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Microscopy With A Film Scanner

Posted by timothy on from the that's-a-feature-on-a-bug dept.

NickFitz writes "If you've got a film scanner lying around, this site shows you how to use it as a microscope. "Your monitor displays images at about 70-90 dpi, so taking the example of my Mac monitor at about 75 dpi, we get a magnification of 4000/75 which is about x53. It's not a lot and isn't going to show the likes of blood cells, but it should give an interesting view of small transparent objects." Did you know that bees wings are hairy?"

4 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. Forget x53, go x200 :) by grub · · Score: 5, Interesting


    53x? I have an Intel QX3 USB microscope which goes to 200x. In the name of science (yeah right), I used it to look at a Biore strip fresh from my nose. I didn't clean my nose for a while in preparation for this advancement of knowledge and the results are worth it.

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    Trolling is a art,
  2. bees wings are hairy? by Havokmon · · Score: 5, Funny
    That's just European bees. American bees wax.

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    "I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
  3. If you're REALLY interested by Hayzeus · · Score: 5, Informative
    You can also get an actual microscope. A good compound microscope can be had for less than $220 used (check ebay or various used scientific equipment sites). These typically monocular scopes usually offer 3 objectives of around 10x, 40x and 90-100x, giving a total possibly magnification of around 1000x with oil immersion.

    Want photographs? You can get surprisingly good results by simply holding a digital camera flush to the eyepiece. I have a few of these I did for fun here.

    Have fun.

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    Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
  4. Re:My Results by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    The wings are not the hairiest thing on a bee.

    True, but have you ever tried to spread those little legs?

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    Trolling is a art,