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Today I found a tiny dead fly in a box on my desk and popped it under the microscope. I never knew that the antennae are so complex!

The last picture is of a dust mite from an air sample.

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Beautiful photos...I especially like the fly antennae...it reminds me of a neon sign...with some of the background cropped out it would make an excellent piece of abstract artwork and a lot of people would be surprised to know what it really is...that is what I love about microphotograhy...that the real can be presented in such an abstract way...

Astonishing pictures. What scope is this from?

Thanks. I just got lucky with the fly choosing my desk to drop dead.

The microscope is one of these - AmScope T490A with a crude homemade darkfield filter. The camera is an old Canon PowerShot A40 with the optics carved out, attached to the microscope's camera port using professional-grade Scotch tape.

Thanks for the links to the microscope and camera you are using. I'm curious as to what you mean when you say "with the optics carved out."

g2b2

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A pixel is worth a thousand words but it takes a thousand words to explain a pixel. g2b2

Well, my old Canon broke down - the lens was not extending and I was getting an error while trying to take a picture. So, instead of throwing it out, I disassembled it and took the lens optics out:

http://avtanski.net/images/microscope/canon1.jpg

What is left inside is small lens that is one unit with the shutter - I did not take this out, because this would mean discarding the shutter itself, and without shutter it just doesn't work well.

The remainder of the camera is now scotch-taped to the microscope (sorry about the bad image - it is quite dark here right now):

http://avtanski.net/images/microscope/canon2.jpg

With the broken lens motor also removed, I can now power up the camera and rotate it by hand - this extends the lens holder and the camera's electronics thinks that everything is well and that the motor works. So, I don't get any errors and the camera works without [most of] the optics.

Very creative solution to your problem and excellent photos to boot. Nice job, my friend.

g2b2

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A pixel is worth a thousand words but it takes a thousand words to explain a pixel. g2b2