Microscope

Factual Questions
1

I would like to purchase a microscope, just for a hobby and personal interest, preferablely one between $50-250, could anyone make suggestions on what to look for in a good microscope, what is known to be reliable and where I might be able to learn more about maintaining one? Thanks.

2

Check out Edmund Scientific. Their microscopes have excellent quality optics. Here’s the one I bought a few years ago, which I still have.

3

Another place to have a gander is American Science and Surplus.

Although, at just under $100, Edmund’s Beginner Microscope Kit looks like a nice deal for a hobby scope, especially as it includes a case.

There’s not much to maintaining a microscope. The “biggie” is keep it clean and dust-free. If the lenses get goobered, clean them with the same lens cleaning solution and tissues you’d use on a camera.

4
      • Warning: Opinion Ahead!! … Edmund -generally- sells good stuff, but they charge proudly for it. Since you’ve got a web connection anyway, Google around for labaratory surplus, you might be able to find a better quality used labaratory/industrial-grade one for low $$$. Before you buy anything, just be sure to search around for any places still selling parts/service for the piece you are interested in, to make some educated guess as to if spare parts and service are still available.
        ~
5

If you are willing to possibly spend a tad more, I highly recommend going for a model with a mechanised stage. It adds quite a lot to ease of use, and makes finding things on a slide a breeze.

6

Starman, the one I linked to has a mechanical stage, calibrated in millimeters with a vernier.

7

Sorry, I should have checked the link. My mistake.

8

Hey, that one from Edmund looks just like mine. Only I got mine from Harbor Freight Tools for $89.

I see that it’s still there, but the price has rizen to $120 over the years. Worth far more, and the stage has XY vernier drive. No zoom, but a good collection of lenses and eyepieces. The instructions weren’t english, so it could be an import originally intended for chinese med students.

http://amasci.com/amateur/microsco.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/taf/DisplayItem.taf?ItemNumber=33042

At one point I duct-taped a little $50 CCD security camera on the eyepiece and lit the scope with a red LED (near perfect point source, no heat to kill microbes!) Watched the image on a big monitor. Chase paramecia around.

9

It is very similar, bbeaty, and I suspect the frame is from the same OEM, but it’s the optics that make or break a 'scope. Mine from Edmund features a 100X oil-immersion objective, rather than the non-oil type your link indicates. At the higher magnification ranges, an [url=http://www.microscopyu.com/tutorials/java/objectives/immersion/]oil-immersion objective** increases the resolving power by raising the refractive index of the space between the subject and the objective primary.