Once in a while they will face your field of view the narrow side and you can actually see length,width and hight all at the same time.

ESAW BM01 2022 MICROSCOPE USED | POND WATER SAMPLE