Microscopic Pond Life - A Closer Look

From time to time I try different video cameras to find the best microscope / camera combination. All the cameras show some aberrations at low lighting levels. Can't quite make my mind up whether this is on the IR filter which they all have or some aspect of the sensor which only shows at low light levels.

This experiment was with a Siemens camera which is good quality but unfortunately shows a lot of aberrations. I have tried different high magnifications object lenses and that makes no difference. 

This time I managed to obtain some closer views of the life in a bit of algae taken from the pond waterfall:



Once again I haven't managed to identify the various forms of life.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

Unfortunately no virtual Midmarsh Stars this week as everyone was stumped by last week's close shot of a roll of electrical insulation tape:

   

Maybe you will have better luck with the new mystery photo which is a cropped slice:
Guess What:


Please leave any guesses in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.
No prizes, just for fun and maybe a virtual Midmarsh Gold or Silver Star.

Running even later than usual tonight. Spent hours trying to find out why I was seeing various spurious 'shapes' from the video cameras I have been trying on the microscope. At first I thought is was some dirt somewhere in the optics associated with the bottom lighting system. I cleaned everything up as best I could but it made no difference. They only show at high magnification but it wasn't the objective lenses. In the end I came to the conclusion it was some aberration in the cameras at the low lighting levels caused by the tiny openings used on high magnification lenses.

Also I am a woodpecker typist - only using two fingers on each hand. Unfortunately I managed to stab the end of one finger on my freezer knife which has two saw like edges. So one hand has to be careful not to put pressure on that finger as it starts bleeding again and that is slowing things down somewhat.

Nesting Time

For a couple of days the female Blackbirds have been gathering nesting material early in the mornings:







Unfortunately so far this year I haven't spotted any activity in either of the camera nest boxes.

Song Thrush Sings

I have heard a Song Thrush singing very close on several occasions but it usually remains well hidden from sight. Finally, yesterday I spotted it high up in one of next doors apple trees but still out of clear sight:



Fortunately it would move its position from time to time and eventually it was in the clear for a decent shot:




The Song Thrush even stayed long enough to catch a video clip of it deafening me:

Friday at the Flicks - More Microscopic Pond Life

 

One of the things I had wanted to add to the microscope was a mechanical stage. This holds the slide or dish and has thumb screws for easy fine movement to position the specimen. They tend to be expensive but I spotted a universal fitting one on eBay and managed to secure it at the start price of £14.99. It is well constructed and a snip at the price. It has pins which fit in holes in the microscope stage to hold it firmly in place. Unfortunately although they were correctly space the holes in my microscope were smaller. Not dismayed I used a different locking screw and fitted an extra locking nut to hold it firmly without the pins. It is a delight to use and makes it so much easier to position things accurately under the lens, especially with high magnification lenses.



I had read about a technique for using bits of cotton on a slide to restrict the range of movement of live microscopic life. I wondered if the same would happen with some algae gathered from the pond. Off I went and grabbed a thumbnail size piece from the pool at the top of the pond waterfall:





Here are a few short extracts from the video clips I took this morning.



I haven't got round to identifying anything as yet.


Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you, whatever its size.

A Splash of Colour

While my miniature narcissus are in full bloom other bulbs seem to be well behind them at the moment:







Photos taken with Nikon S9050.
Colour popped in Compose Lite
Borders in PhotoScape X

Another new Serif Affinity Photo beta was released today. Still developing and improving.

Microscopic Pond Life

A second session with the video camera on the microscope. This time with some water taken from the main pond:



During a search of the net I found a few pdf files to help me identify what I can see.

The first clip has a small round green diatom (bottom left) but I can't work out what the transparent creature is (centre screen).
The second clip shows several diatoms.
The final clip, my favourite, shows a rotifer (I hope).

All were observed using the same 100x objective with the video camera adding some more magnification as the view is larger than the sensor.