I need a microscope, recomendations please

[ohgreatstew]

It seems there are limits to identification which are almost impossbile to solve without a microscope, so being new to this and never having owned a microscope, since the one I propbably had in a chemistry set when I was 10, could the members please recommend a good quality microscope for under £100 which would be suitable for the purposes of fungal microscopy.

[Beamish]

Hi stew,

if you would have asked this in a German microscropy forum, the answer would have been: Go for a good 2nd hand microscope from Zeiss, Leitz/Leica, Olympus instead of investing in a new instrument mostly of Chinese origin at this price level.

Greetings,

Martin

[Ditiola]

Hi
Like with most things you get what you pay for. I would however agree that if you are on a limited budget a second hand one is probably the best option as there is not a lot that can go wrong with a microscope, so why pay over the odds for a new one. The problem is there are not many second hand suppliers around.

I started with a cheap Russian microscope (around £100) 30 years ago. And although it was good for the money I soon got frustrated at:
1) Not having a mechanical stage to move the subject
2) Struggle with poor lighting
3) Struggling with a small angle of view
4) Struggling with focusing on fine detail with the mediocre optics.

This nearly put me off mycology, but then I borrowed a good microscope and experienced the difference, everything was so much easier and I knew that I could not continue with a cheap instrument.

My current microscope was purchased second hand from a university that was up grading and cost me £400. It has excellent optics and a mechanical stage, but no third stem to fix a camera on. I am tempted to buy a new one with three stems, but to get the same quality I would not get much change out of a grand, so this scheme is on hold.

Peter

[Alantb]

In pursuit of knowledge I set out to get a microscope about 15 years ago and gradually progressed from a cheap Russian monocular to an expensive binocular which I bought from Brunel. I'm not going into all the painful details but if I had bought the expensive one first it would have saved me a LOT of money and frustration. If you really can't raise the wind the best thing to do may be to find your local microscope society (there are plenty) and as Martin suggests try to find a cheap second-hand one from a good manufacturer. But otherwise, get a mortgage and go to Brunel. They are reliable suppliers, even though pricey.
Another point - make sure that you know what you want to start with. If you are going to look at fungi, you will eventually need a magnification up to 1000 times, especially for fine detail such as the warts on Russula spores. Some people can manage with one eye but I found that that gave me a headache so I had to get a binocular - and then I wanted photography so I needed a third eye (so to speak). If I had gone straight for all the options it would have saved me probably half of the cost of the improvements.
Buying second-hand - make sure the lenses are par-focal, i.e. you don't need to alter the focus much if you changes the lens power. Make sure that the focus and traverse controls are firm and don't slop about. Make sure the lighting is adequate and that the lamp is easily obtainable.
But above all, bite the bullet and get the absolute best you can find - in the long run it will save you pounds.
Good Luck. Alan

[Michael Jordan]

Originally Posted by ohgreatstew

Could the members please recommend a good quality microscope for under £100 which would be suitable for the purposes of fungal microscopy.

The cruel answer is that such an instrument probably does not exist, and this is being cruel to be kind. If you go for a cheap Russian or Chinese instrument, you will almost certainly finish up disappointed.

I worry slight that you may anticipate buying a microscope will solve your i/d frustrations but it's only a part of the story. You also have to have the reference books with the microscopic details to hand, sometimes ending up more costly than the instrument, and a clear understanding of what you are looking at down the barrel.

Part of my role in life is to run microscopy courses for comparative beginners and generally speaking the biggest hurdle is actually getting people to interpret the microscopic structures they see.

The ABFG supplies good quality laboratory grade microscopes by way of grants to its up and coming member groups, and these instruments are then intended to be shared around among group members to gain experience.

I don't know what part of the country you are from but joining a local group might give you access to some microscopy, so as to get the hang of things without spending a lot of your own money straight away.

Michael Jordan
CEO - ABFG

[diggleken]

And welcome to WAB from me Michael - good advice.
Cheers
Ken

[SheffieldLass]

I'm not sure if mine would come under the cheap Chinese category (Zenith Ultra Student LA). But it does me pretty well for now. It is a monocular, it doesn't have oil immersion capacity (1000x). It costs these days approx £139. And you do need a mechanical stage which costs another £35. And also a measuring eyepiece if you want to measure spores, another £35.

I did upgrade with a down the microscope camera (which is expensive) so my measuring eyepiece became obsolete.

I also keep toying with getting a 60x objective, as mine doesn't have oil immersion capacity (the condensor is not an ABBE one). But for the most part I don't have a huge need for oil immersion or 60x as I'm not (yet) into Russulaceae. There's plenty of other fungi to keep me occupied. OK, for £30 more you can get the Ultra-Student LAX which has an ABBE condensor. At the time my money didn't stretch that far ....

Many years ago I got interested in fungi, but then was made redundant so I couldn't afford a microscope at all. So I didn't pursue it, but went bird watching instead .... On a tight budget it is about trying to find the best you can within your budget, but not to waste your money getting something not up to the job. Not always easy .... Good luck. I hope you find something that meets your needs and budget.

Melanie

P.S. It is getting easier these days even if you don't have the books as there is progressively more on the internet. I found/find Malcolm Storey's Bioimages website AGARICALES (mushrooms and toadstools) extremely useful.

[ohgreatstew]

Thank you all so much for really interesting and good advice, I am begining to see what a can of worms I have opened here, I have been easily lead down this path by the likes of 'Roger Phillips' and his great descriptions of spores and there microscopic details, being an electronic engineer I have plenty of exprience with measurement and fine instruments so there is already a tech'y attraction I find hard to resist and I should really have known the potential expense of such a venture, (I already asked my wife the question 'can have a microscope for christmas', and now I am really quite pleased I finished it off with 'and can I chose it please!')
No really thank you all very much, I think first of all I need to find a local micology group I can go along to and perhaps find the opportunity to get more involved before I start spending a fortune on I'm not sure what yet......

[Michael Jordan]

If you want to contact me about a local ABFG group, the Association has a strong active member group now operating in West Sussex and other members poised to form an East Sussex branch. They would welcome you on board. I think that the WAB forum rules do not allow posting of direct email addresses, and by similar token I can't readily publish those of ABFG members, so you may need to go via the ABFG website.

Michael Jordan
CEO - ABFG

[ohgreatstew]

That would be great Michael, I will drop you a note via the ABFG web site, look forward to hearing from you, thanks for your worthy advice......