# Suggestions for starter microscopy **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2019, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-starter-microscopy/845649 "2019-12-31T02:59:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ferris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ferris/32/11573_2.png) [@Ferris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferris)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-starter-microscopy/845649/1 "2019-12-31T02:59:27Z")
I’m considering buying a microscope in the new year - mainly to be used for examining and photographing things like plants and insects as a hobby. I see that ‘handheld’ microscopes are pretty cheap, but would still prefer something more stable and robust - so initially looking at a compound microscope. Happy to work with preparing slides if needed. My main questions are: 1. Is it better to buy a digital microscope, or an optical one plus a smartphone adaptor? I see the kind of digital scopes in my price range (say $400-800) having a lower resolution than my phone, but there may be other optical issues with using an adapter that I don’t know about. 2. How easy is it to switch in a polarising filter to look at things like crystals and fibres in each type (digital/optical)? And apart from a polariser, which other filters (if any) are most useful for the ‘nature hobbyist’? I understand that, like astronomy, any claims of higher magnification don’t translate into a particular microscope being ‘better’, but I’d be prepared to sacrifice some quality in order to be able to achieve a decent mag (e.g. 400x plus). If you think of me as having the experience and enthusiasm of a varsity freshman, but with slightly greater financial resources, that’s probably accurate enough. As always, extremely grateful for advice. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-starter-microscopy/845649/2 "2019-12-31T03:45:23Z")
For things like plants and insects–where you don’t need extreme magnification–you are better off with a [stereo/dissecting microscope](https://www.amscope.com/stereo-microscopes.html). (400x is super overkill for that.) Some are trinocular, having a camera mount that you can use while still looking through it. [This](https://www.amscope.com/stereo-microscopes/new-7x-45x-dual-lit-6w-led-trinocular-stereo-zoom-micro.html) looks like a good option at the top of your price range. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-starter-microscopy/845649/3 "2019-12-31T03:50:58Z")
Hm–I see your price ceiling is $800, not $400. For that, you could get a same or better trinoc _and_ a pretty good one of the cameras they carry. Or a trinoc, a cheaper digital camera, and a pretty good student traditional scope for if you really do want to look at individual cells on mounted slides made from tiny slivers of plants and insects. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-starter-microscopy/845649/4 "2020-01-01T13:34:03Z")
There are excellent wonders to behold throughout the size spectrum below what you can see with the naked eye. I think you basically have to add several low magnification devices in the 3 to 20 X range, available in excellent quality for a small incremental increase in your total budget. There are also great books out there about how they work and how to use them optimally. Having digital capability, I think, depends on two issues. 1) if you need vision correction for astigmatism, getting your glasses into the optical path without making things more difficult can be a big problem, which using a computer screen fixes; 2) keeping images of what you saw. ---
**Author:** ![albino\_manatee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/albino_manatee/32/2_2.png) [@albino\_manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/albino_manatee)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-starter-microscopy/845649/5 "2020-01-01T14:21:38Z")
my nephew _(entomologist)_ chose a compound digital unit for working at home … he never looked back. since you’re a hobbyist … i’d suggest the following website to help offer issues to consider: [spoiler][How to Use Microscope – AmScope](https://www.amscope.com/how-to-use-microscope) [https://www.amscope.com/how-to-choose-microscope[/spoiler]](https://www.amscope.com/how-to-choose-microscope%5B/spoiler%5D) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-starter-microscopy/845649/6 "2020-01-01T16:09:23Z")
I apologize for the brag, but we just purchased one of [these](https://www.keyence.com/products/microscope/digital-microscope/vhx-7000/index_pr.jsp) for our lab. Cool toy. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-starter-microscopy/845649/7 "2020-01-02T14:18:04Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I apologize for the brag, but we just purchased one of [these](https://www.keyence.com/products/microscope/digital-microscope/vhx-7000/index_pr.jsp) for our lab. Cool toy. comes with it’s own joystick I see. You are certainly bragging-but damn that is nice! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-starter-microscopy/845649/8 "2020-01-02T23:23:15Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I apologize for the brag, but we just purchased one of [these](https://www.keyence.com/products/microscope/digital-microscope/vhx-7000/index_pr.jsp) for our lab. Cool toy. My god. You bought it from Keyence? Don’t their salespeople hound you mercilessly until death? I bend over backwards to find competitors just because those people are so much WORK to know.