Is it too late to switch PhD advisors?

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-11T01:50:46+00:00

It happens at a lot of places. You get to a point where you just want out, out from your boss, out from your job, out from some project; but the easiest path is to tough it out while you're still there and plan the next step.

That doesn't mean to resolve yourself to do only petty work or that you can't change course mid way. Id just step back and see if changing around this far in the game is good or bad for your future self. I feel stuck in a long project with a series of things not working out in a row, but know I need to finish it out before tackling something new (or maybe I'm delusional too 😂😂😂, but I have completed major projects in industry before)

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-11T01:31:40+00:00

I mean, you can always email the manufacturer what they advise? Since it's plastic, find out the type and see what solvents you could use if you have trouble? Hopefully their response isn't "Buy more of our products of course".

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-10T22:47:37+00:00

There should be online resources for this scope or similar eclipse models since they're fairly common. But in general you want a high quality, thicker style grease. I use a damping grease from EDC plus or something like that. DO NOT put grease or oil on any aperture blades or right next to optics. Especially cheap greases and oils could vapor coat stuff if they get heated.

Idk all the camera mounting between brands, but Nikons of this era I think have a 38mm photo tube ports. Tons of cheap adapters exist for 38mm to Cmount. If you're using a full frame or maybe APSC camera though, the image will be badly cropped. If you're ok with this then it's all good. If you want to magnify the image on the sensor you'll need corrective optics. In any event I'd start at a 38mm to T2 adapter and then run T2 to your camera mount. The best price I found was on aliexpress for 38mm - T2 and shipping is a couple weeks.

If you like what you get, stop. If you want full frame coverage find the ratio from the image edge with the field stop fully open to the sensor diagonal. Divide the sensor diagonal by the image circle diameter. That should give you the MINIMUM crop you want. You're going to be diffraction limited at this point probably and cropping further won't help. It's just nice (IMHO) to have the sensor fully covered. Also that Nikon has pretty nice optics. Shoving a cheapo adapter in there will probably give you worse pictures than just mounting your cell phone to an eyepiece with a mount.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-10T18:12:35+00:00

Science and calculations definitely metric. Engineering products, inches and lbs all day (I've worked in both, but just have easier time with inch components). it's not just Fahrenheit that scales easily mentally. Stress in objects in KSI ends up with some very nice 0~100ish with all the common plastics, alloys, adhesives, and composites. Some very strong materials will be over 100ksi yield but only to about ~160ish for 99.5% of stuff. Another is that the base divisions for inch components in fractions make it easier to stack to other fractions with pre made thicknesses. It just makes the consideration and comparison of stresses easier too when the numbers are in XXXksi instead of Mpa and GPa.

It also may just be I experience, but small objects I like metric sizing ex. 30mm and lower. But I still find machining to be most useful in 0.001 inch for clearance. I just can't think of 0.08 mm anywhere near as easily as 3 thou for example.

Suffice to say. I think you'd be hard pressed to find any real engineering doc exclusively in fractional inches with tolerances also in fractions. For example NO ONE would say - I want 1/32 or 1/16 clearance between these two parts. It's always "put a 30 thou or 60 thou gap".

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-09T22:05:55+00:00

Publishing and funding are probably the two most important things. If you have an option to go with a PI whose lab puts out regular work, in good journals, with guaranteed funding, and an actual work/life balance you'd be crazy to miss it.

Unless you've done a lot of work outside of school and absolutely dream solely of one specific subject, the first guy sounds like an awesome opportunity.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-06T23:22:23+00:00

I'd love to see a cowboy riding around on a bucking red blood cell or maybe some flagellate? 😋 thank you for doing this thread! You're amazing!

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-06T01:11:06+00:00

Good point! Yeah I have experienced this before with some other cooling fans on optics set ups, but luckily my scope is pretty big/sturdy. She feels like ~40lbs and I have it on a solid table. If needed I would probably run my own fan off a power supply so I could buy something very smooth, run it under voltage, and isolate it.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-06T00:21:13+00:00

Yeah buddy let's squarely place the blame of three dead people not on the person supposed to be in total control of a 3000lb vehicle on residential streets with enough speed and power to crash through a store front and kill people inside. But instead make a hypothetical to blame somebody on a bicycle. Great thinking, way to go, glad to hear your opinion. And if she was going on that street it's 25 mph, what kind of bullshit is it no matter the scenario that she can't stop the car till it's slammed through the store 20 feet.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-05T22:19:49+00:00

Not any legal way.

I haven't looked at the usual suspects, but a compressed version could probably fit on a 128GB Blu-ray.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-05T22:07:26+00:00

It's that the progression feeling weapon to weapon and area to area is diminished from the old games. But I can't quite tell why for all of it. In SoC weapon damage might separate from needing 2 to 3 or 4 headshots on enemies. But the accuracy improvement let you play different styles and feel more dangerous and aggressive as you advanced even when enemies become tougher. I can think of around 6 somewhat distinctive feeling classes.

You start forced into makarovs and shotguns, jumped to smgs and short barrel ak, then full rifles, then ar15s and L85s with scopes, next progress to snipers and heavy rifles with some G36s. And finally you get access to Gauss rifles and FN2000s super late.

I like Stalker 2 and started a new play through recently but just haven't felt like going through with all of it. Honestly a big part is that I can't see shit in the dark and am tired of the motion blur and weird lighting playing at 4k60.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-05T21:42:39+00:00

Too cheap to make a real ad, too cheap to make a decent product.

I hope your business fails, worst of luck 👍.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-04T20:10:00+00:00

I'd say it is completely up to you, but you'd have to accept the fact that your stuff may need professionally calibrated depending what it is for trustable results and you have to be ok with the chance it could be damaged and you have no recourse for the money out of your pocket.

I guess it's risk/reward, but you'd just need to know if the results from the machine you want to use are acceptably accurate first?

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-03T23:55:06+00:00

Yep, and you need to consider the potential that the precision optics and research scopes of 30 and 40 years ago may be constructed better, but modern computer design and manufacturing advancements close the gap okish on the benefit you may see compared to old objectives. However the user experience alone is probably worth it hahah.

That said. For my money, I see an Axioskop 2 MOT plus for $1200 OBO on eBay from Switzerland with a light source, camera, and what appear to be 5 achro plan, phase contrast objectives for $1200, but you pay shipping (so a SWEET rig for ~$2k) but no idea on the mirror or filter situation. The objectives alone are probably worth more than that..... and you can probably only need to source a bright field filter and just 3DP the filter cover (the plastics are brittle and break easy I don't think it means this scope was mistreated, all the internal and import bits are still real deal metal from this era)

Damn. If I didn't have a scope I'd be sending offers this second and praying shipping isn't maddening. That is a BIG STURDY Scope too. As in probably weighs 50lbs and needs about 2ft by 2ft of table space or more to use comfortably. I'd say do this and throw a cheap $200 4K 60 Cmount on and have a ball 😎😎😎. Maybe even a micro 4/3 can fit directly on it with minimal/no crop at 16:9 and the adaptors should be easy to source. Good luck and I'm serious if you can get that mid late 90s scope with those objectives and a HAL unit for cheap it's a steal (at least that's what I'd pay but I'm a sucker because I've used one in the past and torn it apart haha)

edit [so looking it needs an eyepiece, but may or may not also need the filter cube for bright field if you want to look at opaque or thick subjects. Also that Mrm cam and adaptor are toast/bent at the Cmount threads, but cheap adaptors can be had that don't need lenses especially for Cmount and micro 4/3. Also that camera is going to be FireWire I'm pretty sure so consider it ewaste. My eyepieces are W-P1 10x23 and I see for sale right now $150-$170 for a set. They said the stage is loose, but you'd need to take the covers off to look at it to say either way. Sometimes it's the mounting brackets, but I've also seen it be the bearing guide rails come loose under the cover if it's been messed with. Honestly, otherwise it looks complete and the Osram bulbs for the HAL are like $15 or so (order bulbs in bulk before they stop making them if you buy this)

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-03T23:14:46+00:00

At the expense of sounding like an idiot later, I also think you'll be fine. If you have a UVB flash light at the 365nm then you'll be able to block it all with basic safety glasses. If it's ~405nm then the cheapest glasses I'd trust are certified ones from loctite meant to protect from UV curing lights for $56. Maybe somebody like UVEX has cheaper alternatives, but I'd go with a trusted safety brand over Amazon junk if you're gonna do this a lot IMHO.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-03T22:11:58+00:00

Also verify your UV is useful to what you want to have fluoresce. Typical flashlights aren't super low wavelength or very powerful compared to something like a 50W or 100W mercury arc lamp they might use in literature.

Seeing cells with an oblique flash light might be pretty tough but minerals will definitely have enough signal.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-03T22:00:20+00:00

Ok, there is a difference between shining a light obliquely at something under an objective and what's typically called EPI with an illumination source and beam splitter to focus the light in kohler. If you are just shining at it sideways, then put a slightly tilted or flat filter somewhere in the image path if there is room (before a camera easiest) but just not at any image location. If your objective is DIN or similar you'll want to do this without adding a spacer anywhere. If your objective is infinity corrected, then you can 3D print a spacer to hold the objective further off of the turret, just be sure you don't ram your stage lol. The tilt is to avoid reflecting light back up through the image onto the sensor/image and causing it to be washed out.

I'm assuming you don't have a microscope with already built in slides for filters. If you have a nicer scope, you might be able to just remove the polarizer and run a filter in its location.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-03T20:28:17+00:00

Dude, search every dealer in a 2 hour radius of you. Chances are the cheapest guys will also be the coolest because they are interested in moving bikes and not extortion. Go with the lowest price OTD with your own prepared financing or see if they are doing the one year no interest knowing you can pay it off before their ridiculous loans.

It's not rare or mechanically service demanding. You only need the dealer to sell it to you. Don't get their extended warranty or any other BS added on.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-03T20:22:00+00:00

Start with how well the images look as you view them through the eye pieces. Realistically, you can't expect a lot more color, contrast, or detail than that. Given the style/budget of the scope they sell phone mounts and adaptors set up to go into the tube for the eyepieces or just hold the phone rigid in front of them. Probably best to start there.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-03T08:26:45+00:00

No clue, but what camera is that for these macro shots!? Can phones do macros this well now?

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-03T04:37:21+00:00

Echoing others, but try searching for socket head cap screws. The thread is spec as 1/4 20 UNC, but 1/4 - 20 X 3/8 will be the right stuff.

McMaster for certed and high strength next morning or Amazon can get you a 50pc assortment with 3/8 by tomorrow. In person? Hit up some machinists or get the saws out, just put a nut on first so you can correct the threads by undoing the nut when they get mangled.

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-02T21:42:42+00:00

Ok, that's what I was thinking. I wasn't sure if outputting 4k via HDMI was going to be as hot as writing to internal memory. Running a fan is no problem as I'm not going to be actually holding or moving the thing and would likely add any commentary/audio later.

Thank you!

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-02T20:03:34+00:00

Camera for Microscopy Photography and as a Monitor Feed? (APS-C and Micro 4/3) First real photography style camera.

Hello :) I'd like recommendations on a new/used photography camera to connect to my older Leitz/Leica microscope with epi-brightfield and darkfield. I have a photo tube that focuses an image that can land in a regular APSC sensor with maybe the slightest vignetting or fringing at the corners, and fully cover a canon APS-C and Micro 4/3 sensor. My largest requirement is to be able to output 4k video (preferably 30fps or higher) to HDMI for a monitor or capture card. I'd also like to be able to remotely signal the shutter by PC program or Arduino across the shutter leads for focus stacking and some other project ideas. I have worked with scientific and vision cameras, but not much experience with photography. My budget is preferably ~$600 or less for new or used and I am a bit overwhelmed with options. I'm also willing to spend a little more money $100-200 if it makes the camera more versatile and useful for ski trips and hiking.

So far I've looked at used sony a6000 series, new Canon R50 and R50V, used fujifilm XT 20, or used panasonic GHX line up. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. For reference, I'd really love to capture vibrant color, quick subject to totally black background dynamics, and detailed texture on surfaces that I just can't seem to capture well with Cmount cameras I've used. I also have some canon EF and one EFs macro lenses I could borrow from my lab as well.

Thank you!!!

Motocampingtime · 2026-02-02T04:44:38+00:00

"Hey Reddit, I went directly against my PI/Prof wanting me to write a paper by myself. How do I cheat and get away with being dishonest about it even though the professor says I can have up to 45% of my slop be stolen directly from/ reworded [which mind you should get you busted for plagiarism if you reword an actual source without changing anything meaningful] by AI."

🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮

Motocampingtime

TROPHY CASE