I was using my stereoscope to film something for my next video project and when I finished that I was like "hey I bet I could just look into this thing, huh." So I did - eventually found these Stentor - and was like "well I gotta record this." And then I got more than I bargained for thanks to this little crustacean! Took an already neat video to super exciting for me 🤣
Hey Nick - yeah they can actually hit a pretty surprising magnification! I definitely need to experiment more with illumination but all I did was use a cheap LED video light (~15-20 bucks on amazon) and the small fluorescent ring light it came with sandwiched on opposite sides of the jar.
I think what that organism might have been would be an organism from gammaridae. You can tell by its insides and the curvature of its body. I think it was from the genus gamarus. There are several fresh water species of gamarus. The back of the exoskeleton looks like an organism from gamarus and its skinny shape also looks like one with a slight curvature. By that I meant the one shrimp like animal swimming around eating the stentor coeruleus. Its legs also resemble that of a gamarus.
love it i have moments like this so often ps i have now bought an infinity microscope from Amscope T670 With LED Koehler Illumination And Quintuple Nosepiece im busy editing a list of discoveries i made with my old microscope then will add a vid about my new one when it arrives.
Uh oh, now I’ve gone and done it! I’ve never used that scope but I bet it’ll serve you well. One thing you should try to find out is what reference focal length the scope is designed for. Most of these Chinese origin scopes target either Nikon or Olympus and so infinity optics from one company will work better than those from another if you ever want to upgrade. I know for sure that Motic copies Olympus but I’m not sure about this scope. Just try not to have a heart attack when you see the prices for brand-name infinity optics on eBay!
@@diettoms thanks it was on special as it was an open box and yes the price of an olympus was insane in my country. we talking 16k for my China scope to 60k for a brand scope with similar features thanks for the heads up on focal length. Ps loving your channel.
@@fred9za Awesome, glad you got a deal! The brand name infinity scopes are wildly expensive for sure unless you get lucky at a surplus auction or something. That's why I like to stick to 160mm - more microscope per dollar! But there's no question that a brand new infinity scope is a compelling buy if you can find a deal on it. Would you mind sharing roughly where you're at? No nefarious intentions, I just like to know where in the world I've got viewers!
@@diettoms hey I live I. Cape Town South Africa also the Reference Focal Length is 180mm for this brand... Can't wait to share my really badly photos from my first scope
@@fred9za Awesome! You might be my first from that continent! 180 sounds like it’s an Olympus scope just like the motic. That also means it should be compatible with the high end objectives Motic is starting to make. They’re not cheap but they’re cheaper than Olympus objectives. Don’t know about the quality, though! Please link me to photos and videos when you get them!
I was using my stereoscope to film something for my next video project and when I finished that I was like "hey I bet I could just look into this thing, huh." So I did - eventually found these Stentor - and was like "well I gotta record this." And then I got more than I bargained for thanks to this little crustacean! Took an already neat video to super exciting for me 🤣
That's really magical!
This was awesome to watch!
My friend, I gasped when those Stentor sucked in.
I didn’t think they even could zoom in that much. How much light does it need?
Hey Nick - yeah they can actually hit a pretty surprising magnification! I definitely need to experiment more with illumination but all I did was use a cheap LED video light (~15-20 bucks on amazon) and the small fluorescent ring light it came with sandwiched on opposite sides of the jar.
I think what that organism might have been would be an organism from gammaridae. You can tell by its insides and the curvature of its body. I think it was from the genus gamarus. There are several fresh water species of gamarus. The back of the exoskeleton looks like an organism from gamarus and its skinny shape also looks like one with a slight curvature. By that I meant the one shrimp like animal swimming around eating the stentor coeruleus. Its legs also resemble that of a gamarus.
love it i have moments like this so often ps i have now bought an infinity microscope from Amscope T670 With LED Koehler Illumination And Quintuple Nosepiece im busy editing a list of discoveries i made with my old microscope then will add a vid about my new one when it arrives.
Uh oh, now I’ve gone and done it! I’ve never used that scope but I bet it’ll serve you well. One thing you should try to find out is what reference focal length the scope is designed for. Most of these Chinese origin scopes target either Nikon or Olympus and so infinity optics from one company will work better than those from another if you ever want to upgrade. I know for sure that Motic copies Olympus but I’m not sure about this scope. Just try not to have a heart attack when you see the prices for brand-name infinity optics on eBay!
@@diettoms thanks it was on special as it was an open box and yes the price of an olympus was insane in my country. we talking 16k for my China scope to 60k for a brand scope with similar features thanks for the heads up on focal length. Ps loving your channel.
@@fred9za Awesome, glad you got a deal! The brand name infinity scopes are wildly expensive for sure unless you get lucky at a surplus auction or something. That's why I like to stick to 160mm - more microscope per dollar! But there's no question that a brand new infinity scope is a compelling buy if you can find a deal on it. Would you mind sharing roughly where you're at? No nefarious intentions, I just like to know where in the world I've got viewers!
@@diettoms hey I live I. Cape Town South Africa also the Reference Focal Length is 180mm for this brand... Can't wait to share my really badly photos from my first scope
@@fred9za Awesome! You might be my first from that continent! 180 sounds like it’s an Olympus scope just like the motic. That also means it should be compatible with the high end objectives Motic is starting to make. They’re not cheap but they’re cheaper than Olympus objectives. Don’t know about the quality, though!
Please link me to photos and videos when you get them!