MICSCAPE
(ISSN 1365 - 070x)

Exploring the miniature world

Issue 103: May 2004.
Next update June 13th.

Images show neat designs for LED based microscope lamps made by Ian Walker. L to R: 1) battery operated power supply, 2) centrable base lamp with field iris e.g. for LOMO Biolam built using old enlarger lens and 3) lamp made from old eyepiece for a microscope with a gimbal mirror mount.

 


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Issue 103 - May 2004 : Articles this month


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LED illumination for microscopes - Ian Walker (UK) shows how cheap and effective LED lamps can be made from items such as spare eyepieces or old enlarger lenses.

Venus's girdle - Bill Amos (USA) shares his enthusiasm for the beautiful marine organisms called ctenophores or comb jellies, in particular the genus Cestum.

A gallery of irreplaceable photomicrographs. Melt specimens of thioacetamide, testosterone and liquid crystal illuminated by polarized light - Brian Johnston (Canada) shares some stunning images of crystals he photographed some years ago with observations how some prepared slides of crystals can change with time.

Some stains for amateur microscopy - Traditional stains are becoming increasingly difficult for the enthusiast to obtain. Walter Dioni (Mexico) describes his experiments with some easily accessible food dyes which he has successfully used for staining microorganisms and other subjects.

COL's renditioning of blood - Paul James (UK) shares some striking images of blood using circular oblique illumination with notes on how they were created.

Examples of the animation of macroscopy and microscopy subjects using sequential jpeg images - David Walker (UK) presents some animations using jpeg files rather than video clips or animated gifs with tips for making them. Animation examples include a 'tour' around a topaz crystal and the classic demonstrations of birefringence with iceland spar.

Editor's note: The summer Micscape issues are traditionally slimmer with enthusiasts out and about exploring the world of nature. Why not have a gentle stroll around the Micropolitan Museum, which celebrates many of the wonders of the microscopic world. It was produced by and showcases Wim van Egmond's stunning photography.
Or read Frithjof Sterrenburg's online 'Microscopy Primer', an eight chapter overview of optical microscopy which can be downloaded for offline reading.

 

In focus: www.amateurmicrography.net - "An online bulletin board community dedicated to amateur microscopy, photomicrography, and photomacrography." This exciting new website is beautifully presented and with a growing range of valuable resources; these include forums for discussions/sharing tips and queries, image hosting and articles. I particularly liked the article by Tom Webster, entitled 'The world's best microscope' which certainly struck a chord from my own experiences as a fellow microscopy enthusiast.  David Walker

We are delighted to receive contributions small or large from microscopy enthusiasts whether a novice or expert. If you have an image, tip or article, why not share it, this magazine is what you make it! Have a chat with us, to see how we can help share your interests.

Micscape Article Library
Look for that elusive article on our site:
Manual Search  (category search in our new extensively revised listing).
Automated Search  (keyword search: by subject, author, or list articles in a past issue)
Contributor index  (a list of all Micscape contributors to date)
News - special notices - misc.   
    Send us your news and meeting notices of interest to optical microscopy enthusiasts and we will be pleased to share them.
    Information on the Reading Microscopical Society (UK) and the 2003/2004 programme can be
    read here. Details kindly supplied by Kit Brownlee.
    The well known Frank Rowntree Meeting hosted by the Leeds Microscopical Society will take place on Sat. June 5th 2004. The meeting includes a lecture by Dr. Peter Evennett on Abbe's diffraction experiments. E-mail
    Mike Smith for details and who kindly supplied this information.
External links. Below are some of our favourites, which includes sites with extensive links and/or resources for the optical microscopy enthusiast.

External Microscopy forums:
Places to discuss the hobby or to raise queries.

Yahoo groups:
'Microscope
'Microscopes'
'Wild M20 microscope'
'Nikon Coolpix photomicro and macrophoto'
'microcosmo' for Italian speaking enthusiasts

Mikroskopie-Treff.de
(Extensive German microscopy forum; some English categories.)

Newsgroups
sci.techniques.microscopy

Royal Microscopical Society's online forum
(follow Forum link)

Other sites
Beyond Magazine science, microscopy for youngsters
Clubs / Socs (Pro/Am) Mic-UK links page
Light Microscopy Forum links and articles
Little Imp Publications public domain books on CD, 'The Amateur Diatomist' paper magazine

Molecular Expressions awesome optical microscopy resources
Dennis Kunkel's SEM images stunning images
Microscopies online magazine and Forum  for French speakers
Micrographia articles, projects for the enthusiast
Microscopy Today
paper journal with online archive
Modern Microscopy
online journal by McCrone Group
Fun Science Gallery projects, articles on optics
G. Couger's microscopy links extensive links
Society for Amateur Scientists resources and support
www.amateurmicrography.net  forums, articles and other resources

Web rings
Lightscapes polarised light macroscopy/microscopy, both artistic and scientific.

Microscopy-UK and Micscape - established 1995
  Micscape is a free magazine for enthusiasts funded by Microscopy-UK and dedicated to non-commercial microscopy.
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