MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

smollerthings; Have you tried putting a piece of card / paper/ other fine-grained white material over the mirror ... you will get a much less harsh light into your eye.
you need Illuminate the card with a some kind of mini table light ...Ikea used to do one.. you move the light closer or further to get a brightness that you are comfortable with.
If you do this you might not need your special modification and you could then use it to 'sleep with one eye open'

Oh no, my pirate setup is because I have a monocular and not a binocular, hence the need to keep one eye closed.

Hi smollerthings,
The correct method of viewing with a monocular microscope is to keep both eyes open. Some people draw what they see through the microscope with one eye while viewing their drawing with the other.
Peter.

Pictured here inexplicably attached to my triocular Dynazoom is a microscope "blind". It is a rigid piece of black material affixed to the eyepiece. It can be put immediately in front of the unused eye to minimize distraction, or lifted as pictured here.

The one pictured, BTW, was made with wire, card and gaffer's tape.

Peter wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 19, 2021 5:57 pm

Hi smollerthings,
The correct method of viewing with a monocular microscope is to keep both eyes open. Some people draw what they see through the microscope with one eye while viewing their drawing with the other.
Peter.

Oh thanks, I didn't know that, I was closing one eye, which is really tiring after a while.

BramHuntingNematodes wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 19, 2021 6:10 pm

The one pictured, BTW, was made with wire, card and gaffer's tape.

I am gonna make one of those!

If you look at some older texts ; The Microscope and How to Use it by Georg Stehli is one but also others....I think I have that one right but I haven't seen that book for years ; there is mention of developing the ability with practice, of ignoring the information coming into the unused eye. My first 25 or so years were spent using a monocular microscope and while working in a room with lower light I can attest to the fact that that is possible. It is a skill that with practice can be attained but it takes a while. I think I was about a year before I could do it. Placing a dark cloth under the unused eye on the bench helps to reduce the information load. In a bright room I always found it difficult. It is somewhat the same principal as using a one eyed mask.
Spencer's first binocular microscopes , offered after the first w.w. had blinders you could optionally close off one eyetube with and one model of head could even be shifted sideways so a monocular tube resulted through a binocular head. There was a lot of resistance to the use of early binocular heads by established microscopists and for institutional settings, where communal microscopes were used those options were offered. The blinders show that not every old microscopist had the one eye skill though, also offering an easy out for students who wanted to be old school.

Most people have one leading eye, this should be used for monocular observation. It would be much more difficult to observe with the wrong eye.

I only have one monocular. All the rest are binocular. When I use one eye I wear an eye patch. Low cost. No practice.
Greg

I think the idea is that you practice while using the microscope. Probably the learning curve is shorter and easier for students.

Very interesting everyone. I will try to keep both eyes open. I tried last night and it is quite distracting so I took an old pair of glasses and scotch taped one eye. Works well, we will see.

You should train yourself to look into a monocular microscope, using your dominant eye, while keeping the other eye OPEN. Much less eye strain.

Carl