1st attempt at imaging spores

[RobSutton]

Just decided to bite the bullet and have a go at imaging spores. I've got hold of one of the Minicam video units from Brunel Microscopes (DCM200) and have just tried it out on some spores from Agaricus urinascens down one of their microscopes at x1000.





It was probably quite an easy subject to start with as the spores are large and dark coloured.

I was quite pleased with the results but don't really have anything to compare the quality against. I'm sure some of you out there have been doing this for a while with all sorts of equipment - how do they compare with what you might expect to get? Any tips you would like to share would be very welcome too.

[flaxton]

Rob
If that was a first attempt it is a bl...dy good effort Cheilocystidia next

Mal

[RobSutton]

Originally Posted by flaxton

Rob
......... Cheilocystidia next

Mal

Been squashing bits of gills on and off for about a week now and I'm not convinced I've even seen one of them yet but I haven't yet tried staining things - I thought I'd start on the easy stuff.

The spore images were taken the first time I've connected the camera to the microscope but it has taken about a week and half to get the right bits of software onto the computer. Once it's set up it seems really easy to use - I don't think there was any semblance of any skill on my behalf

[Nick_in_Scotland]

Looking good Rob- you can really see the oil droplets in those spores. I've had some surprisingly good results simply holding my digital camera up to the eyepiece of my old scope, nowhere good as these pics though .

Nick.