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Buying a microscope (1 Viewer)

NorvilleBarnes

NorvilleBarnes

Footballguy
Looking to buy a microscope. Anyone have one for home use?

Any particular manufacturers to choose or avoid?

I'd like to get a high magnification and, preferably, a connection/camera to display images on my PC. A quick browse of Amazon gave me over 50,000 results so I thought I'd ask here.

 
Well what do you want to do with it? My neighbor used a home model to check his sperm count.

After his vasectomy he didn't want to go back to the lab and "leave a sample" so he did it himself.

 
NorvilleBarnes said:
Looking to buy a microscope. Anyone have one for home use?

Any particular manufacturers to choose or avoid?

I'd like to get a high magnification and, preferably, a connection/camera to display images on my PC. A quick browse of Amazon gave me over 50,000 results so I thought I'd ask here.
Click to expand...
$199 Promotion Set: OMAX 40X-2000X Lab LED Binocular Compound Microscope with Double Layer Mechanical Stage + 100 Glass Blank Slides & Covers + 100 Lens Cleaning Paper

Video

 
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cstu said:
NorvilleBarnes said:
Looking to buy a microscope. Anyone have one for home use?

Any particular manufacturers to choose or avoid?

I'd like to get a high magnification and, preferably, a connection/camera to display images on my PC. A quick browse of Amazon gave me over 50,000 results so I thought I'd ask here.
Click to expand...
$199 Promotion Set: OMAX 40X-2000X Lab LED Binocular Compound Microscope with Double Layer Mechanical Stage + 100 Glass Blank Slides & Covers + 100 Lens Cleaning Paper

Video
Click to expand...
Thank you. This puts me in the right neighborhood. Several of the Omax microscopes look promising.

 
NorvilleBarnes said:
cstu said:
NorvilleBarnes said:
Looking to buy a microscope. Anyone have one for home use?

Any particular manufacturers to choose or avoid?

I'd like to get a high magnification and, preferably, a connection/camera to display images on my PC. A quick browse of Amazon gave me over 50,000 results so I thought I'd ask here.
Click to expand...
$199 Promotion Set: OMAX 40X-2000X Lab LED Binocular Compound Microscope with Double Layer Mechanical Stage + 100 Glass Blank Slides & Covers + 100 Lens Cleaning Paper

Video
Click to expand...
Thank you. This puts me in the right neighborhood. Several of the Omax microscopes look promising.
Click to expand...
Been looking at these myself for my daughter in a year or two.

There's also models with cameras - 1.3 MP ($299) and 3.0 MP ($399).

If I get one with a camera I'm probably going to splurge and get a trinoclucar one ($424) since it's designed for taking pictures.

Trinocular Microscopes

There are many different methods for capturing, displaying, and recording microscope images, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. It would be impossible to cover all of these options here (Check the Photo/Video Accessories page for more details), but one basic piece of information will be important in selecting your microscope: While it is possible to mount a camera on a monocular or binocular microscope (Note: a binocular microscope has two eyepieces, but is not necessarily a stereo microscope), it is far better to use a trinocular microscope designed for camera work.

Trinocular models have two eyepieces for normal viewing, plus a third "phototube" on which you can mount a camera without interfering with the normal operation of the microscope.
Click to expand...
Also, what you can do is get the base trinocular microscope (with a darkfield condenser for $320) and buy whatever camera you want. 3.2MP for $120.

 
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Is this for your use or as a gift for a kid?

If it is for a kid, I wouldn't buy an expensive one. The whole idea of looking at stuff is neat for about a week, then the novelty wears off. I bought my daughter one a few years ago. It had a camera and was pretty cool, but at 150.00 or so, it just didn't have the magnification to really show the cell level of things and she ultimately just stuffed it in her closet.

If it is for your use, spend the money and get a lab grade one otherwise it will be a waste of $$$

 
SHIZNITTTT said:
Well what do you want to do with it? My neighbor used a home model to check his sperm count.

After his vasectomy he didn't want to go back to the lab and "leave a sample" so he did it himself.
Click to expand...
I'll take "Things You Shouldn't Share With Your Neighbors for $300, Alex."

 
Totally depends on what you are using it for and how much you are willing to spend.

Super high magnification is probably going to cause you more frustration than what it is worth. My students get more enjoyment and use from a stereo/dissecting scope with 20-40x. Also there are some cool (and cheap) phone adapters now that will allow you take quality pics and videos through your phone

 
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Courtjester said:
Is this for your use or as a gift for a kid?

If it is for a kid, I wouldn't buy an expensive one. The whole idea of looking at stuff is neat for about a week, then the novelty wears off. I bought my daughter one a few years ago. It had a camera and was pretty cool, but at 150.00 or so, it just didn't have the magnification to really show the cell level of things and she ultimately just stuffed it in her closet.

If it is for your use, spend the money and get a lab grade one otherwise it will be a waste of $$$
Click to expand...
Thanks CJ - it's for me. Any suggestions for a lab grade one? Where does one find those?

 
NorvilleBarnes said:
Courtjester said:
Is this for your use or as a gift for a kid?

If it is for a kid, I wouldn't buy an expensive one. The whole idea of looking at stuff is neat for about a week, then the novelty wears off. I bought my daughter one a few years ago. It had a camera and was pretty cool, but at 150.00 or so, it just didn't have the magnification to really show the cell level of things and she ultimately just stuffed it in her closet.

If it is for your use, spend the money and get a lab grade one otherwise it will be a waste of $$$
Click to expand...
Thanks CJ - it's for me. Any suggestions for a lab grade one? Where does one find those?
Click to expand...
True lab grade scopes are well into the 1000s. If you really want one of those, colleges will sell their old ones when they get a grant for a new one. If you want new I can get you specs of the ones we use.Eta: start with Nikon as a baseline as to what labs use.

 
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Don't be fooled by scopes that say 2000000000x zomg, the actual useful mag of optical scopes is far lower. Anything north of 200x quoted should raise suspicions.

 
culdeus said:
Don't be fooled by scopes that say 2000000000x zomg, the actual useful mag of optical scopes is far lower. Anything north of 200x quoted should raise suspicions.
Click to expand...
http://www.microscope.com/education-center/articles/false-magnification/

The important thing to note about Table 1 is that the higher power eyepieces (15x, 20x and 25x) do not operate effectively in combination with the higher power objective lenses. In other words, it is meaningless to advertise a high power, compound microscope as "2,000x Magnification" since it does not work. In reality, standard, light microscopes are designed for a maximum of 1,000x magnification....so, please - don't waste your money on claims of higher magnification via higher power eyepieces.
Click to expand...
 
NorvilleBarnes said:
Courtjester said:
Is this for your use or as a gift for a kid?

If it is for a kid, I wouldn't buy an expensive one. The whole idea of looking at stuff is neat for about a week, then the novelty wears off. I bought my daughter one a few years ago. It had a camera and was pretty cool, but at 150.00 or so, it just didn't have the magnification to really show the cell level of things and she ultimately just stuffed it in her closet.

If it is for your use, spend the money and get a lab grade one otherwise it will be a waste of $$$
Click to expand...
Thanks CJ - it's for me. Any suggestions for a lab grade one? Where does one find those?
Click to expand...
http://freyscientific.com/Home/SearchResults/tabid/413/Default.aspx?q=microscopes&x=0&y=0&guid= or http://www.carolina.com/microscopes-and-optics/10655.ct?intid=srchredir_microscopes_and_optics

 
I still say most people would get more enjoyment out of a good 20x dissecting scope (stereomicroscope)...

just like most people would get more enjoyment from a good pair of binoculars and tripod than a high powered telescope :shrug:

 
Prince Myshkin said:
I still say most people would get more enjoyment out of a good 20x dissecting scope (stereomicroscope)...

just like most people would get more enjoyment from a good pair of binoculars and tripod than a high powered telescope :shrug:
Click to expand...
I get the most enjoyment when I "leave a sample"

 
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