New toy -- pics.

[skinheaddave]

Just picked myself up an Intel QX3+ microscope. They don't make them anymore, but they are pretty easy to come by and pretty cheap. Anyhow, after about a minute of fiddling, I got these pics off of Tamara's A.braunshauseni's latest moult. I have no doubt that better pics could be gotten given a few modifications.

The first pic is of the fang area, but the focus is on some of the setae. This is approx 60X

Cheers,
Dave

 

[skinheaddave]

And this is the "toe" of the "pinktoe." You can see a tarsal claw. This was taken at 200X with supplemental lighting.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Hairyspider]

that's cool

Those are prety cool, when my Avic molted I found my self looking at it for at least an hour. Never had a T before, so it intrigued me to no end. Its been about a week or so since it molted, and I still pick it up and look at it.

Thanks for the pics

William

 

[SpiderTwin]

Very nice,
When you do some more "fiddling", keep the pics coming.

 

[The_Phantom]

Those are awesome. Incredible!

 

[Dafne]

Amazing pics Thanks for sharing...

 

[nemesis6sic6]

hey

Like every one said. Awesome, Amazing, Very Nice and pretty cool. well I agree. any ways have a nice day
geo

 

[atavuss]

I have had one of those for a few years now, a while back Toys R Us had them on clearance for 9.99! I have not tried to hook up the scope to my newer machine running WinXP, SHD, what OS are you using with the scope?
Ed

 

[Case]

I was doing some reading about that microscope here a few weeks ago and have been wanting to get one myself.
For those that are interested, I found out that while Intel has discontinued the product, they sold the rights to manufacture them to a company called Digital Blue. Digital Blue is now making and selling them. They are available on Amazon.com for $50. Also, their web site (www.playdigitalblue.com) says that their products are available at CompUSA, ToysRUs, and a few other national chains.
It's gotten some pretty positive user reviews on Amazon.com, including a couple of guys who said that they work in laboratories and use them there, despite the fact that they are intended to be toys.
I'm hoping to get one soon.
How do you like yours, Dave?

Scott Case

 

[skinheaddave]

Ed,

I'm using 2000. I have the QX3+ by digitalblue that already has support for 2000/XP. You can download software for the original QX3 so that it will work in 2000 or XP at the Intel site, though.

Scott,

Mine is pretty good so far, but I haven't tried to do any serious work. It is also painfuly apparent that I will need to use supplemental lighting at any magnification over 60X for opaque objects. I am using a snakelight with deadish batteries now, but will either replace the batteries or rig up something else. Regardless, it takes not bad pictures.

Took my first picture using sub-stage illumination today. One of my G.rosea s'lings.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[redhourglass]

Hello Dave,

Congrats on the new purchase ! I as well had this computer scope for some time when it was priced at near $100 in the U.S. at the local Toys R Us. Had some great photos of Vaejovis spinigerus with young, Paruroctonus spp in molt and so fourth until I reformated my harddrive early last year. I still have windows '98 but lost all the pictures.

However, most of the photos on my webpage are from the Intel Play scope obviously.

Cheers and have fun,

Sinc. Chad
http://www.geocities.com/redhourglass/scorpions.html

 

[Charlie]

awesome

Man that's cool. I just got signed up for an internet and pc graphics class through my work and photoshop and quark express are some of the softwares I am going to learn.

Soon I will be able to post way cool pics like yours.

Man thats cool.

-Charlie

 

[skinheaddave]

Originally posted by redhourglass
However, most of the photos on my webpage are from the Intel Play scope obviously.

Chad,

How do you find the scope for doing real work? Soon I am going to be trying my hand at keying out some scorps but I haven't really gotten the hang of really sharp images beyond the 10X setting. Any tips?

Cheers,
Dave

 

[atavuss]

Originally posted by skinheaddave
Chad,

How do you find the scope for doing real work? Soon I am going to be trying my hand at keying out some scorps but I haven't really gotten the hang of really sharp images beyond the 10X setting. Any tips?

Cheers,
Dave

I am not Chad, but IME the scope has a very small depth of field which made it kind of a pain to work with, don't know if this is typical of "real" scopes or not.
Ed

 

[skinheaddave]

Ed,

I'm also finding this under the higher magnifications. The depth of field on the 10X is pretty good, though. I just discovered that it installed TWAIN drivers so I can use any TWAIN-capable program to capture and not just the big-buttoned one designed for kids. Swank.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[skinheaddave]

Well, Kellygirl wanted a fang shot, so here's two:

Cheers,
Dave

 

[skinheaddave]

And here's the second.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[redhourglass]

Hi Dave !

I purchased the scope for close up pics as you have already provided here. I resized the images with my scanner software program and included into the html scripts on my page c/o geocities upload. Besides that I have a reg. scope to look through for diagnostics. The Scorpion SiteRing image is taken by Mark Newton in Australia but via regular camera shots.

Some of the best images are in my Diplocentrus page. I don't have a digital camera so the reason for intel scope. One of the great things with this PC scope is it is mobile and can provide some great images from many sides and in great depth. Regarding close up beyond the 10X requires patience and control. There will be more in frustration while looking for that 'great' shot but patience and they will find you.

Hope this helps,

Sinc. Chad

 

[skinheaddave]

Chad,

Well, I bought a little halogen desk lamp today and it makes a world of difference. Just being able to control the intensity and direction of light makes for some really sweet shots. I am finding that 1/2 illumination from above and a strong illumination coming in almost horizontally makes things like setae really stand out.

I'm always on the lookout for a real scope, but don't really have the $$$ for anything unless it is being discarded. Unfortunately, the university rarely gets ride of their scopes.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[skinheaddave]

Saw this little moult in one of my G.rosea s'lings' enlcosure (less than 1/2" spider post-moult and couldn't resist. This is the 10x shot.

Cheers,
Dave