Need advice for buying my first microscope

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Sisco1113
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Need advice for buying my first microscope

#1 Post by Sisco1113 » Sat Jan 12, 2019 1:44 am

Hello everybody!

I wanted to get some advice on what kind of microscope I should get. I was thinking of getting a trinocular phase contrast since I’ll be looking mainly at live specimens; pond samples and the like. I am not familiar with the pros/cons of certain companies and am not too familiar with all the models out there. Budget is around $1000-$1500ish but I’m willing to take a look at anything a bit more expensive as well. Any help is greatly appreciated!

PeteM
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Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#2 Post by PeteM » Sat Jan 12, 2019 4:16 am

Lots of options. You might start by searching past posts -- the question has been asked and answered before. Once you have an idea of what you want (new? used? etc.) it will be easier to answer.

$1500 should get you a competent new microscope, most likely made in China, and a very competent used phase trinocular microscope - such as an Olympus BH2 or BHS, perhaps an Olympus BX40, a Nikon Labophot or Optiphot, a Reichert Diastar, maybe a Leica DMLS, a fairly recent Zeiss Standard, a Leitz Labophot well equipped, etc. You could likely get a very good scope for well under $1000 as well -- and upgrade as you learn more later.

Availability somewhat depends upon your location.

After a few posts you should be able to use the personal message function. I'd be happy to send you, via regular email, a write up on more than a hundred brands and models of new and used scopes.

Sisco1113
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Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#3 Post by Sisco1113 » Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:10 am

PeteM wrote:Lots of options. You might start by searching past posts -- the question has been asked and answered before. Once you have an idea of what you want (new? used? etc.) it will be easier to answer.

$1500 should get you a competent new microscope, most likely made in China, and a very competent used phase trinocular microscope - such as an Olympus BH2 or BHS, perhaps an Olympus BX40, a Nikon Labophot or Optiphot, a Reichert Diastar, maybe a Leica DMLS, a fairly recent Zeiss Standard, a Leitz Labophot well equipped, etc. You could likely get a very good scope for well under $1000 as well -- and upgrade as you learn more later.

Availability somewhat depends upon your location.

After a few posts you should be able to use the personal message function. I'd be happy to send you, via regular email, a write up on more than a hundred brands and models of new and used scopes.
This is extremely helpful. I would be very interested in getting that list!

Sisco1113
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Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2019 1:36 am

Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#4 Post by Sisco1113 » Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:35 am

PeteM wrote:Lots of options. You might start by searching past posts -- the question has been asked and answered before. Once you have an idea of what you want (new? used? etc.) it will be easier to answer.

$1500 should get you a competent new microscope, most likely made in China, and a very competent used phase trinocular microscope - such as an Olympus BH2 or BHS, perhaps an Olympus BX40, a Nikon Labophot or Optiphot, a Reichert Diastar, maybe a Leica DMLS, a fairly recent Zeiss Standard, a Leitz Labophot well equipped, etc. You could likely get a very good scope for well under $1000 as well -- and upgrade as you learn more later.

Availability somewhat depends upon your location.

After a few posts you should be able to use the personal message function. I'd be happy to send you, via regular email, a write up on more than a hundred brands and models of new and used scopes.

Thank you once again for all this information, it really has been a great help. I went ahead and did some searching using the guidelines you provided and came up with a few things (links will be found below). I wanted to inquire on price, would I be paying too much? I also plan on photographing samples using a Nikon dslr. I know there are converters but I thought I’d provide that information incase it would help narrow the search. Let me know what you think!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3694810296

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3193663181

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2452333051

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3318292005

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3594002303

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75RR
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Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#5 Post by 75RR » Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:58 am

An Olympus BH-2 is a good choice of microscope.

You have chosen microscopes which already have a trinocular which is good. I would add that getting one with an external 50w or 100w lamp house (or the ability to take one) is also important.

Next would be the objectives. You should try and identify the type and their cost if you can. Some are worth several hundred dollars.

http://www.alanwood.net/photography/oly ... loads.html

Apart from that the general condition of the microscope is very important.

Look into return options and try to get the seller to commit on the condition so that if you do need to return it you can.



Third link has some interesting attachments to the objectives which I can not identify - perhaps someone else can:

Image
Zeiss Standard WL (somewhat fashion challenged) & Wild M8
Olympus E-P2 (Micro Four Thirds Camera)

PeteM
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Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#6 Post by PeteM » Sat Jan 12, 2019 8:21 am

Sisco1113 wrote:This is extremely helpful. I would be very interested in getting that list!
Feel free to send a personal message with an email address, whenever the system allows that, and I'll send you a PDF copy.

PeteM
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Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#7 Post by PeteM » Sat Jan 12, 2019 8:23 am

75RR wrote: . . . Third link has some interesting attachments to the objectives which I can not identify - perhaps someone else can:

Image
The image is of older short barrel Olympus metallurgical objectives, with DIC prisms for reflected light. The objectives will not be suitable for viewing cells under a cover slip; especially at or above 40x objective magnification.

PeteM
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Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#8 Post by PeteM » Sat Jan 12, 2019 8:29 am

All five of the listings are good basic scopes (BH2 & Labophot/Optiphot) but four of them have either incomplete or mismatched objectives. The exception is the over-priced $2145 BH2. It, at least, has a full set of compatible objectives - through it would be better if they were all SPlan -- and still too expensive by about $1000 in my opinion (to be fair the seller is a dealer -- and it's not easy being a used microscope dealer). None are phase contrast -- which it sounds like you'll want. Some have other problems.

As 75RR suggests, take the time to learn a bit and you'll end up with a very nice scope.

Sisco1113
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Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#9 Post by Sisco1113 » Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:32 pm

PeteM wrote:
All five of the listings are good basic scopes (BH2 & Labophot/Optiphot) but four of them have either incomplete or mismatched objectives. The exception is the over-priced $2145 BH2. It, at least, has a full set of compatible objectives - through it would be better if they were all SPlan -- and still too expensive by about $1000 in my opinion (to be fair the seller is a dealer -- and it's not easy being a used microscope dealer). None are phase contrast -- which it sounds like you'll want. Some have other problems.

As 75RR suggests, take the time to learn a bit and you'll end up with a very nice scope.
I came across this!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3476567809

Phase contrast and comes with four plan objectives. Seller claims condition to be extremely good. Let me know your thoughts!

PeteM
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Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#10 Post by PeteM » Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:43 pm

Sisco1113 wrote:
I came across this!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3476567809

Phase contrast and comes with four plan objectives. Seller claims condition to be extremely good. Let me know your thoughts!
Looks pretty good -- best of the bunch so far assuming it's in good shape. I can't see either in photos or the description of what specific objectives come with it. If all four are Olympus SPlan phase, you'd likely be happy with it. You might ask the seller for specific models or close up pictures. In one picture, one of the lower power objectives looks like a metallurgical type? That would be a minus, but not necessarily a deal killer of the others are 10x, 40x, 100x Olympus SPlan Phase.

The scope is in the Bay Area, CA. If you happen to live near there you could get a similarly-equipped Nikon trinocular phase contrast from the Children's Museum of Discovery for around $300 less.

If the Ebay scope is being shipped, and the shipping is affordable to you and there are no problems, could be a very fine microscope to own and use.

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75RR
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Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#11 Post by 75RR » Sat Jan 12, 2019 8:59 pm

Definitely ask for photos of each individual objective. I would also ask for a photo of the microscope side on - that would give you a look at the type of illumination it comes with.

If you look at the first and fourth photos there seem to be stickers on the fourth that do not appear on the first one.

Similarly the objectives in the first image differ from those on the fourth.

Two different microscopes?
Zeiss Standard WL (somewhat fashion challenged) & Wild M8
Olympus E-P2 (Micro Four Thirds Camera)

Hobbyst46
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Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#12 Post by Hobbyst46 » Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:00 pm

PeteM wrote:
Sisco1113 wrote:
I came across this!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3476567809

Phase contrast and comes with four plan objectives. Seller claims condition to be extremely good. Let me know your thoughts!
Looks pretty good -- best of the bunch so far assuming it's in good shape. I can't see either in photos or the description of what specific objectives come with it. If all four are Olympus SPlan phase, you'd likely be happy with it. You might ask the seller for specific models or close up pictures. In one picture, one of the lower power objectives looks like a metallurgical type? That would be a minus, but not necessarily a deal killer of the others are 10x, 40x, 100x Olympus SPlan Phase.

The scope is in the Bay Area, CA. If you happen to live near there you could get a similarly-equipped Nikon trinocular phase contrast from the Children's Museum of Discovery for around $300 less.

If the Ebay scope is being shipped, and the shipping is affordable to you and there are no problems, could be a very fine microscope to own and use.
I was also unsure about the objectives, so I checked with BH2 Olympus brochure on the web. The 10X, 40X and 100X are IMO Planachromatic phase contrast objectives. I would still ask the seller, but this is almost certainly the case. The 4X objective - ?
75RR wrote:...If you look at the first and fourth photos there seem to be stickers on the fourth that do not appear on the first one.
Similarly the objectives in the first image differ from those on the fourth. Two different microscopes?
Wow (stickers)!!
there appear to be four objectives in the first photo and perhaps only three of them (10X, 40X, 100X) in the fourth photo - why ?

Sisco1113
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Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#13 Post by Sisco1113 » Mon Jan 14, 2019 5:10 am

PeteM wrote:
Sisco1113 wrote:
I came across this!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3476567809

Phase contrast and comes with four plan objectives. Seller claims condition to be extremely good. Let me know your thoughts!
Looks pretty good -- best of the bunch so far assuming it's in good shape. I can't see either in photos or the description of what specific objectives come with it. If all four are Olympus SPlan phase, you'd likely be happy with it. You might ask the seller for specific models or close up pictures. In one picture, one of the lower power objectives looks like a metallurgical type? That would be a minus, but not necessarily a deal killer of the others are 10x, 40x, 100x Olympus SPlan Phase.

The scope is in the Bay Area, CA. If you happen to live near there you could get a similarly-equipped Nikon trinocular phase contrast from the Children's Museum of Discovery for around $300 less.

If the Ebay scope is being shipped, and the shipping is affordable to you and there are no problems, could be a very fine microscope to own and use.

So I spoke with the seller and got the following information:

1) Two Olympus PC (Phase Contrast) objectives 40X, 100X
2) TWo Olympus DPLAN 4X, 10X and Olympus 40X PLAN objectives or
three Fisher Scientific PLAN Obj 4X, 10X, 40X.

Thoughts?

PeteM
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Re: Need advice for buying my first microscope

#14 Post by PeteM » Mon Jan 14, 2019 6:29 am

Sisco1113 wrote: So I spoke with the seller and got the following information:

1) Two Olympus PC (Phase Contrast) objectives 40X, 100X
2) TWo Olympus DPLAN 4X, 10X and Olympus 40X PLAN objectives or
three Fisher Scientific PLAN Obj 4X, 10X, 40X.

Thoughts?
There seems to be a discrepancy between the photos and what the seller is describing? The first and second photos show different objectives.

The second photo appears to show three shiny phase contrast objectives (red rings around bottom) -- at least one is clearly Olympus and the others appear to be. The SPlan Olympus have a shiny body (as appears in the photo) while the DPlan have a more satin finish. One way to tell is that the 40x SPlan has a numerical aperture of .70 while the DPlan is .65 in both regular and phase objectives.

Seems the seller is saying you're only going to get a 40x and 100x phase contrast objective (despite picture #2 showing three phase objectives) and they will be plain Olympus achromat, not Phase SPlan achromat which have a wider field and higher numerical aperture?

For pond critters, I think you really want at least one phase contrast objective in the 10x to 20x range. Starting at 40x is too high in my opinion and I suspect you'll rarely use the 100x.

The scope itself, assuming it's a BHS as advertised is a very good model. The problem is that the first picture appears to show a less valuable BHTU model with an inverted nosepiece. Hard to know exactly what you're getting?

All in all, I'd be inclined to pass on this microscope at that price and with some uncertainty about what you're getting. You might try a lower offer given that it apparently only has two phase objectives of somewhat modest quality? But be sure it's a BHS model with the 100 watt lamp, adjustable stage, and removable nosepiece.

As for the non-phase objectives being offered -- the DPlan Olympus regular brightfield objectives or the Fisher Plan are pretty standard lenses - decent image quality (even the Fishers, if the plan lenses made in Japan for their "MicroMaster" scope) but nothing special.

Don't know how many posts you need to be able to send messages -- but when you can, the offer of a rambling guide to microscope brands and models is yours for the asking.

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