The images below compare performance of the Intel Play QX3 Computer Microscope with and without the aid of an organized cone of illumination from a substage condenser containing an aperture diaphragm. The digital images are unretouched and were captured with the QX3 interactive software.

Mites are related to spiders and are among the most diverse and abundant of all arachnids. These tiny insects date back to the early Devonian period, nearly 400 million years ago, making them among the oldest of all creatures to inhabit the Earth. About 45,000 species of mites have been cataloged in a wide variety of diverse habitats ranging from tropical forests to the Antarctica. Mites rely on larger organisms such as plants, other arthropods, reptiles, birds and mammals to act as hosts. It is interesting to note that while no mite has a body size exceeding a centimeter in length, they often have a major impact on the life cycles of their hosts.

Semi-transparent and lightly stained specimens are often very difficult to image using unaided brightfield optical microscopy. The images presented here were recorded using the Intel Play QX3 microscope in transmitted brightfield mode. On the top is a digital image from a stock QX3 microscope using either auxiliary illumination provided by a fiber optic light pipe through a hole drilled into the mixing chamber, or standard illumination from the microscope's tungsten lamp and mixing chamber. The image on the bottom was recorded using the QX3 microscope body coupled to a simple two-lens Abbe low numerical aperture substage condenser. Illumination was provided by a 30 watt tungsten bulb housed in an illuminator with a heat sink, a frosted diffusion screen, and a daylight color-compensating filter.

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