Phase contrast in action.

[Bcrazy]

I have been given a number of slides dating back to 1940 and at first glance I thought they might be too faded, so I tried using Phase contrast and see the conclusion. this surprised me in the good definition. I'll explain what these are the first 3 are the hamuli's attached to the rear wing, the next 2 are trachea, and finally the spoon shaped flabellum.

 

[Bcrazy]

Not one reply what's wrong???

I wonder why no one has bothered to reply?
Is it because there are very few who know what Phase Contrast is?
Is it because the members are not sure of the scientific names given?
Is it because I have posted too many photos without giving a clear description of what it is I am showing?
Is it because members are becoming fed up with the pictures I am posting?
And here's me wanting to do sections of the whole bee.

Mo

 

[Mike a]

lovely pics Mo.

Is it because there are very few who know what Phase Contrast is?
Is it because the members are not sure of the scientific names given?
Is it because I have posted too many photos without giving a clear description of what it is I am showing?
Is it because members are becoming fed up with the pictures I am posting?

To answer your questions imho

Yes - no idea what phase contrast means.
Yes - Without looking up some of them. Trachea I know, Hamuli's easy enough to figure out.
No - Not enough pictures, but always useful to describe what they are for most of us.
No - See above.

As for sections of a whole bee - Yes please.

 

[Moggs]

Hi BC

Nice pics - quite fascinating. I can determine the shape, colour and sound of a bee and its variants but I'm afraid that my adventure into microscopy has yet to begin (oops, no, it has ).

As I am out of my depth on this, a few words of explanation (when they would help the newcomer perhaps) may be useful.

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, please keep them coming!

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Not replied up to now simply because nothing really to add - think the photos are great and dont mind that I'm ignorant about phase whatsiting or scientific names. Good to see them, keep them coming - ideally with some simpleton explanations

 

[Bcrazy]

Thank you for your honest replies, all points noted and taken on board.

Thanks all.

Mo

 

[DanBee]

Mo - nice photos. It is indeed impressive how well samples survive if properly mounted and sealed. We have some dated from the 1930's onwards and most are still very usable. I was at Thorne's new site the other weekend and took the liberty of having a look at some of Frow's original slides of acarine mites under the microscope. Very interesting and still usable.

On the other hand, some quick slides I made of acarine in tracheae a month ago - just in water under a coverslip - were already degrading badly when I looked again last weekend. No pain, no gain!

Dan.

 

[betterbee]

photography and microscopy forum

love the pictures,yes a little note in a seperate post describing what we are looking at would be helpful,for beeks who want to test their bees for amm purity with drawwing etc ,would it be possible to give instructions on forum,then various samples could be compared ?

 

[Bcrazy]

Hi Betterbee,
I think you might be getting a bit mixed up here mate. When carrying out internal inspections of bees internal organs it will not give any indication of the race of bee, not to my knowledge any way. Are you confusing it with morphometry? I don't think anyone would willing ly set up about 50 sets of wings on a slide a big slide, and then try to give out detailed description of what the distance from a certain point to another point is on all wings. It would take too long . Sorry about that . Unless you know of another way to differentiate between casts? To be honest i do not know how I would tackle the task.
Mo

 

[betterbee]

thanks for the courteous reply,point taken,keep up the good work

 

[kazmcc]

This is the first time I've seen this thread. I love the pictures and I know all I have to do is ask if I don't understand something

So, what is phase contrast? lol

 

[Bcrazy]

Hi kazmcc
I honestly think that for me to try and tell you about Phase contrast in microdscopy would take forever and I would probably get a few things wrong. So my I suggest you look it up on Wikipedia that gives a full description.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_contrast


Hope that helps.

Mo

 

[arl]

Bcrazy,
Thank you for posting the pictures and all the other posts that you do, I find them very informative, and must say that I always look at them, but as a newbee do not understand what I am looking at first time round, so tend to go back and have another read, please keep them coming as they are very helpful.
Thanks again
Tony

 

[Hombre]

Ideal technique, very pricey, but in regular professional use in a lab then then ability to view without having to stain must save the cost very quickly. I did look at a couple of prices and they aren't cheap.

 

[luckyclover]

Hi BC,

Have you purchased phase contrast lenses and associated phase condenser then?
That's quite an expense! The images have halo artefacts, have you gained significant contrast from using brightfield?
Have you set up Kohler illumination on your microscope? The light source seems very uneven.

 

[Bcrazy]

Hi luckyclover,
I have made the phase contrast microscope from bits and peices I have brought whilst at microscopy fares, its a lot cheaper than buting a set up phase contrast microscope.
The slight uneven that is there is due to the bulb not being central to the condenser as I changed the bulb a while ago and never reset thecondenser etc.

Have you set up Kohler illumination on your microscope?

Yes is the answer to that.

Mo

 

[Bcrazy]

Hi luckyclover,
I have made the phase contrast microscope from bits and peices I have brought whilst at microscopy fares, its a lot cheaper than buting a set up phase contrast microscope.
The slight uneven that is there is due to the bulb not being central to the condenser as I changed the bulb a while ago and never reset thecondenser etc.

Have you set up Kohler illumination on your microscope?

I do not use Kohlor illumination I set it up with the telescope and ensure the rings are evenly matched.

Mo

 

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi Betterbee,
I think you might be getting a bit mixed up here mate. When carrying out internal inspections of bees internal organs it will not give any indication of the race of bee, not to my knowledge any way. Are you confusing it with morphometry? I don't think anyone would willing ly set up about 50 sets of wings on a slide a big slide, and then try to give out detailed description of what the distance from a certain point to another point is on all wings. It would take too long . Sorry about that . Unless you know of another way to differentiate between casts? To be honest i do not know how I would tackle the task.
Mo

I wonder if it might be possible using just one drone wing
Reference samples would be needed
The donor drone would have to definitely be the progeny of that queen
The drones wings should all be identical ? are they ?
Potentially it would be easier and better than killing 50 workers
just a thought

 

[Ellem]

Hi Mo,

Lovely pics, first time I've seen them as I tend to search New Posts rather than looking through the rest of the site I'll have to have a look at the Microscopy pages now though

 

[beeatshellards]

I loved the pics, hamuli pictures very clear( for new beeks the hamuli are the hooks that latch the wings together, )any more ?