Burmese Colour Needle through a microscope

[IainP1]

As promised yesterday, here's a BCN at very high magnification, taken today through a microscope.

The main image - and two closer crops - is a focus stack composite of 313 separate images. If you double click on the first image, there's a lot more detail to be seen in the tip.

The close up, and crop, of the needle surface was captured with a higher magnification objective, and is a stack of 87 images. The higher magnification objective isn't really optimal for this kind of photo-microscopy, but it's still fascinating to see detail in the individual cells.
Iain

[Lah Ca]

Very interesting. Thank you.

I was going to ask you how you got the depth of field (in focus) through the optical lens of the microscope. But now you have explained about focus stacking.

I remember (vaguely and perhaps incorrectly) from my youthful days with my second hand Pentax SP1a 35mm SLR camera that depth of field (in non-microscopic photos) could be achieved with a tripod, a small aperture, and a long exposure.

I believe that some of the more expensive digital microscopes can automatically do focus stacking.

How do you accomplish this feat with your setup with an old school optical microscope?

[IainP1]

Very interesting. Thank you.

I was going to ask you how you got the depth of field (in focus) through the optical lens of the microscope. But now you have explained about focus stacking.

I remember (vaguely and perhaps incorrectly) from my youthful days with my second hand Pentax SP1a 35mm SLR camera that depth of field (in non-microscopic photos) could be achieved with a tripod, a small aperture, and a long exposure.

I believe that some of the more expensive digital microscopes can automatically do focus stacking.

How do you accomplish this feat with your setup with an old school optical microscope?

Thanks very much. You're right that a deeper depth of field can be had with a smaller aperture and long exposure, but you get diminishing returns, as a smaller aperture increased fuzziness in the image, and through a microscope the DOF really is tiny! I've seen some gorgeous microscopes which do incredible things these day, including focus stacking, but when I've looked online, responding to adverts, I've been shocked by the prices. One was tens of thousands of pounds. I'm sure there are more affordable ones too...
I'm actually using a trinocular microscope for these, so can simply stick a DSLR on the top. It's fairly basic, but does a good enough job for my level and interests.
Iain

[Orchorsol]

Amazing to see, thank you so much Iain!

[IainP1]

Amazing to see, thank you so much Iain!

Thanks mate, I thought you'd appreciate it . (If the images are ever any good to you, please use them in any way you like). I'll try and do the needle in a groove soon, though that's a bit more tricky...
Iain

[Orchorsol]

Amazing to see, thank you so much Iain!

Thanks mate, I thought you'd appreciate it . (If the images are ever any good to you, please use them in any way you like). I'll try and do the needle in a groove soon, though that's a bit more tricky...
Iain

That's really kind, thank you so much - it would be great somewhere on the BCN website.

[IainP1]

Amazing to see, thank you so much Iain!

Thanks mate, I thought you'd appreciate it . (If the images are ever any good to you, please use them in any way you like). I'll try and do the needle in a groove soon, though that's a bit more tricky...
Iain

That's really kind, thank you so much - it would be great somewhere on the BCN website.

Excellent! I'm now motivated to try it in the groove. Watch this space... (PS I have larger higher res original images if you need them.
Iain

[Orchorsol]

An image of a BCN tip that has 'broken down' on a worn record would be interesting if you feel like it Iain (though not really important, and not a request as such) - I anticipate it would quite a mess!

[IainP1]

An image of a BCN tip that has 'broken down' on a worn record would be interesting if you feel like it Iain (though not really important, and not a request as such) - I anticipate it would quite a mess!

Great, I love a challenge! After buying some of your excellent needles 2 or 3 years ago, I got into other things, and completely neglected playing 78s until very recently, but now back into it in a big way. I've just had a go at a BCN in a groove, results later, when the PC has processed the stack of several hundred images. I also just make a Synthetic 3D animated gif of yesterday's BCN. Attached here. Hopefully it will play automatically and won't be too compressed. I'll send it to you directly if so. It took about 3.5 hours to "cook" on my little laptop; a composite of over 3000 images. EDIT: Oh, I see it plays once you click on it.
Iain

[jamiegramo]

Yes it works very well!