Your microscope's magnification...

[ChrisR]

Originally Posted by tristanba

I really do need a proper microscope light and have been meaning to get one for a while - does anyone have any affordable suggestions?

My Meiji EMZ was supplied by Hampshire Micro with one of their "Mini-Fluor" lamps, which is basically a mini fluorescent tube mounted on the scope's stand - about 11W I think. It gives a really nice light but I do sometimes have to move it closer to the subject at high magnifications. Any angle-poise fluorescent should do the trick.

[Rossco]

Originally Posted by ChrisR

Blimey - put me down on the list for a first refusal and let me know the price when you know it! I used an Olympus once and it was very impressive.

Chris, It'll be a couple of weeks before I potentially know the score, price wise and as far as I am aware they sell them via an auction my partner may be able to get access to. What's your price range and I'll see what I can do. I think they have about six of them - all the same model.

[Acutipuerilis]

I use the same Meiji stereo zoom, up to 45x, as Chris. I've also got a Schott fibre-optic light source, which makes all the difference. When dissecting the bits out of psyllids, I would really appreciate a bit more oomph, but the combination works well enough... just...

Tristan, the light source we've got is the Photonic cold source supplied by Brunel for a pretty hefty (£380-odd) price tag. It's superb; we're also looking at minute fossils, of course, and the adaptability (and power at full illumination) makes all the difference.

[tristanba]

Cheers Chris and Joe,

I've just been using an angle-poise lamp so far and its really not cutting it at 40x - I did also rig up a very Heath-Robinson affair made out of flexible USB LED lights but this is not really doing the business either.

Think I need to buy a cheaper version of what you have Joe. I was also considering a circular illuminator which uses large numbers of LEDs (48 or more) which are not expensive. Has anyone any experience of these?

Tristan

[lync]

I still use my old Olympus I bought 27 years ago and find 10x and 40x adequate 95% of the time, even for the smallest mycetophilid genitalia.

[Acutipuerilis]

Ring lights can of course work really well, so long as you don't need anything like low angle - no good for fossils, but may well be ideal for insects. I have used a variety of fixed- and multi-direction inherent light sources; always found them a bit limited, but far superior to anything you can get from a desk lamp! Sounds like your best bet to me.