need help buying a new microscope

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nergiz dukan
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need help buying a new microscope

#1 Post by nergiz dukan » Sat Nov 04, 2017 10:41 am

Hi everyone! Nice to be here!

So, I need some help. As a consequence of my day and night search for many days I come up with these possible microscopes.

1) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SG ... I2DW&psc=1 (OMAX with 9mp camera)

2) https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/safe ... nification (amscope T490B with dark field)

3) http://www.brunelmicroscopes.co.uk/win_compound.html (brunel sp60 with kohler illumination system and halogen lighting)

4)http://www.brunelmicroscopes.co.uk/adva ... copes.html (brunel sp100)

These 4 microscopes are decided according to my budget and shipping features. I found some more relatively low-priced microscopes but they don't ship to Turkey (even one of it was a beautiful old Zeiss).

So let me inform you what I expect from a microscope. I'm actually a painter with a molecular biology background and I use photomicrographic images as references in my paintings. I used to find images from the internet but from now on I want to create my own image references. My job is not professional photography but still it's better if I obtain a good photograph. So I think I need good objectives and I can't be sure if amscope or omax objectives are sufficient for my purpose. But I can only find 1 video taken by brunel so actually I can't compare the image quality and I don't have any idea if it is worth paying that price. In addition, I think plan achromat objectives are not available for brunel sp60 and sp100, I'm not sure but I can't see them on the accessories list. Can you please help me choosing the microscope?:) I'm so open to other microscope suggestions which are not more than app. 500euro.

I have few more general questions about microscopes if you don't mind:

1) Is koehler illumination that much necessary for photomicrography or is there other DIY ways to make the proper illumination?

2) Is halogen illumination's heat that much bad for microscobic investigation? Will I regret if I choose the one with halogen? And are these illuminations interchangeable? I mean, can I put I led bulb instead of the halogen bulb?

3) I will definitely use darkfield someday, so is it better to buy a package including the dark field condenser or is it better to buy a good microscope and add the accessories later?

4) Oh and this question is the one which I really curious about the answer. For example if I buy an OMAX can I use other brands' objectives like nikon or olympus with that microscope?

Thank you for your answers from now.

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zzffnn
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Re: need help buying a new microscope

#2 Post by zzffnn » Sat Nov 04, 2017 10:03 pm

Welcome to the forum.

It is hard for me to tell you, scope 2) or 4) is the one to buy. It really depends on your skill/knowledge, microscopy subjective of interest and illumination methods.

In reply to your questions:

1) Kohler is nice to have.

But in standard darkfield or circular oblique light (COL), you cannot see field iris to set up Kohler. If you use those most of the time, then you don't have to have Kohler.

With offset oblique and straight polarization or bright field, you can set up and benefit from Kohler.

2) For my application (live water protists which can be cooked by heat), halogen is not good. It depends on if your subject is afraid of heat. Changing halogen to LED is doable, but you should use a LED with similar sized illumination surface, at the right distance.

3) It depends on your skills. If you don't know how to DIY fit a different brand of darkfield condenser and cannot find a fitting darkfield condenser for your scope model, then it is better to buy the combo from the beginning. DIY darkfield is doable without dedicated darkfield condenser, up to about 40x NA 0.65 objective magnification.

4) Yes, if your original scope is 160 mm tube length corrected and has a parfocal height not too different than your future objectives. Most new 160mm scopes use DIN 45 mm parfocal height, while some vintage objectives use 33, 34, 36 or 37 mm parfocal height (which may be too different to compensate/fit).

Plan objectives are nice to have. But if your subjects are not flat themselves or move very fast (such as my live pond protists), then you may not benefit as much from plan objectives.

An old Zeiss West is better than those new Omax, AmScope or Brunel that are sold at under $1000, in my opinion.

JimT
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Re: need help buying a new microscope

#3 Post by JimT » Tue Nov 07, 2017 1:21 am

Nergiz dukan, I have an Amscope and have never had any regrets.My recommendation is start simple and then upgrade as you think about what else you want. For example, I upgraded some of the objectives with plan and added a 20X and 60X obj.

If you are looking for a good economical scope to give you good images for painting I can't think of a better one. You can do dark field and other effects with simple filters.

One caveat about exchanging optics. The eyepieces are specific to the objectives and help correct chromatic aberration. I tried a different vendor's 20X plan obj with the Amscope eyepieces and had to return it.

Good luck with your decision and keep us posted.

JimT

nergiz dukan
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Re: need help buying a new microscope

#4 Post by nergiz dukan » Tue Nov 07, 2017 5:40 pm

thank you very much for your answers! I now found a used olympus cx41 in Turkey but it's binocular and I observed that people who get binocular for photomicrography immediately regret. ın addition it has a halogen bulb with 30W which, they say, not generate to much heat and okey for observing living pond life (I don't actually have an idea about the faithfulness of this statement). on the other hand you can't upgrade it to DIC. I don't even know if I ever use DIC but I didn't like this inability:)

To sum up I think I'm so fascinated by pond life in darkfield, rheinberg illumination and some polarized applications. So should I definetly choose something with led and trinocular for filming them? If I go with this olympus, will this 30W halogen bulb kill my specimen?

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Re: need help buying a new microscope

#5 Post by zzffnn » Tue Nov 07, 2017 6:11 pm

Olympus CX41 is a much better scope that those you mental above. If you want DIC in the future though, you may want a higher end model. And scopes in the CX series are infinity corrected scopes (not 160mm tube finite scopes).

30w should not kill your protists too quickly, unless you leave the slide there for too long. You can always add tiny amounts of water to cover slip edges to prevent it from drying out. Darkfield, Rheinberg or pol should transmit much less heat, than plain brightfield.

Trinocular tube is much more convenient for visual+recording than binocular, at least for me (who do not link camera to computer screen).

nergiz dukan
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Re: need help buying a new microscope

#6 Post by nergiz dukan » Wed Nov 08, 2017 5:45 pm

The seller will change the binocular with trinocular and add polarized attachment. So olympus cx41 seems to be my first choice for now. Thanks a lot for your help ^.^

nergiz dukan
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Re: need help buying a new microscope

#7 Post by nergiz dukan » Wed Nov 08, 2017 5:47 pm

[quote="zzffnn"]Olympus CX41 is a much better scope that those you mental above. If you want DIC in the future though, you may want a higher end model. And scopes in the CX series are infinity corrected scopes (not 160mm tube finite scopes).

by the way, what does this mean for me? Is this an advantage or disadvantage?

nergiz dukan
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Re: need help buying a new microscope

#8 Post by nergiz dukan » Wed Nov 08, 2017 5:50 pm

zzffnn wrote:Olympus CX41 is a much better scope that those you mental above. If you want DIC in the future though, you may want a higher end model. And scopes in the CX series are infinity corrected scopes (not 160mm tube finite scopes).
By the way, what does this mean for me? In which situations this becomes an advantage and disadvantage?

sorry for the previous message, I'm just learning to use the forum:)

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Re: need help buying a new microscope

#9 Post by zzffnn » Wed Nov 08, 2017 6:41 pm

Sorry for my typos in my previous post. I meant to type "mentioned" not "metal". Infinity means that you most likely have to stay with Olympus infinity objectives and other brands of objectives may work well on CX41. That may mean higher cost for upgrades and limited selection, in theory. Please search eBay for reality, which I don't know.

amanda1
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Re: need help buying a new microscope

#10 Post by amanda1 » Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:54 am

you looked for this microscope, I recommend it to you: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SG ... I2DW&psc=1, but still it is worth looking for them carefully before buying, compare the characteristics. So I hope you'll find the one you need.

Hobbyst46
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Re: need help buying a new microscope

#11 Post by Hobbyst46 » Wed Feb 21, 2018 4:23 pm

Nergiz
Olympus scopes are usually excellent, this model is not too old so I believe you will be very happy with the CX31!!.
Halogen illumination is very ubiquitous among microscopes, including high end ones, and the more power the better especially for darkfield and other special effects. You can always dim the light, either with the power control knob or with ND filters.

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