My first microscope

[Coldfire]

I'm about to graduate with a Cell and Molecular degree and my family/gf are buying me a microscope that I can financially contribute towards. I will very likely be pursuing a Masters and I'd like something I can use at home. The requirement is that it can't be from China or I lose my brothers financial support. I have used numerous microscopes so I'm familiar with function and parts, but I don't know how to pick the best for the money. I'd like to spend under $1000 and preferably $600-800, but I'd gladly spend extra for something special. My main interests are plants and fungi, but I have taken microbiology/lab and that excites me as well. Can you all help me pick out some good ones off Ebay, here, or other sites you may know of? Someday I would like an inverted, but all that I have found seem to be missing parts or a working light within my price range.

[dtsh]

Are you looking for a stereo or a compound microscope?
I find that I use my stereo a lot more than my compound for general microscopy. With the stereo I can choose between 7x-80x, which is quite an effective range. 80x is enough to see many plant cells, such as the Spirogyra algae, but the lower magnifications allows much easier examination of small structures and details. Different makes and models will have differing magnification ranges, some with zoom and some, such as mine, without.

If you're leaning more toward cellular or algae, I would suggest a compound.

In your price range I don't think there are many, if any, new units available that are not manufactured in China, but there are a number of very, very nice microscopes of both types available on the used market from a variety of nations.

If you can provide more examples of what you hope to do with the microscope I think you will find an abundance of suggestions for instruments that might fit your needs and in your price range. If you are patient and looking at some older, but still very useful microscopes you could likely get both a compound and stereo within that budget.

[MicroBob]

How does you brother like german, japanese, english, french, hungarian, polish and russian microscopes?
In your price range you can find a really nice microscope on the used market.

[Coldfire]

I'm going to get both types of microscopes eventually, but I'd like to start with a compound. All the things I could use a stereo for I've been using a pocket one and essentially a extra magnified jewelers loop. I'm planning on getting a used over a new product anyways

My brother is okay with all of those except maybe Russian lol. He just specifically said nothing from China and to stick to US allies.. Though I swear China is an allie. I'd prefer German or Japanese purely from my interest in those too countries products, but I haven't seen any of the others' products.

I am not exactly sure what I plan to use it for. I will be looking at mushroom spores, bacteria I culture, and just other random things I can think of. If I could find both a stereo and compound for the price, that would be also be great, but I don't mind waiting on the stereo if there's something special I find as a compound.

[Coldfire]

Are you looking for a stereo or a compound microscope?
I find that I use my stereo a lot more than my compound for general microscopy. With the stereo I can choose between 7x-80x, which is quite an effective range. 80x is enough to see many plant cells, such as the Spirogyra algae, but the lower magnifications allows much easier examination of small structures and details. Different makes and models will have differing magnification ranges, some with zoom and some, such as mine, without.

If you're leaning more toward cellular or algae, I would suggest a compound.

In your price range I don't think there are many, if any, new units available that are not manufactured in China, but there are a number of very, very nice microscopes of both types available on the used market from a variety of nations.

If you can provide more examples of what you hope to do with the microscope I think you will find an abundance of suggestions for instruments that might fit your needs and in your price range. If you are patient and looking at some older, but still very useful microscopes you could likely get both a compound and stereo within that budget.

I'm not sure if I am supposed to quote you in order to notify you or not, so I am doing this just in case

[dtsh]

I check most threads, but I didn't see any particular questions I felt I could help with, so hadn't commented further. I sometimes find it hard to get started asking questions because I don't know what questions to ask, so Im going to make some assuptions here, I hope you don't mind.

I don't have an enormous amount of experience here. I've had a microscope for about 20 years, but had used it intermittently at best for most of those years, only becoming more active in the last few years . So my take is largely that of someone who's been active only a couple of years and with very limited experience in the number of different microscopes I have used. We all start at the same place, ignorance, so don't be afraid to ask questions; this community is fantastic in it's incredible depth and breadth of knowledge and desire to share. The more you ask and engage, the more likely you are to get responses that will help guide you to what things you need to figure out.

So, my thoughts on getting a microscope...

None of my scopes as yet are anything fancy and most have damage to one part or another, but they all function as intended. I don't believe I spent more than $250 (adjusted) for any of them individually and most were bought for less. I would not advise going this route, but it is nice to discover if something is interesting without a large expenditure of cash up front; with your budget, I don't think this is a concern and I think if you choose carefully you will be able to find fine examples of both microscopes and still have money left over for slides, coverglasses, and other accoutrements.

For a compound microscope, I would recommend thinking about the differences between 160mm and infinity as I think there are advantages for both. The 160 gives you a lot of opportunity to experiment with different setups and the chance to mix and match from different vendors, but infinity has it's advantages too. As if that's not enough, there are other fixed lengths too, though less common. From what I have seen one can get great optics in either platform, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to recommend one over the other. Do you have a preference here for fixed length vs infinity?

A mechanical stage, with knobs to move the slide under the objective, is to me an absolute requirement. If a compound microscope doesn't have that, I don't want it. When it comes to stages, there are fixed stages and rotating stages too and a pretty wide variety of designs for holding the slide in place. Is there a particular stage or slide holder that you like better than others?

Most of the nice instruments will support koehler illumination, it's something you want to understand as it will make the difference between an image and a good image (to the eye or camera) so you'll need to know what to look for. Once you really understand it, setting it up will only take a few moments, which is good because you'll probably be doing it a lot. Some older scopes and some of the basic models don't have it and I don't feel it affects cost enough to consider omitting it. If you want some info about it, ask and I'll link you the things I have found useful.

Speaking of images, if you think you might have an interest in photography it's probably worth getting something with a trinocular head. I have been satisfied with afocal, but imagaing isn't something that holds a lot of interest for me, but I do enjoy seeing the images others post. Any photography experience you are hoping to utilize? Any interest in capturing images or video at all?

In regard to stereo microscopes, most will have a zoom option, but I personally have been very happy with my AO Cycloptic which doesn't. It has 5 fixed magnifications, which, combined with different eyepieces and barlows, provides an impressive (to me) range. It is by far my most used microscope, working up into the lower range of the compound microscope. I have used it to observe tiny pond life, insects (probably the bulk of my observing), plants, coins, electronics, the list really goes on and on. The stereo microscope excells with specimens that aren't both translucent and flat.

Brand choice will depend on where you are to an extent as some brands are more common in some areas than others. I am guessing you are in North America, so for instance you will find a lot more American Optical (AO) microscopes on the market than LOMO, Leitz, or Vickers. Since it's likely that replacement parts will be canibalized from other scopes, I think it's important to consider the availability of the scope in general. If it's not a common model, parts or expansions might be hard to come by and probably more expensive when you do find them. Are there any particular brands or models you've seen thus far which seem to offer more of the features you want?

I think there are deals to be found for those looking, but often one gets what one paid for. If you like tinkering, it might be worth your time to buy 2 or 3 scratch and dent scopes of the same make and cobble them together. If you just want it to work, I would consider finding the models you think fit your needs best and when you're ready, see if someone here has one for sale. You'll pay a bit more, but you've got a better chance of getting something that doesn't need repairs right away. As always, caveat emptor! I highly recommend reading the brochures of any models you are considering.

You might note I offered no advice on what models to look for, I don't feel I have the experience to suggest any, only features I have found that I think are useful (koehler illuminaiton, a mechanical stage, how many objectives it will hold, parts availability, etc).

[MicroBob]

The fungus guys always like 100:1 oil immersion objectives. So this should be included and is with many used microscopes. For plant observations you might like to have a cylinder/hand microtome and blade holder to make sections from fresh or fixed material and stain them ( I attatch a photo of a croos section through a broom (Genista) twig, stained with Wacker W3A stain I made yesterday).

In the USA very good microscopes were made and there is a good used market for them, you might look for American Optical or Bausch & Lomb.

Bob

[Coldfire]

I check most threads, but I didn't see any particular questions I felt I could help with, so hadn't commented further. I sometimes find it hard to get started asking questions because I don't know what questions to ask, so Im going to make some assuptions here, I hope you don't mind.

I don't have an enormous amount of experience here. I've had a microscope for about 20 years, but had used it intermittently at best for most of those years, only becoming more active in the last few years . So my take is largely that of someone who's been active only a couple of years and with very limited experience in the number of different microscopes I have used. We all start at the same place, ignorance, so don't be afraid to ask questions; this community is fantastic in it's incredible depth and breadth of knowledge and desire to share. The more you ask and engage, the more likely you are to get responses that will help guide you to what things you need to figure out.

So, my thoughts on getting a microscope...

None of my scopes as yet are anything fancy and most have damage to one part or another, but they all function as intended. I don't believe I spent more than $250 (adjusted) for any of them individually and most were bought for less. I would not advise going this route, but it is nice to discover if something is interesting without a large expenditure of cash up front; with your budget, I don't think this is a concern and I think if you choose carefully you will be able to find fine examples of both microscopes and still have money left over for slides, coverglasses, and other accoutrements.

For a compound microscope, I would recommend thinking about the differences between 160mm and infinity as I think there are advantages for both. The 160 gives you a lot of opportunity to experiment with different setups and the chance to mix and match from different vendors, but infinity has it's advantages too. As if that's not enough, there are other fixed lengths too, though less common. From what I have seen one can get great optics in either platform, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to recommend one over the other. Do you have a preference here for fixed length vs infinity?

A mechanical stage, with knobs to move the slide under the objective, is to me an absolute requirement. If a compound microscope doesn't have that, I don't want it. When it comes to stages, there are fixed stages and rotating stages too and a pretty wide variety of designs for holding the slide in place. Is there a particular stage or slide holder that you like better than others?

Most of the nice instruments will support koehler illumination, it's something you want to understand as it will make the difference between an image and a good image (to the eye or camera) so you'll need to know what to look for. Once you really understand it, setting it up will only take a few moments, which is good because you'll probably be doing it a lot. Some older scopes and some of the basic models don't have it and I don't feel it affects cost enough to consider omitting it. If you want some info about it, ask and I'll link you the things I have found useful.

Speaking of images, if you think you might have an interest in photography it's probably worth getting something with a trinocular head. I have been satisfied with afocal, but imagaing isn't something that holds a lot of interest for me, but I do enjoy seeing the images others post. Any photography experience you are hoping to utilize? Any interest in capturing images or video at all?

In regard to stereo microscopes, most will have a zoom option, but I personally have been very happy with my AO Cycloptic which doesn't. It has 5 fixed magnifications, which, combined with different eyepieces and barlows, provides an impressive (to me) range. It is by far my most used microscope, working up into the lower range of the compound microscope. I have used it to observe tiny pond life, insects (probably the bulk of my observing), plants, coins, electronics, the list really goes on and on. The stereo microscope excells with specimens that aren't both translucent and flat.

Brand choice will depend on where you are to an extent as some brands are more common in some areas than others. I am guessing you are in North America, so for instance you will find a lot more American Optical (AO) microscopes on the market than LOMO, Leitz, or Vickers. Since it's likely that replacement parts will be canibalized from other scopes, I think it's important to consider the availability of the scope in general. If it's not a common model, parts or expansions might be hard to come by and probably more expensive when you do find them. Are there any particular brands or models you've seen thus far which seem to offer more of the features you want?

I think there are deals to be found for those looking, but often one gets what one paid for. If you like tinkering, it might be worth your time to buy 2 or 3 scratch and dent scopes of the same make and cobble them together. If you just want it to work, I would consider finding the models you think fit your needs best and when you're ready, see if someone here has one for sale. You'll pay a bit more, but you've got a better chance of getting something that doesn't need repairs right away. As always, caveat emptor! I highly recommend reading the brochures of any models you are considering.

You might note I offered no advice on what models to look for, I don't feel I have the experience to suggest any, only features I have found that I think are useful (koehler illuminaiton, a mechanical stage, how many objectives it will hold, parts availability, etc).

I'm not familiar with the 160mm and infinity options, but I have heard of and used Koehler illumination, so I have been making sure the non-inverted I looked at had it. My original purchase was a trinocular with the camera, but it was Chinese and I'm struggling to find any with a decent trinocular cameras on anything from other countries. The cameras for the Chinese company ran several hundred dollars.. My phone camera takes amazing pictures being a Pixel, so I can manage without a camera for now if need be. I am very much considering getting a compound and stereo because the more I think about it, the more useful the stereo would be for certain plants I grow. I am in North America, you are right. US brands would probably be the smarter choice, but I'm absolutely ready for a project of putting multiple scopes together. I build computers and work on my car, so I probably have the ability if the parts are all there. I haven't seen any brands that stood out regarding features I want yet, but I've mainly been looking at inverted microscopes lately.

[Coldfire]

The fungus guys always like 100:1 oil immersion objectives. So this should be included and is with many used microscopes. For plant observations you might like to have a cylinder/hand microtome and blade holder to make sections from fresh or fixed material and stain them ( I attatch a photo of a croos section through a broom (Genista) twig, stained with Wacker W3A stain I made yesterday).

In the USA very good microscopes were made and there is a good used market for them, you might look for American Optical or Bausch & Lomb.

Bob

I'm definitely interested in the oil immersion objective and function. That stain is definitely awesome, so I will look more into that. Both of those brands have come up in my search and I've found a few that I liked, but I was not confident in my knowledge to purchase yet.

[PeteM]

Where did you finish your microbiology degree? Many schools' grad programs have someone either officially or unofficially tending to the university's scopes. Could be that person could advise and even show you some of the options.

Schools will also make a past fleet of microscopes surplus, as more and more of them get beaten up and they replace the entire lot. Could be you could get a great deal on one of the survivors - a still-very-good microscope put into surplus inventory?

[Coldfire]

Where did you finish your microbiology degree? Many schools' grad programs have someone either officially or unofficially tending to the university's scopes. Could be that person could advise and even show you some of the options.

Schools will also make a past fleet of microscopes surplus, as more and more of them get beaten up and they replace the entire lot. Could be you could get a great deal on one of the survivors - a still-very-good microscope put into surplus inventory?

I'm getting a Cell and Molecular degree from WWU. They might have someone, but I don't have in-person classes and it's a slow response when I contact the departments. I haven't seen a sale yet on Biology supplies since I've been there. Thinking that most of their microscopes are rather new and I likely started attending after they got rid of the old ones.