Microscopes

[derekmc]

Hi everyone -

Just wanted to pick your collective brains, if I may. I don't know if it's come up in any previous threads, but I'm thinking of buying a microscope - mainly for use with the smaller water beetles and bugs.

I have found some general advice elsewhere on the Internet, which seems to suggest I should be looking at a stereomicroscope with a magnification of around 20 to 30x. I've seen one or two models that seem to fit the bill, and that fall within my budget of £100.00 - £150.00.

However, this isn't a subject that I know too much about. If anyone else can offer any tips or suggestions (especially for microscopes robust enough to be used in the field, or those suitable for people who wear glasses) then I'd be delighted to read them!

Thanks for the help.
Derek

[Laurence Clemons]

A stereoscopic binocular microscope is essential for studying insects. x10 -x 30 is adequate but you will often need to go higher. The standard eyepieces are x 10. A zoom microscope which enables higher magnifications to be shifted to simply by turning a ring is preferable to one with separate objectives. Equally as important to optics is the light source. Some microscopes have in-built illuminators while with other models you will need to purchase a separate one (often several hundred pounds). The prices you quote seem rather cheap - I bought my microscope in 1982 and it cost over £300. Avoid microscopes sold by general laboratory supplies companies and seek out a dedicated retailer.

[Kymba]

Not sure if this one is any good for you, But it is one that i am going to get, But I am going to work with children and have seen this one working and I am really impressed.

QX5 Computer Microscope - £79.00 (ex.vat)
This latest version allows pupils to capture magnified images of minibeasts or plant life, record live video of an insect moving, or even make time-lapse movies of an object growing or decaying. Specimens can be magnified at 10X, 60X, even 200X, and displayed directly on to a computer screen.

[derekmc]

Thanks to you both - this was a great help.

Just out of interest, the ones I were considering were either the MX3 or the MX7T, both available from Brunel Microscopes. However, both are "non-zoom stereomicroscopes" - albeit with light sources incorporated in the base. INow you've mentioned it, Laurence, I can definitely see the advantages of a zoom microscope with a single focus wheel.

You may also have a point about the need for some extra magnification. For some bizarre reason, my interests have been shrinking in scale over the years. It started with birds, then I became interested in butterflies and dragonflies, and now I've started looking more closely at spiders, water beetles and bugs. Give me another few years and I might start posting about water fleas, in which case I'll need all the magnification I can get!

I'll give it some further thought - and I'll certainly check out the QX5 that you recommend, Kimba.

Thanks again, and all the best,
Derek

[eucera]

I use a Meiji EMT (www.meijitechno.co.uk) with a Schott fibre optic ring illuminator. I have 2 lenses x10 & x20 (sufficient for bees and aculeate wasps). I agree entirely with Laurence that the light is as important as the optics. The prices you mentioned seem distinctly low to me. I paid £385 for the microscope 20 years ago, and rather more for the illuminator. This seemed a lot to me on a teacher's salary, but compared to the cost of WILD or ZEISS equivalents was really bargain basement

The light you will require is, of course, top lighting rather than basal lighting, and the better the lighting, the more likely you are to see what you need.

[Paul mabbott]

Just add a couple of comments but not on specific micoscopes - long time since I bought one!
It is best if you can try the thing before you use it - just small changes of inclination of the eyepieces, where the controls are (especially if you're left-handed &c).
Can't agree more with Laurence's comments regarding good illumination - good illumination is worth several degrees of magnification.
It's especially important with beetles where you're looking at not only fine hairs but also surface textures (microsculpture). One thing that I would not be without is background/basal illumination for showing up hairs, claws, tibial spurs and the like - you can see them with incident light but far easier with background lighting - this not as an alternative to incident lighting but as well as. And you can also buy a separate cable illumination for highlighting things that the other lights won't reach!

Let us know how you get on ... Paul

Originally Posted by derekmc

Thanks to you both - this was a great help.

Just out of interest, the ones I were considering were either the MX3 or the MX7T, both available from Brunel Microscopes. However, both are "non-zoom stereomicroscopes" - albeit with light sources incorporated in the base. INow you've mentioned it, Laurence, I can definitely see the advantages of a zoom microscope with a single focus wheel.

You may also have a point about the need for some extra magnification. For some bizarre reason, my interests have been shrinking in scale over the years. It started with birds, then I became interested in butterflies and dragonflies, and now I've started looking more closely at spiders, water beetles and bugs. Give me another few years and I might start posting about water fleas, in which case I'll need all the magnification I can get!

I'll give it some further thought - and I'll certainly check out the QX5 that you recommend, Kimba.

Thanks again, and all the best,
Derek

[Davidg]

Hi Derek,

Have a look at Stereoscopic Microscopes - Lakeland Microscopes Ltd. I bought a x20/40 stereo microscope from them a couple of years ago. Excellent quality bit of kit and substantially cheaper than anywhere else.

David

[Paul mabbott]

Hadn't taken in a couple of your comments so a post script. I do beetles with magnifications between x24 and x64 - I would sometimes like to have x80 for the trickiest!

I wouldn't take a microscope into the field - if you can't work it out with a good hand lens you need to take it home

If your glasses are all-in-one then you just get rubber rims to put around the eyepieces - in fact, they usually come as standard. If, like me, you wear demi-lunes or bifocals, you take them off!

Money is always a problem, but, in this case, I would always rather wait for another year than throw money away on something that will become inadequate very shortly - no reflection on the models you've mentioned, I don't know them.

When you get down to very small animals then you'll probably be better off with a "proper" transmission microscope ....

Originally Posted by derekmc

Just wanted to pick your collective brains, if I may. I don't know if it's come up in any previous threads, but I'm thinking of buying a microscope - mainly for use with the smaller water beetles and bugs.

I have found some general advice elsewhere on the Internet, which seems to suggest I should be looking at a stereomicroscope with a magnification of around 20 to 30x. I've seen one or two models that seem to fit the bill, and that fall within my budget of £100.00 - £150.00.

However, this isn't a subject that I know too much about. If anyone else can offer any tips or suggestions (especially for microscopes robust enough to be used in the field, or those suitable for people who wear glasses) then I'd be delighted to read them!

[derekmc]

Thanks everyone!! I'll let you know how I get on.

Derek

[medieval knievel]

i got a cheap bresser microscope online for €55; very impressed with it, given the price. it's a stereomicroscope, 20x magnification.
i can supply the url i bought it from; not sure what the policy here is re mentioning it in posts, lest it be construed as spam.