What you care about in a microscope is what it lets you see, not
how big it makes things.
There are many ways to get added detail, such as staining, dark-field
illumination, phase contrast, differential interference contrast,
fluorescent markers. etc. But all of them will benefit from having good
high resolution objective lenses, and a sub-stage condenser.
For the price of a laptop computer, you can get a decent phase contrast
microscope: " http://store.amscope.com/t490a-pcs.html "
For a little less, you can convert the used $40 microscope to phase
contrast: "http://store.amscope.com/pcs.html"
Koehler illumination is nice for getting good photos:
and adding phase contrast usually gets you into the $1,000 range:
If you have the kilobuck, here is a good place to start:
You can get a good microscope that allows you to add things like
phase contrast and dark-field condensers later, when you budget
has recovered. But getting one that does not have the option of
upgrading means you take a big hit when you need the extra features.
Don't get a microscope that doesn't have a sub-stage condenser.
Those are toys.
I don't recommend getting a trinocular microscope or one with a built-in
camera, unless you have a lot of money to pay for convenience. I remove
the binocular eyepiece head from mine and attach my 18 megapixel
DSLR (Canon T2i) and get great results, and I can use the camera for
other things.
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Get a free science project every week! "http://scitoys.com/newsletter.html"On Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 10:26 PM, Patrik <patrikd@gmail.com> wrote:
Simon has a really nice section on selecting a microscope on his
website. I'm sure he'll be along shortly ;-)
http://micro.sci-toys.com/select
On Feb 26, 2:44 pm, Nathan McCorkle <nmz...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I definitely recommend a 1000X microscope, brand doesn't matter so
> much, the last 1000X 'scope I got, I paid U.S.D $40 via craigslist.
> There are smartphone apps that let you setup searches, and the app
> polls every few hours and alerts you when new items come up. You might
> have to wait a few weeks/months, but I think its one of the best ways
> to get a good deal.
>
> You can easily test a microscope's quality by placing your cell phone
> under the lens with the backlight on, the three colored pixels should
> be clear and not wavy/grainy (indicating bad lenses or dust in the
> optical path).
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 25, 2012 at 1:35 PM, Paul Sian <psian3...@gmail.com> wrote:> > For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/diybio?hl=en.
>
> > Been lurking here for a while soaking up the information.
>
> > I have a question on what microscope to get to start off with. I read about the 1000x power being good for seeing better details of cells is that something I should consider or would something will lesser power work? Also I want to get my two kids (6 and 8 years old) involved with this as well as the have expressed an interest.
>
> > So what is a good microscope to consider and what are some good sources? I don't want to go crazy overboard on the microscope but don't mind spending a little extra for quality.
>
> > Thanks
>
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DIYbio" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to diybio@googlegroups.com.
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to diybio+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
>
> --
> Nathan McCorkle
> Rochester Institute of Technology
> College of Science, Biotechnology/Bioinformatics
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