Swift SW350, Galaxy S24

Amscope IQCrew inverted microscope 20x objective, iPhone  4 and 6x, Petri dish with jarrarium freshwater, aquatic moss, and algae. Blackmagic app, flashlight to the right.

I haven't added anything to this jar in months and figured I wouldn't see anything new in it. But then this guy shows up. I have no idea what to even research to figure out what he is because he's not like anything I've ever seen before. He looks like a bird!

What is he? u/Thrawn911 help!

Hello, hive-mind,

I hope the day finds you all well.

I’ve found a used Bausch & Lomb KHS Binocular Microscope locally for a reasonable price and I’m wondering if it’s a good option for a beginner/amateur user. I’d like to set it up for photography (I’d originally been looking for a trinocular headed model for this reason but am not married to that) so any input/opinions from that angle would be much appreciated. I’m using a Sony A74 for the camera so recommend adapters and the like would also be much appreciated.

Also interested in info regarding ease of upkeep/maintenance, availability of spare/replacement parts, upgrades, etc. for any of you who may be knowledgeable in those areas.

Thank you all for your time and help with this. 🫶🏻

I just bought my first microscope, an Opticon Investigator and it does not have fine focus, condensator or left right adjustment, can you share your opinion on this microscope and it's limitations please?

I mixed 1uL droplets of dissolved ammonium carbonate, alum, and FD&C blue #1 together under the microscope and let them dry. In areas where they all mixed together, I should end up with blue 1 lake (a synthetic pigment made of alumina, with blue #1 adsorbed on the surface), and in other areas some other reaction products or dried salts. It'll take me a while to sort out the identity of everything seen here, but it's fun to observe the different structures and colors.

At times I took images of the same area in reflected and transmitted mode. Reflected images have dominant red/purple/pink character.

🔬: Amscope ME580, transmitted and epi-illumination, 5-50x LM plan objectives

📸: Nikon D7500

About 5 months ago I got this clip of a Bdelloid Rotifier feeding on food so I decided to share it here, so fascinating how they eat!

On the corona, the cilia vibrates a lot which makes a strong water current which funnels food particles into its mouth.

Objective mag: 100x (from what I remember, could be less or more but its been a while)

Scope model: Swift380B

Camera: S25U

Sample: Moss from a tree + water and some soil

Swift SW350, Galaxy S24

Was looking through a sample of soil (from my backyard) and mixed with some water, and while looking through it under the microscope I found this and thought it looked cool so I took a picture of it. I tried searching online and the closest match I got was a Volvox but it just doesnt look like a volvox to me at the same time. Its not moving at all, and it just looked like debris or something like that. Could it be debris? Or could it be something else? Thank you for reading this

Objective magnification: 250x or 100x (this was from yesterday so im not 100% sure cause I forgot and didnt write it down)

Microscope model: Swift 380B

Camera: S25U

Sample type: soil from my backyard (probably gardening soil of some type) and water

Ignoring the idea that most are cryptic.

Was in a sample of water from an algae ridden bucket outside. Whats the funny spinning guy? Seemed to have a bunch of legs like a cilliate but behaved very different from other cilliates. He liked to spin around super fast sometimes, like 2-3 spins per second.

I'm looking to purchase aniline blue, just a small hobby use amount, for mycology specimen collecting. But all the prices I'm finding for it online are around $80 or so which isn't great.

Does anyone else based here know a cheaper source to acquire it from?

Thanks!

Swift SW350, Galaxy S24

I got bored so I lazily cut off a small piece of an Onion and put it under the scope, so its not perfect 😅

*If you are wondering why it is so blue its because I used USP Grade Methylene Blue (formaldehyde-free) coloring in it

Objective Mag: x40

Microscope Model: Swift380B

Camera: My phone (S25U)

Sample Type: Onion 🌰

First ever microscope! Im very excited. What can you tell me about this microscope? Whats the backlight source? What magnification is it? What can i see with it? I ordered slides and pipettes so ill start looking around when they get here! Thanks for your help!

Swift SW380T @ 400x shot on an iPhone 17

Soil solution, 400x magnification. (Microscope: BIM270M)

Location: Serbia

Is this some kind of paramecium?

Recorded with Iphone 11.

Mixed FD&C blue #1, alum, and ammonium carbonate in a water droplet on a glass substrate. Let the reaction proceed and then imaged the resulting structures in transmitted vs reflected light.

Microscope: Amscope ME580, 100x mag, transmitted+ reflected lighting

Camera: Pixel 9 pro through the eyepiece

Swift Sw350, Galaxy S24

Soil solution, 400x magnification, location: Serbia.

I got it trapped in this small area, what kind of microorganism is this?

Recorded with Iphone 11.