What hidden world did I discover with my microscope and camera?

[Janus]

In the photo contest this week I posted a picture of some Mt. St. Helens volcanic ash taken with the macro feature of my camera. This got me thinking. Several years ago I rescued an microscope that was headed for the trash heap. It is this Bristol model 8821.

I put it in the attic and forgot about it.

Now I began to wonder what the ash would look like under the microscope, so I got it down. The light still worked, so I put some ash on a slide and took a look.

I also noticed, after digging around in the box it came in, that there was an adapter for attaching an camera. Unfortunately, our digital camera isn't designed with a removable lens, but I thought I try something else, hold my cell phone camera up to the eye piece.
These are two of the photos I was able to capture:

Not too bad considering the method used.

 

[ZapperZ]

Speaking of microscope rescue, many years ago these old, optical microscopes were on their way to the dumpster when a chemistry department no longer wanted them. I, on the other hand, see them as antiques, and they have been used as part of my decor alongside an old chemical balance and a very old Weston multimeter housed inside a wooden box. They all fit rather well within a mid-century modern furniture.

Zz.

 

[Janus]

Speaking of microscope rescue, many years ago these old, optical microscopes were on their way to the dumpster when a chemistry department no longer wanted them. I, on the other hand, see them as antiques, and they have been used as part of my decor alongside an old chemical balance and a very old Weston multimeter housed inside a wooden box. They all fit rather well within a mid-century modern furniture.

View attachment 228783
Zz.

My kind of decor.

 

[Janus]

So, with a little experimenting, I found out that I got better results if I switched out the eyepiece( it came with some extra ones) for a different focal length, I got better results with my cell phone. ( though its still a hassle getting the lens positioned just right and hold it in place. I'm going have to see if I can come up with some kind of mount for it.)
I also tried using direct lighting rather than back light to see what kind of result that would give.
Here are three more attempts at three different magnifications:

 

[DennisN]

I also noticed, after digging around in the box it came in, that there was an adapter for attaching an camera. Unfortunately, our digital camera isn't designed with a removable lens, but I thought I try something else, hold my cell phone camera up to the eye piece.

We just recently talked about phone mounts for telescopes in this thread. There are different phone mounts, and I have two models which can be seen in photos below. With my telescope setup, they are however not so good choices, but I am thinking about trying out this mount, https://www.meade.com/smart-phone-adapter.html (by Meade), which @MP9721NRC uses. I would not be surprised if it works for microscopes too.

Edit: My phone (LG G4) has got a really good camera, and it can be manually controlled, and it is far better than my Olympus compact camera, so that is why I am testing out phone mounts.

Phone mount 1:

Phone mount 1 applied:

Phone mount 2:

Phone mount 2 applied:

 

[Janus]

We just recently talked about phone mounts for telescopes in this thread. There are different phone mounts, and I have two models which can be seen in photos below. With my telescope setup, they are however not so good choices, but I am thinking about trying out this mount, https://www.meade.com/smart-phone-adapter.html (by Meade), which @MP9721NRC uses. I would not be surprised if it works for microscopes too.

Thanks. This looks like something that might work, or At something I can modify enough to make work.
Meanwhile, I took a few more pictures last night using the "hold the phone by hand" method.

"Dust" collected from an outside window sill. There may still be some ash left over from last year's Eagle Creek fire mixed in here.

Some ginger from the spice rack.

The surface of a meteorite I picked up in a fossil store last summer. The line going for lower left to upper right to the naked eye just looks like a fine crack.

Surface of a old tarnished penny

Tarnished surface of a silver spoon

Some spider webbing

 

[Psinter]

I like this thread. I don't have a microscope. I want to see more pictures taken with microscopes .

 

[LLD1231]

So, with a little experimenting, I found out that I got better results if I switched out the eyepiece( it came with some extra ones) for a different focal length, I got better results with my cell phone. ( though its still a hassle getting the lens positioned just right and hold it in place. I'm going have to see if I can come up with some kind of mount for it.)
I also tried using direct lighting rather than back light to see what kind of result that would give.
Here are three more attempts at three different magnifications:
View attachment 228793

View attachment 228794 View attachment 228795

Wow! Those images are amazing.