Hi folks. I'm a builder. And a hobbyist. And a hobbyist builder. A few years ago, I really wanted to mess around with super macro photo stuff, but wasn't up for buying a really expensive lens for our camera as I didn't know if that interest would last. (they come and go) My solution was to build a rig that would nearly turn my cell phone into a microscope.
That's a fruit fly. I mean the super tiny ones; D. melanogaster. It's blurry and isn't perfect, but the photo was taken with my old iPhone 4s. I was pretty happy with the results. Lets take a look at the rig:
In a nutshell, it's two levels of acrylic plexiglass suspended on bolts. See that little circle thing between the bolts? That's a lens that I took out of a laser pointer and secured into a hole that was drilled on the top layer of plexi. You set your phone on this top piece with it's camera looking through the lens. Then, the second layer of plexiglass is where you'd put your specimen. The wing nuts there are used to move the specimen up and down, which brings it in and out of focus. You can also put a light under both layers pointing up if you need to illuminate things better.
^^^This is a single puffy seed thing from a dandelion. You know, the things you blow away?
The real driving force behind me building this rig was too look for water bears in the backyard. They're also known more scientifically as tardigrades. These things are extremophiles, which means they're almost indestructible. Water bears are pretty much the toughest animals on earth and they can nearly be found anywhere that has moss or lichens. Anyway, after a bit of searching for these microscopic critters, I did find one. At least...... I think so.
I think the grayish colored thing is a water bear. I'm not sure what the smaller yellow thing is. I'm just going to assume its a super tiny octopus. lol 🐙
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*** These daily blogs showcase the natural world. It is all original content using photos, stories, and experiences from my own travels. ***