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. These photomicrographs are high magnifications of a 15-micron thin section of a tilia stem stained with a quadruple stain consisting of safranin O (nuclei and chromosomes and cell walls), fast green (cytoplasm and cellulose cell walls), crystal violet (starch), and orange G (acidophilic cytoplasm). The digital images are unretouched and were captured with the QX3 interactive software.

The American Basswood is one of the most treasured ornamental trees, having a tall, straight trunk and rounded crown. In the summer, basswood flowers bloom and fill the air with their fragrance as they attract bees to aid in pollination. Basswood is a hardwood that is well suited for growth in rich and fertile soils of the Northeast United States.

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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