A colleague asked me the other day if there are any commercial petrographic microscopes that can be run remotely? I have never heard of such a thing. Focus, stage rotation, slide translation, etc. All would have to be done by servos of some sort. Have I missed it, or does such a thing not exist at all?

Hi Dexter, I’m sure such a thing exists, but you would need to invest in a motorized stage. We had a similar sort of setup employed many years ago at University of Hawaii, although by this time that is probably ancient technology and I’m sure there must be better systems out there. Regardless, you can read about our setup (from 2012) here: https://planetary-science.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/2191-2521-2-3. Cheers, Christie ********************** Christine E. Jilly-Rehak Research Scientist / Lab Manager Stanford University SHRIMP-RG Lab SNSF NanoSIMS Lab Green Earth Sciences Bldg. 367 Panama St., 025 Green Stanford CA 94305 Office: (650) 724-5493 Cell: (213) 840-2771 cjilly@stanford.edu<mailto:cjilly@stanford.edu> On Feb 19, 2021, at 9:19 AM, Perkins, Dexter via MSA-talk <msa-talk@minlists.org<mailto:msa-talk@minlists.org>> wrote: A colleague asked me the other day if there are any commercial petrographic microscopes that can be run remotely? I have never heard of such a thing. Focus, stage rotation, slide translation, etc. All would have to be done by servos of some sort. Have I missed it, or does such a thing not exist at all? _______________________________________________ MSA-talk mailing list -- msa-talk@minlists.org<mailto:msa-talk@minlists.org> To unsubscribe send an email to msa-talk-leave@minlists.org<mailto:msa-talk-leave@minlists.org>

Hi, y’all, We have a Keyance digital microscope that zooms from 45-200x. The optics are very clear, and it can be networked in a variety of ways. It does not yet have a petrographic stage available. It does have a software that allows 3D images of objects, and they freely share that software. I’ve looked, off and on, for a rotatable stage for it. I’ve been using a rotatable optical block for lasers as a “stage.” It’s supposed to hold a polarizer, but I just lay it flat. It’s really for publication-grade photos, not convenient petrographic study of a thin section. So this example is an “almost” answer. Cheers, Chris Tacker From: Perkins, Dexter via MSA-talk Sent: Friday, February 19, 2021 12:40 PM To: MSA list (msa-talk@minlists.org) Subject: [MSA-talk] mechanized microscope A colleague asked me the other day if there are any commercial petrographic microscopes that can be run remotely? I have never heard of such a thing. Focus, stage rotation, slide translation, etc. All would have to be done by servos of some sort. Have I missed it, or does such a thing not exist at all?

Hello Dexter: I bought a motorized point counter that permits you to move a thin section around the stage of a POL scope from a company in Europe that I thought was named Peloton. Cost about $6K. I tried to look up the company but only found exercise equipment. Ed van Hees Geological Home Phone 1-705-268-9947 Cell Phone 1-705-406-2356 On Sat, Feb 20, 2021 at 9:15 AM C Tacker via MSA-talk <msa-talk@minlists.org> wrote: > Hi, y’all, > > > > We have a Keyance digital microscope that zooms from 45-200x. The optics > are very clear, and it can be networked in a variety of ways. It does not > yet have a petrographic stage available. It does have a software that > allows 3D images of objects, and they freely share that software. > > > > I’ve looked, off and on, for a rotatable stage for it. I’ve been using a > rotatable optical block for lasers as a “stage.” It’s supposed to hold a > polarizer, but I just lay it flat. It’s really for publication-grade > photos, not convenient petrographic study of a thin section. > > > > So this example is an “almost” answer. > > > > Cheers, > > Chris Tacker > > > > > > > > *From: *Perkins, Dexter via MSA-talk <msa-talk@minlists.org> > *Sent: *Friday, February 19, 2021 12:40 PM > *To: *MSA list (msa-talk@minlists.org) <msa-talk@minlists.org> > *Subject: *[MSA-talk] mechanized microscope > > > > A colleague asked me the other day if there are any commercial > petrographic microscopes that can be run remotely? I have never heard of > such a thing. Focus, stage rotation, slide translation, etc. All would have > to be done by servos of some sort. Have I missed it, or does such a thing > not exist at all? > > > > > _______________________________________________ > MSA-talk mailing list -- msa-talk@minlists.org > To unsubscribe send an email to msa-talk-leave@minlists.org >

Hi, I looked into this for our petrology teaching during the pandemic and Zeiss has several options that get close. Their AxioImager allows for remote focussing, changing of lenses, moving the stage and even switching modes (PPL, XPL, TL, RL). I was told they used to offer a rotating stage insert, but that is no longer available, but there might be some second hand ones around. Unfortunately, we didn’t find the funds in the end to set this up for our teaching. We’re using high resolution thinsection scans at multiple polarizer rotations instead. Kind of works, but not the same as manipulating a microscope yourself. Best, Vincent van Hinsberg Associate Professor and Osisko Faculty Scholar Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University 3450 University Street, Montreal, H3A2A7, Quebec, Canada tel. +1 514 398 8112, email: Vincent.vanHinsberg@mcgill.ca website: http://eps.mcgill.ca/~hinsberg > On 19-Feb-2021, at 12:19 , Perkins, Dexter via MSA-talk <msa-talk@minlists.org> wrote: > > A colleague asked me the other day if there are any commercial petrographic microscopes that can be run remotely? I have never heard of such a thing. Focus, stage rotation, slide translation, etc. All would have to be done by servos of some sort. Have I missed it, or does such a thing not exist at all? > > _______________________________________________ > MSA-talk mailing list -- msa-talk@minlists.org <mailto:msa-talk@minlists.org> > To unsubscribe send an email to msa-talk-leave@minlists.org <mailto:msa-talk-leave@minlists.org>

Dear Dexter, I can confirm that some Zeiss microscopes have most of the features that you are looking for. I have the aforementioned AxioImager (M2.m) with a motorized xyz stage. I have a coded nosepiece but not the motorized nosepiece (meaning that I cannot change objective lenses without being physically present). However, I think you can buy this with a newly configured scope. We primarily use the motorized stage for thin section mapping. It is standard practice in my lab to map all of our thin sections in PPL, XPL, and RL prior to any analytical work. It has also been very helpful for mapping thin sections for students to observe remotely during this past year. It does have a video recording function, so I have also taken videos of rotating the circular stage that I swap in. Anything that is automated through the software can be used remotely through a remote desktop program. However, the price tag for such a system is typically on the order of ~$85k, which is likely beyond many institutions. Tyrone Rooney at MSU has developed a mechanized stage platform that one can build for a few hundred dollars and written software to go with it, and I know he is in the process of writing this up for publication (?) and distributing the instructions to any interested parties. Perhaps he is on this list and can elaborate. Cheers, Cici ______________________________________________________ Dr. Alicia Cruz-Uribe (she/her/hers) Edward Sturgis Grew Assistant Professor of Petrology and Mineralogy Graduate Coordinator, School of Earth and Climate Sciences University of Maine 5790 Bryand Global Sciences Center Orono, ME 04469 (207) 581-4494 alicia.cruzuribe@maine.edu On Sun, Feb 21, 2021 at 9:41 AM Vincent van Hinsberg via MSA-talk < msa-talk@minlists.org> wrote: > Hi, > > I looked into this for our petrology teaching during the pandemic and > Zeiss has several options that get close. Their AxioImager allows for > remote focussing, changing of lenses, moving the stage and even switching > modes (PPL, XPL, TL, RL). I was told they used to offer a rotating stage > insert, but that is no longer available, but there might be some second > hand ones around. Unfortunately, we didn’t find the funds in the end to set > this up for our teaching. We’re using high resolution thinsection scans at > multiple polarizer rotations instead. Kind of works, but not the same as > manipulating a microscope yourself. > > Best, > > * Vincent van Hinsberg* > > *Associate Professor and Osisko Faculty Scholar* > Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University > 3450 University Street, Montreal, H3A2A7, Quebec, Canada > tel. +1 514 398 8112, email: Vincent.vanHinsberg@mcgill.ca > <Vincent.vanHinsberg@mcgill.ca> > website: http://eps.mcgill.ca/~hinsberg > > On 19-Feb-2021, at 12:19 , Perkins, Dexter via MSA-talk < > msa-talk@minlists.org> wrote: > > A colleague asked me the other day if there are any commercial > petrographic microscopes that can be run remotely? I have never heard of > such a thing. Focus, stage rotation, slide translation, etc. All would have > to be done by servos of some sort. Have I missed it, or does such a thing > not exist at all? > > _______________________________________________ > MSA-talk mailing list -- msa-talk@minlists.org > To unsubscribe send an email to msa-talk-leave@minlists.org > > > _______________________________________________ > MSA-talk mailing list -- msa-talk@minlists.org > To unsubscribe send an email to msa-talk-leave@minlists.org >