New here and please help me choose an appropriate compound microscope

[lorez]

Not me, BillT, I only commented.

lorez

[Dale]

I gotta put my two cents in. I ran upstairs and double checked my plan obj's resolution. I used a
4X, 10X, 20X, and a 40X, all darkfield. Using a single strand of a feather I had sharp reso from
left to right, no problemo. You mentioned counting rotifiers with a hemocytometer, wouldn't you
really benefit from plans so you could see all the graduations? When I am tracking a moving
specimen it really helps to have the whole field of view in sharp focus.
I really wanted a shiny new scope, with lots of bells and whistles, but I listened to the wisdom the
sages are repeating to you as they did me. I bought the old American Optical 10 from a highly
qualified and well respected dealer. I wouldn't trade it for anything. It was expensive, but I
did upgrade to a dark kit, and have not regretted that one bit. Now I'm saving up for slides!!
One of the top regrets that I have read here is not getting a trinocular from the get go.
This is a great website, be sure to explore.
Dale

[Charles]

Dale, I think you meant a Phase kit and not darkfield?

I have an extra trinocular head for the AO 10 if you want one.

[Charles]

At first I almost bought an omax trinoc with oil darkfield and plan lenses and DSLR adapter and scope case for ~1500 cdn. If I added a phase contrast kit the price soared another 800-900$. I also looked at the Nikon e100 which was ~1100cdn new, and then another 600 for a trinoc head and another 2200 for a phase kit (and still no oil darkfield)...My budget was roughly 1500-2000 cdn.

I watched ebay, local classifieds, and government surplus auctions and ended up with 3-4 stands(olympus KHCx2, olympus E, American Optical 20), 2 oil darkfield condensers, a phase contrast turret condenser, a full set of phase lenses, piles of eyepieces, 2 trinoc heads, phototube lenses, 100x iris lenses + much much more for about 1300 cdn..

I think I did pretty well for being so impatient What I found was many Buy it now listings on ebay will allow you to make offers, and even ones that don't you can still message and give an offer. It seemed if I offered ~70% of their ask I usually got the item.

There are some great deals to be had on ebay with some knowledge and patience. That is some nice purchases mes0!

[billbillt]

Sorry Lorez,

I am getting old...
BillT

[Dale]

Dale, I think you meant a Phase kit and not darkfield?

I have an extra trinocular head for the AO 10 if you want one.

Sheeesh, I don't even remember what I have, but I can use it, a little. I already
have a tri-head, thanks to my great friend in Nebraska. I got a photo-tube on ebay,
and I stuff it into a good dslr for great live images. My only regrets are not having a
permanent place for a lab, yet. I am always welcome to offers of equipment, but I am
staying away from those gov auction sites!
Dale

[Leoric]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the inputs and my apologies for my late reply, I was away for a week due to work.
Ive decided to go with the Novel because its cheaper and at that price, if its not good or suitable I could always get a new one
Considering that they OEM for some of the big 4 and one of the oldest optics manufacturer in China, they are worth a shot, will be ordering by this week
I've also decided on halogen as they are easier to replace and parts are easier to sourced in comparison to LED

With the money saved from going with the Novel, I bought a used Leica MZ6 stereoscope with boomstand and Volpi ring light source, the only downside is that the polarizing lens is cracked. Will need to be replaced, other than that optics are great
And also a used JVC ccd video camera to be used with the trinocular microscope
Both were sourced locally and I could further save on shipping fees.

Once again my hats off to you guys

[Leoric]

Perhaps an LED fitted model would then be able to offset the lower light transmission disadvantages of plan objectives?

While I'm sure that what apochronaut said about plan objectives transmitting less light is true (he knows what he is talking about), I doubt very much that this should steer you away from plan objectives, which I think for your use are more appropriate. I believe the difference in light transmission may (or may not) be noticeable when comparing directly, side-by-side plan and non-plan objectives but any difference is likely to be quite negligible in the scheme of things, particularly that modern objectives have the lens elements anti-reflection coated, so light loss would be significantly less than old uncoated objectives (I hope apochronaut will correct me if I am wrong on this point).
If image brightness is of concern for some reason, then I would consider getting a brighter light source (whether tungsten-halogen or LED), which can make a large difference in illumination. I don't think LED necessarily gives more light than tungsten-halogen-- it all depends on the output rating.

I hope JimT will tell us what model Amscope he uses.

I decided to go with halogen as its easier to change and parts would be easier to sourced than LED

Also Ive placed my bets on plan objectives for its flatter fov, well we'll see if its worth betting on

I find that discussions like these are quite academic in nature and highly dependent on the particular brand and model. Manufacturers like Nikon, Olympus, Zess etc make several lines of objectives claiming to be achro and planachro. Leitz was known for having several designations of planarity ie NPL PL EF. For example PL objectives offered a wider field of view in regards to planarity vs NPL assuming you had the correct eyepiece. Both were planachros. The PL having a field of view of at least 20mm and as such the GF Periplan eyepieces were recommended and developed specifically for these objectives. The Plan Fluotars had a flat field of view up to 25 mm. You could stretch the potential depending on tube lens and eyepiece.

Apochromat and I have had many discussions regarding Ao's achromats and planachromats in regards to planarity. Then of course you have the differences introduced as a function of "time". Newer objectives, even the cheaper ones, incorporate coatings that result in improved imagery.

So comparing across generations as well as brand adds another variable. My experience with the Chinese (read omax, amscope) objectives is that they tend to be quite good for the money.

I made a comparison of a Chinese planachromat 60X/0.85/160/0.17 bought on e-bay for less tan $50 vs a Leitz plan 63X/0.85 vs B&L plan 60X/0.85 vs Reichert 63X/0.85 objective.

I found the Chinese objective to be of much poorer construction and significantly poorer contrast. Though resolution was not that bad. Keep in mind the objective cost $50. When I first discussed my finding on a yahoo forum it was quickly pointed out i may not have purchased one of the "better" objectives. I just wanted to see what $50 could buy.



Now there are obviously better made Chinese objectives. In fact I believe the only brand not made in China last I checked was Hund. ( jump in anyone with newer information).

For example Accuscope's higher end models actually have optics nearly identical to Olympus and when servicing Olympus/Accuscope my friend indicated there is overlap in part numbers. Some of the cheaper model Nikons, olympus and Zeiss can be found under other labels for far less.

In short--determine your use. Your budget and buy the most you can afford. Accuscope, National, Motic or higher end Amscopes. Drop a line in the forum when you have identified a potential purchase and let everyone check it out. We will give our opinion.

I don't think we have any experts here well versed in the world of Chinese scopes. Most of us are diehard fans of older stands, myself included.

You can find on YouTube some individuals that start out using an Amscope but then later revert to an older stand due to quality of construction.

My friend is called in to service Amscope microscopes at local schools. He refers to them as "disposable" compared to older model American optical, nikon etc. ...but then i digress from optics to construction. I quite like my Amscope Stereoscope.not up to par with my Nikon but then I bought it used with a boom stand for less than $200.

Thanks for the input, Ive decided to go with a Chinese scope and at the price they are asking, I think its fair to accept a bit of cons here and there
For my present usage I think they fit the bill nicely and when the need arises I could then justify a better build or optics from the big 4

----------
Is the upgrade from the stock objectives to the Plan Achromatics significant and worthwhile ?
Thus I included the Novel into consideration, considering the Novel comes pre upgraded with plan achromatics
----------

Hi and welcome. Personally the change I made from 'ordinary' objectives to the 'plan' versions was quite amazing and definitely worth pursuing - the prices are not hugely different but the flat-field (at least on my infinity Chinese 'scope, SP200) is remarkably superior, the clarity (focus) really does extend to virtually the whole image and is very noticeably better than the non-corrected objectives (certainly make photography far easier and superior in quality too).

My advice, absolutely 100% go for the 'plan' objectives, their superiority is far greater than their extra cost!

Thanks for the input, Ive decided to go with plan objectives based on your recommendation and I think they are well worth a shot

Leoric, one more bit of advice. The more people who chime in the more you will be confused

Take a chance and don't over analyze this. Pick one and be happy with it.

Like I have said before, my first telescope was not my last but I enjoyed all of them.

JimT

JimT, you're right, I took the decision to go with Novel based on your my first telescope was not my last comment
I could then at least make a comparison when I buy another scope in future

I joined the forum a couple weeks ago asking for help in choosing a scope and received a lot of very useful feedback.

At first I almost bought an omax trinoc with oil darkfield and plan lenses and DSLR adapter and scope case for ~1500 cdn. If I added a phase contrast kit the price soared another 800-900$. I also looked at the Nikon e100 which was ~1100cdn new, and then another 600 for a trinoc head and another 2200 for a phase kit (and still no oil darkfield)...My budget was roughly 1500-2000 cdn.

I watched ebay, local classifieds, and government surplus auctions and ended up with 3-4 stands(olympus KHCx2, olympus E, American Optical 20), 2 oil darkfield condensers, a phase contrast turret condenser, a full set of phase lenses, piles of eyepieces, 2 trinoc heads, phototube lenses, 100x iris lenses + much much more for about 1300 cdn..

I think I did pretty well for being so impatient What I found was many Buy it now listings on ebay will allow you to make offers, and even ones that don't you can still message and give an offer. It seemed if I offered ~70% of their ask I usually got the item.

If you want the ebay listing links and prices I paid to give you an idea of what you can get I'd be happy to share.

Thanks for your input, I did bought a used Leica stereoscope with the money saved from going with a Chinese made scope.
The deal for the Leica came knocking at my door and it was available near me
Same like what you've gotten by going with used scopes, it came with some accesories like polarizer, ring light and boomstand at a very low wallet friendly price.

I gotta put my two cents in. I ran upstairs and double checked my plan obj's resolution. I used a
4X, 10X, 20X, and a 40X, all darkfield. Using a single strand of a feather I had sharp reso from
left to right, no problemo. You mentioned counting rotifiers with a hemocytometer, wouldn't you
really benefit from plans so you could see all the graduations? When I am tracking a moving
specimen it really helps to have the whole field of view in sharp focus.
I really wanted a shiny new scope, with lots of bells and whistles, but I listened to the wisdom the
sages are repeating to you as they did me. I bought the old American Optical 10 from a highly
qualified and well respected dealer. I wouldn't trade it for anything. It was expensive, but I
did upgrade to a dark kit, and have not regretted that one bit. Now I'm saving up for slides!!
One of the top regrets that I have read here is not getting a trinocular from the get go.
This is a great website, be sure to explore.
Dale

Hi Dale, thanks for the input, Ive given what you said a thought, and decided to go with plans
I gave the new Nikons a miss and went with a brand new Chinese made trinocular scope with warranty as I couldnt source for a used compound microscope locally, but with the money saved I did manage to get hold of a Leica stereoscope which is much better optically in comparison to the ones Ive used before.

[gekko]

Leoric, I think you will enjoy your microscopes Please share images of your microscopic adventures.

[Leoric]

Hi gekko,

Im sure I will, when the dust settles I'll post some pictures