Hi from Russia

What is your microscopy history? What are your interests? What equipment do you use?
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Kilo_SSK
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2019 2:05 pm

Hi from Russia

#1 Post by Kilo_SSK » Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:44 pm

Hello everyone!

I went back into microscopy a couple weeks ago, when my eldest son started getting interested in entomology and botanics. Since he wanted to see how leaves, ants, bird feathers, fly wings etc looked from really close, I busted out my ancient microscope I used to do the same when I was a teenager and a young adult, and here I am!
My main goals on this forum are to learn more about what good microscopes I could get since my East German dinosaur and its lenses are tired, and about how I could create the best conditions to observe things, in other words, how to do a small laboratory at home.
Apart from that, I'm 41, work in an airport's administrative personal, and have 2 sons aged 13 and 8.

Thank you in advance for welcoming me!

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Hi from Russia

#2 Post by MicroBob » Tue Feb 26, 2019 3:25 pm

Hi, welcome aboard!

I'm sure that you will find a lot of information about microscope technique in this forum.
What instrument from east Germany do you have? Many of them are quite good and it may only need some cleaning and maintenance.
Lomo is a russian microscope maker that has made a lot of good intruments too.
What is your name by the way?

Bob

Kilo_SSK
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2019 2:05 pm

Re: Hi from Russia

#3 Post by Kilo_SSK » Tue Feb 26, 2019 3:42 pm

I'm using a Kleinmikroskop B, I checked for the name on the Internet and it's actually quite a widespread model! I even found an article on it: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artnov00/rowscope.html

It was in fact quite a common thing, the author of the article is right, no school in the Socialist world was complete without some of these!

And my name is Matvey.

PeteM
Posts: 2989
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 6:22 am
Location: N. California

Re: Hi from Russia

#4 Post by PeteM » Tue Feb 26, 2019 6:09 pm

Matvery, For the things your son is interested in, you might want to acquire a stereo microscope with, say, 4x to 40x or so magnification. In the US we'd be looking at brands (used) like American Optical, Bausch & Lomb, Nikon, Olympus for microscopes under $200 or so. Zeiss and Wild also have fine stereo microscopes, but it is harder to find one here that is modestly priced. Could be that Zeiss or Lomo would be more common in your area.

Of lower mechanical quality, but still good to start might be a newer Chinese model (AmScope an example sold here) with two fixed magnifications of 10x and 20x and selling for around $130.

While the usual recommendation with a compound microscope is to get a trinocular head, a slip-in (replaces and eyepiece) camera can be a good start with a stereo microscope. Pictures can also be taken with a cell phone.

I suspect MicroBob might have a better idea of what stereo microscopes might be a good way to start in your area.

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Hi from Russia

#5 Post by MicroBob » Wed Feb 27, 2019 6:30 pm

Hi Matvej,
the Kleinmikroskop B is nice to take it to the holiday trip but as a desk microscope it is a bit limited and fiddly. But keep it!
For your purpose it would be good to have a good but not too expensive setup consisting of a stereo microscope and a biological microscope. With biological microscopes the general recommendation is to buy a used quality instrument. If some components are not too good any more they can be easily replaced. Here a russian Lomo Biolam would be a good buy. Quite good, not heavy, big used market and cheap, so if it breaks it is no big drama. Used stereo microscopes are a more risky buy as they consist mainly of one part and often have had heavy use. A good used one made in russia could be a Lytkarino MBS-10. They give a really nice image at the lower and medium magnifications. These are built quite high so they may seem a bit intimidation for your boys. A new chinese stereo microscope for around 150€ with 10x and 30x magnification would be lighter and smaller.

With internet forums and online shopping it is easier to do microscopy as a hobby today, so you will get a lot of ideas and you will be able to source the necessary components.

Bob

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Crater Eddie
Posts: 1858
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2014 4:39 pm
Location: Illinois USA

Re: Hi from Russia

#6 Post by Crater Eddie » Thu Feb 28, 2019 12:28 pm

Welcome to the forum!
CE
Olympus BH-2 / BHTU
LOMO BIOLAM L-2-2
LOMO POLAM L-213 / BIOLAM L-211 hybrid
LOMO Multiscope (Biolam)
Cameras: Canon T3i, Olympus E-P1 MFT, Amscope 3mp USB

charlie g
Posts: 1831
Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2014 7:54 pm

Re: Hi from Russia

#7 Post by charlie g » Thu Feb 28, 2019 5:27 pm

Welcome, Matvey, this is a terrific and kind forum...fantastic shared microscopy in this online community. Please visit our large thread of posts on: home microscopy bench and setups...others may plop the link to this shared discussion in your welcome-introduction posting here.

The best microscope for you, is the microscope you most often use....but I agree with MicroBob...you need a better...and lowcost used upgrade microscope to enjoy your microscopy start. For pleasure you might use that student microscope you now have as a tool to take on holiday trips...save it as a wonderful start of: a microscope collection ( this advice has already been given to you.).

Early on, the choices of what sort of microscopy you follow are so many...your location in Russia ( near the marine waters, near forests and freshwaters, mineral and clay studies/ botanical microscopy, fungal microscopy...a mix of all...with your microscope giving you deeper appreciation of your environment...microscopy world views I call it!

I love the ages your boys are now at..it went so quick with our dear boy...get out there with them vrs beackoning them to sit at a bench with a microscope....the microscope is an escalator/ is a helpful pathfinder to a career in natural sciences..or healthcare careers...but with your children..it may well be best an evening treat..after their home work/ their chores are done. Make this your hobby...and realize that the limitations of this student microscope you currently enjoy...this may well discourage an intrest in" fathers microscopy hobby'.

Welcome, Matvey...bravo to your microscopy, and to your family , Charlie Guevara, finger lakes/US...our son formally started a healthcare provider career 5/18.

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