All microscopes have their limits. Obtaining a good image at the highest resolution requires careful adjustment of microscope and sample material. But without contrast nothing would be visible. Here we pushed our tungsten cryo-SEM (Jeol 6490LA + Gatan Alto2500) to high magnifications by applying a shadowed sputtercoating of platinum, with nitrogen gas feed instead of the usual argon. These Lactobacillus rhamnosusbacteria (kindly provided by Marco van den Berg, dsm-firmenich) were freeze-fractured and slightly sublimated, followed by 45° tilted sputtercoating. Note the very well-preserved bacterial capsule.