Some microscope companies advertise microscopes with unrealistically high magnifications.The resolution limit of a microscope is at about 1000x and any higher magnification will only result in a blurry image, or “empty magnification”.

Brand microscopes have several advantages over no-name microscopes – but these advantages are costly. In this video I give an overview of advantages and disadvantages of the different microscope types. I am not affiliated with any microscope company (I just happen to own two Olympus microscopes, and therefore use them as an example).

I made a slide ringing table and make a dry mount with spruce pollen. Spruce trees make large amounts of pollen every few years. 2018 was such a year and much pollen collected on the ground, which I then put under the microscope. For making the slide, I used a concave slide and nail polish to glue the cover glass to the slide. The slide ringing table was made by gluing a CD on a fidget spinner.

A biofilm are microorganisms that grow on a surface. Here I look at two samples that I collected from a fountain. The slimy layer on wet rocks contain a multitude of algae and other microorganisms. Scratching off the biofilm, however, can also damage these organisms, so care should be taken.

The insects can be observed well with a stereo microscope. The insects were captured and anesthetized with Ethyl Acetate.

I was again doing some microscopy of pond water.

Shell of a butterfly pupa under the microscope using two different mounting media. The mounting medium used (water or Euparal) can have a significant impact on the appearance of the specimen. Also the illumination technique used (Bright field or dark field) can have a significant impact.

Paper-wrapped microscope slides were common in the 19th centruy. Here I try to rediscover how it is done.

Here I give you a behind the scenes look of the Microbehunter Youtube Channel.

Here I show you how to combine (stitch) several pictures taken with the microscope into one larger high resolution image.