What magnification is most popular.

Here you can discuss different microscopic techniques and illumination methods, such as Brightfield, Darkfield, Phase Contrast, DIC, Oblique illumination, etc.
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Greg Howald
Posts: 1185
Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2020 6:44 am

What magnification is most popular.

#1 Post by Greg Howald » Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:59 pm

I admit it. I'd rather have a turret mounted phase contrast system. I also admit that I can't afford it right now so suppose I get the cheaper mount where you have to change the condenser to match magnification. What would be the most used magnification?. Under those circumstances I would pretty much prefer to set it and forget it.
Greg

dtsh
Posts: 977
Joined: Wed May 01, 2019 6:06 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: What magnification is most popular.

#2 Post by dtsh » Mon Apr 05, 2021 6:32 pm

Greg Howald wrote:
Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:59 pm
I admit it. I'd rather have a turret mounted phase contrast system. I also admit that I can't afford it right now so suppose I get the cheaper mount where you have to change the condenser to match magnification. What would be the most used magnification?. Under those circumstances I would pretty much prefer to set it and forget it.
Greg
I can't comment about any of the new phase setups, but used phase microscopes pop up from time to time in the usual places. There was an AO 10 phase setup I really wish I had bid higher on earlier this year as it went pretty cheap.
As for the magnification, mine has 10x, 20x, 40x, and 100x objectives and I tend to use the 20x and 40x the most; with the 10x next and the 100x least of all, though I don't think I'd be willing to give it up. That said, whatever magnifications you tend to use most are probably the ones to focus on.

Initially I thought I would use the same microscope for brightfield and for phase, which you can do, but I prefer having a separate scope for it; plus for me phase largely replaces brightfield, but not entirely. Many of the nicer phase turrets have an open spot with no annulus so you can put in regular brightfield objectives. You can also use phase objectives without the condenser annulus in place as brightfield with a little loss of contrast, but they do function in such a manner if you have need for it.

When I was shopping for phase, someone had commented that it's usually cheaper to get a phase scope and add brightfield to it than it is to add phase to a brightfield, advice which seems to have held true in my experience.

DrPhoxinus
Posts: 316
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2019 5:17 pm
Location: Rochester Hills, MI

Re: What magnification is most popular.

#3 Post by DrPhoxinus » Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:36 pm

I bought an AO 10 with phase as is from a charity site.
The wrench sockets seem very worn. I wonder if anyone in the forum has repaired these.

The 20x is my favorite but I don’t have it on my AOs.
I bought some Chinese on eBay and they work well on the 160mm scopes.

Much to my delight a Leitz 20x can work on a Zeiss in the Ph2
setting

Gerard

DonSchaeffer
Posts: 3275
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2020 10:06 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Re: What magnification is most popular.

#4 Post by DonSchaeffer » Tue Apr 06, 2021 3:16 pm

40x or 60x objectives.

BramHuntingNematodes
Posts: 1538
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:29 am
Location: Georgia, USA

Re: What magnification is most popular.

#5 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:12 pm

if you are hunting nematodes you want a 10x and a 40x immersion is usually not necessary nematodes are pretty big much of the time although a 4x can be useful I use a 20x freq. as well but more for comfort and ease than necessity I think you could make do with just the 10 and 40. on the other hand if you're looking at a lot of mosquito larvae you might want 4x-10x-20x or 25x if you can find one Zeiss made a supremely nice Neofluar one that you can dip into just about anything which is a neat idea if you are looking for heliozoans though you might want the 100x
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

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