Type Algae? Microscopic ID

[DVR]

Microscopic image of algae next to a single grain of sand that has been persistent in my tank for awhile now. This algae is mostly affecting my sand bed. The edge of the grain of sand is the dark shadow on the left of the image.
Pretty sure the thin one w tubes coming out of each end (just right of the center top image) is a diatom.

This appears brown to dark brown on the sand bed and looks like diatoms to the naked eye.

Still learning my new microscope so if the image is not the best that's my excuse....

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Those pictures are excellent. Nice work.
@reeferfoxx @mccarol. @Twillard

 

[reeferfoxx]

Those pictures are excellent. Nice work.
@reeferfoxx @mccarol. @Twillard

You tagged them wrong!
@mcarroll @twilliard

These images are amazing! Almost look embossed? But so clear. What scope is this? I love it!

And yes, diatoms is all.

 

[mcarroll]

Thanks for the tag and re-tag! Holy moly what a photo!

Forget the "microscopic ID" I want an ID on that microscope!!!!

 

[DVR]

Thanks all.

The microscope is an Amscope T340B. I am using my Canon T2i dslr with the Canon adapter made for the scope....

 

[mcarroll]

Beautiful photos for just a little over 3¢!

I'm mostly ignorant on microscopes but would like to get one. In a nutshell, what is important that distinguishes this scope (it looks ordinary from what little I know) from the ones the same company sells for about 1¢?

Does the high end camera probably make a huge difference in what we're looking at in the pic vs what we'd see "in person"? I'm sure based on cost, the scope is an accessory for the camera – not the other way around.

 

[DVR]

This is my first microscope and I bought it based on reviews. From what I've read the difference between this one and the less expensive is in the casting (more metal parts) and the mechanism for xy movement, focusing, etc is better built and more accurate.. @twilliard recommended the lesser version of this scope as a bare minimum to get started and I just went up a model or two from that recommendation.

As far as the camera (t2i), it is not very high end, but I believe it probably produces better images than the usb cams that are sometimes bundled with these scopes. Views through the eyepiece do look slightly better to me than the images produced from the camera. I am seeing some chromatic aberration (blue fringing) in the photos that I do not see when looking through the eyepiece. This could be due to the scopes objective lens (and camera brings it out) or the camera adapter I am using as it has a 2x lens incorporated. I am thinking it may be the adapter. I will be trying out an adapter without the 2x lens soon, so we will see.

For the money spent I could not be happier.

 

[mcarroll]

40X-2500X LED Trinocular Compound Microscope w 3D Two-Layer Mechanical Stage

$225 seems like a great price and it seems to have all the necessary features....is it just a plastic-y version of the T350B linked above though??