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.

Plant pollen, the bane of allergy prone individuals, comes in a seemingly endless variety of sizes and shapes and is found just about everywhere. These microspores have remarkably symmetrical structure and surface patterns and are readily recognizable under the microscope. Plant species can often be identified simply by examining individual pollen grains. Pollen is highly resistant to decay, and because it is produced in abundant quantities, then widely dispersed by wind and water, it is a common constituent of geologic sediments, both recent and ancient. Because of these features, pollen identification has provided much information on the origin and geologic history of terrestrial plant life. It has also proved to be a useful tool for geologists, anthropologists and forensic scientists, helping them to assign dates and places to specimens.

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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