I’ve built a V7 microscope but I can only see the slides in an inverted position , with the sample downwards. I did something wrong?
I need to use these microscope as an inverted microscope for flasks…
Can anyone help me?
This sounds normal. A 40x objective generally has such a short working distance that it will only work through a cover slip, not the slide bottom. On an inverted scope like the standard OFM, that means the slide must be upside down.
Nothing is wrong, as @Yashka has already said it is normal for us to invert the slide.
This does further highlight that we need to have better user documentation.
When you say flasks you mean you are looking through the bottom of a flask. In that case you will either need a long working distance objective (which at 40x could be quite pricy) or perhaps you are able use a lower magnification depending on what you are looking at?
The other final option is find something with a thinner bottom than a flask, if you need to look at liquid you may be able to use a C-chip.
Thank you. I thought that I did something wrong. So , if I use a 20x 160 objectif it will be ok. Can you recommend a long range 40x objectif? I am growing cells in flasks and I need to visualize the cells through the bottom of the flask…
There are a small number of 20x and 40x objectives that are designed for that type of application. They are designated ‘160/1.1’ or ‘<infinity>/1.1’ meaning that they are optimised for 1.1mm of glass between the objective and the sample. The glass will need to be very flat to avoid distorting the image, the base of a standard flask may not be good enough. These are different from the more common type of long working distance objectives which are designed to view surfaces and designated ‘160/0’. Those are often called metallurgical objectives.
The only ones which I have used are from Motic - 40x or 20x. These are infinity corrected, so will need the alternative version of the high resolution optics module for infinity corrected objectives - find it in the customisations and alternatives section of the assembly instructions. They are not cheap, but not super expensive and I have used them successfully on the OpenFlexure Microscope.
The alternative approach is to use a standard biological objective (‘160/0.17’) with a special Petri dish that has a thin base section for this purpose as @j.stirling suggests.