Click on the PDF buttons to download the Instructions manuals of the Diatom Test Slide Version 2.0 and Microscope Test Slide in commemoration of Edmund J. Spitta
Updated edition (2023)
Low resolution microscope video of Pinnularia nobilis poroids (Light microscope. Double immersion. 63x/1,40 lens. Polarized light, the polarizers were oriented perpendicular to each other = maximum level of extinction). The fine focus knob has been moved to show different details. Click on the image below to watch the video. Not all Pinnularia nobilis (Ehrenberg) Ehrenberg are the same! The most difficult Pinnularia nobilis (Ehrenberg) Ehrenberg sample among all the others we keep was chosen for the Diatom Test Slide version 2.0 (measurements were performed using a scanning electron microscope or SEM), in fact not all Pinnularia nobilis (Ehrenberg) Ehrenberg in the world have the same poroids measurements!
New article published by Diatom Lab: Barone, S. 2023. Diatoms: the best microscopic objects to check, set and compare optical microscopes and contrast techniques, Microscopy and Analysis, 65: 13-18 (ISSN 2049-4424).
Click on the PDF button to download the free article:
“The
use of Test Diatoms to check the quality of objectives is only one
aspect of their use. The Test Diatoms should be also used to make
sure that the whole system of the microscope is working well. That is
the illumination as well as the combination of objective and
eyepiece. It should become a habit to use a test slide every time the
microscope is set up. In this way one ensures that what one sees is
really there, not false and blurry images, and that one is missing
nothing which should be visible with the optical system being used.
Diatoms fill this requirement better than any other object”
(from an old N.B.S. leaflet from the last century)
- Barone, S. 2023. Diatoms: the best microscopic objects to check, set and compare optical microscopes and contrast techniques, Microscopy and Analysis, 65: 13-18 (ISSN 2049-4424) link
- Barone S., 2022. Diatom Lab Microscope Test Slide in commemoration of Edmund J. Spitta, Micscape Magazine, 321 (ISSN 1365 - 070x) link
David Walker is the editor of Micscape Magazine:
- Walker D., 2023. Exploring the Diatom Lab 'Microscope Test Slide in Commemoration of Edmund J. Spitta' with Near UV . Micscape Magazine, 328 (ISSN 1365 - 070x) link
- Walker D., 2021. Note on 'diatom dotting' at low magnifications. Resolving Stauroneis phoenicenteron, Micscape Magazine, 306 (ISSN 1365 – 070x) “Acknowledgement: The author used the invaluable 'Test Slide version 2.0' (Diatom Cubed mountant) supplied by Stefano Barone of Diatom Lab"
- Bulletin of the Quekett Microscopical Club, Nov 2019, No.77, ISSN 1350-9128, pp 22-25: the article recognizes Diatom Lab preparations as expertly-prepared and three microscope images of our slides have been published, such as a detail of the Diatom Test Slide version 2.0 with the comment “image chosen by editor to show the incredible resolution of this excellent slide”
