My Birthday Present - How cool!!!

[Jamesurq]

http://www.celestron.com/products/p-m-bio.gif


Hours of fun staring at all the microscopic life. Examining phytoplankton culture densities, sand grain structures, cynobacteria, pods, etc, etc.....

What was really neat was a little drop from my fuge. The look on my 6 year old daughter's face when she saw all these creepy little bugs and worms that were perhaps 20 times or more smaller than a single tiny flake of sand....

To anyone that doesn't have one - I STRONGLY reccommend it.

[intrudah]

Not bad

[Jamesurq]

Originally posted by intrudah
Not bad

Better than "Mostly Harmless" I suppose.

I'm actually very happy with the quality of the unit - for a relatively inexpensive "not a toy" model - it's built well..

[invincible569]

I wonder what Ick looks like under that thing

[Toooloud]

What model is that?

[Jamesurq]

It's the Celestron 4050 biological microscope:

http://www.celestron.com/bio.htm

[Jamesurq]

Originally posted by invincible569
I wonder what Ick looks like under that thing

Here's hoping that I never get the chance to find out....:p

[Clyde]

WHY does a fluffer need a microsope ?

[Aquabucket]

A great thing to have with an aquarium.

I wonder if you can get a digital camera for it.

Have fun, I know I would.

PS: Happy B-Day.

[alde]

What a cool scope. Are there creatures in your Refugium water that can't been seen with the naked eye? Can you identify any?

[tfifeco]

Hey Jamesurq, aren't they great! I have this one:

http://www.fifeco.com/fifeco/aquarium/observer.jpg

Pods look soooooo cool up close with a scope, I just wish I had the $$$ to get the camera that is made for the scope... but, I want that 220g more!

Dude, just a suggestion, if you got the eyedropper and the blank slides - you can use the eye dropper to catch a pod(ok you need a steady hand but it can be done) you just watch it running around on the glass of you fuge, wait til it stops then just suck it up in the eyedropper, not as hard as it sounds. As I said they look sooo cool up close.

Just share'in the enthusiasm

Trey

[Breaker4show]

Not sure if yall want to ansewer this, but I have been looking for a "decent" microscope, and I was wondering how much those microscopes cost ! I will be using it for the aquarium, and to do fecal examines on my geckos !

Thanks,
Nick

[daclozer]

Do you know if there is an attachment to connect a digital camera to it? That would be awesome to see some pictures of pods and such.

[tfifeco]

IMO, greatscopes.com has the best scopes, not sure about the Celestron that Jamesurq has but he seems happy with it, one HUGE suggestions I would make, especially if you are gonna do a lots of studies with it is to get the Mechanical Stage, It's the device that replaces the two metal clips on the viewing stage, you simply remove the clips and screw the Mechanical Stage with a Hand screw. The Mechanical Stage allows you to slowly move the speciman left or right, forward or Backward by turning adjustments just like you would turn a dial to focus. For the Money you will pay for the scope the stage is absolutely worth its price, I believe it adds about $50 to the price. They one I got was The Observer IV for $259 + $50 for the Mechanical Stage. I believe the total cost including shipping was about $320. Goto www.greatscopes.com and read up on the Observer Models they are perfect for what you want to do. Anyways, didn't mean to rant on, I just love'em

Trey

[tfifeco]

Yea, you can get a camera for the scope, but they are pretty expensive, they range anywhere from $300 - $900. What is cool about them is that they look just like the eyepiece and actually replaces the eyepiece on the scope and you can connect it to your USB port on your computer, no more looking through a single eyepiece, just look at your computer screen. They also have one that can save AVI clips so you can record that little POD running all over the glass slide, PRETTY COOL if you as me.

Not trying to dominate this thread but I did a lot of research before I purchase last year. So I learned a lot about them. Just my 2 cents

Trey

[Jamesurq]

Mine was a gift - so I don't know what it cost....;) Amazon.com sent a bill with it though... about $160 or so... Well worth it..

I did the pod thing - very cool... and alde - you would be absolutely amazed at the amount of microscopic stuff crawling, wriggling and swimming around... It's unreal... I too, would LOVE to have the camera adapter - but it's a little pricy...

Intel does make a scope that hooks up to the computer with a camera - not sure how good it is - but it's relatively cheap..

tfifeco - good suggestion on the mechanical stage - chasing around microscopic pods by tapping the side of a slide is slightly inefficient.....

Thanks for the enthusiasm folks - I'm loving this thing...

[Cayman_Snorkler]

I've a AO Spencer model 1036 dual head teaching scope with 10x,40x and 100x oil immersion lenses. It was around seven bills w/o lenses :eek1:

[Jamesurq]

Originally posted by Cayman_Snorkler
I've a AO Spencer model 1036 dual head teaching scope with 10x,40x and 100x oil immersion lenses. It was around seven bills w/o lenses :eek1:

nice. and ouch - I'm guessing that's for work right?

[Aquaman]

WHY does a fluffer need a microsope ?

ROTFLMAO! :D:D:D It took me a few minutes to figure out what that meant. Only if its being used in the context Im thinking of! Gutter?

[kevin gu3]

OK, I gotta brag too...

For Xmas last year my wife got me something called a close focus telescope. Originally sold thru Edmunds for way too much money, she got it used on eBay.

This thing mounts on a camera tripod and can focus from about one foot away to infinity. Opens up a whole new world; a Caulastrea polyp near the front just about fills the view and its amazing.

I also have a dissecting binocular scope, also used, not as much fun because you have to remove things from the tank to see them. I would think an operating room scope would be the best.

Here's a link.http://www.edmundoptics.com/IOD/DisplayProduct.cfm?productid=1843

[mothra]

I was wondering if I was the only one who picked up on the fluffer comment... pretty funny.

Nice scope by the way.

[tim n heather]

cool

[Cayman_Snorkler]

work, yes. They retired it, I made an offer.

[goodfe11aa3]

Thats really cool. My father gave me his , not sure what kind
its older . But here is the cool part. I had a dino outbreak.
I wanted to make sure thats what it was, so I put a sample
of it under the microscope. For sure it was dinos. Here is
the cool part though. I have a kodak dx3600 camera.
I figured if I angle the camera right , maybe a shot through
the microscope., Well it took about 10 shots, I held the camera
right on the viewing piece and I got a nice shot( flash had
to be on , not sure why) it was pretty cool. So try your own
camera before going and buying a special one. here is the pic
I took.

[Jamesurq]

sweet! did you use macro mode for that??

[goodfe11aa3]

Mine dont have a macro, it just has a close up setting. But
I left it on auto focus.