pics of tiny thingy (ie playing with new toy)

M

maaltan

AC Members
Sep 11, 2004
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Recently i mentioned i noticedd these little flying bugs swarming my javamoss and glass. well i got a new toy (digital microscope) and took some pictures. anybody know what these might be?

these are unstained and some not so good. the little bugs are squashdd to a pulp by the force exerted by surface tension and the cover glass so i had to shoot through the drop and image shifted sometimes. Most of these are between 20x and 40 magnification

smbug&family.jpg
A bunch of the bugs collected around a stray cat hair that contaminated the slide.

smbug&java2.jpg
smbug&java.jpg
a couple of shots of one of the bugs swimming around a strand of java moss

smbug&snail&java.jpg
More java moss another bug picking at a very tiny baby snail

smbug.jpg
This tiny one wasn't moving, it might be an egg of one. this is at higher magnification.

smbug&family.jpg smbug&java2.jpg smbug&java.jpg smbug&snail&java.jpg smbug.jpg
 
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Care to share the specs of the scope? I'd like one, but haven't found one that I really like yet--well, that's not true--I haven't found one that came with a home-user price tag that I like. :)
 
its the motic ds-300 it has a continous range of 20x to 100x (ds-150 same pric e but has rane of 10x-50x) through an optical zoom setup. the mechanics are all plastic (but focus is quite solid, no fine focus so you need light touch), the optics are "high quality glass" from "real microscope manufature" (boreal maybe i gather from infereance). It also comes with an eyepiece and padded satchel for field work if needed. very lightweight and has a toy feel to it, but it seems quite usable.

the camera tat comes with it is 640x480 natively. it apparently uses a common tube fitting so it might be upgradable.

It comes with 2 copies of software. motic play and motic educator. play has a cartoon interface while educator is more "middle-high school". Functionality seems to be the same and the "play" interface is more intuative (although they keep moving the **** back button from screen to screen and there are no tips popus). also it appears you can download the full version(dont know if i was supposed to but i just logged in and it was there, therefore its there fault) of some program called images 2000 which has all the same functionality in a "photoshop" type environment. not played with it yet. all the software allows for still and video capture (timelapse and realtime), photo post-processing, and measurement (use calibration slide and then you can measure things using various geometric shapes (line, circle, square triangles, for length and area).

it is targeted for grades k-8 but quality is fine for hobby use. price was $160 from scientificsonline.com shipping is $20 but if you wait to order sunday-tuesday, and search for an online coupon code (sorry lost it) basic shipping is free (ground ups from NY).

here is a review that was quite informative.

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artfeb05/dwmotic1.html
 
My Digital Microscope

Two years ago we bought a digital microscope that was going to discontinued status. Normally priced at $100, the QX3 was on clearance at Wal-Mart for only $20!

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/intelplay/index.html

It is the forerunner of the QX5, has three settings, 10X, 60X, and 200X powers. Overhead and below-subect lighting options, ability to do still pics, video clips, and even customized speed time-lapse!


Best deal in computer toys ever! But it wasn't compatible with Windows XP so when the old PC died it had to be boxed up and stored away.

However, I recently found out that there is a Windows XP software pack for the scope, so downloaded it FREE and we're getting it back in action!
When we used it before we recorded crystals growing, checked out critters living in swamp water, mud puddles and fishtank filters. My son used it in his sixth grade science class for various things. I was working with a county government agency that even used it for photographing small insects used for noxious weed control!

Anyone having a chance to own one of these remarkable gems should grab it up fast! The software pack has such a wide variety of graphics and editing abilities that any age would enjoy.

I can't believe it went off the market, and though I don't look often for such things, I've not seen one like it as commonly available since, though I do know the QX5 is out there somewhere, just not as widespread and haven't seen it.
 
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Fish-Head Aric - I have the QX3 as well. I love it, but often turn off my speakers after a while of listening to those beeping and booping sound effects. The movie and time-lapse features are great.
 
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