Selecting a microscope

[Monkeynaut]

What are you mounting the camera with? Resolution?

Like my usb camera has a .5x adapter and is 5mp 2592x1944 . It's somewhere between using my 10x and 25x eye pieces and to me is closer to the 25x.


But I've always referenced the magnification like a 10x as 10x is just easy to multiply by. [emoji4]

I'm talking about the cameras that are sold with the microscope. I posted a link below to one I am looking to get. I'm returning the one I bought before that only has the 40x lens
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01BPJJ3FM/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1_1_2?smid=A2L77EE7U53NWQ&psc=1

 

[jason2459]

I'm talking about the cameras that are sold with the microscope. I posted a link below to one I am looking to get. I'm returning the one I bought before that only has the 40x lens
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01BPJJ3FM/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1_1_2?smid=A2L77EE7U53NWQ&psc=1

This is the kit I got and went with this camera to start with and looks to have a different mounting which may make a difference.
http://www.microscopenet.com/omax-2...cleaning-kitprepared-blank-slide-p-11381.html


More details on yours.

http://www.microscopenet.com/omax-4...ope-with-camera-mechanical-stage-p-11394.html

 

[jason2459]

Yeah looks like that usb camera mounts right in place of an eye piece. So wont have as wide a field of view and I'm not sure what magnification equivalent it would be like. What does it look like to you vs the eye pieces you have?

 

[Monkeynaut]

I didn't look through eyepieces much but with the current one the camera seemed similar to the eyepiece. What magnification would it take to make a diatom look as big as the video I posted in the other threads. I thought it was around 1000. Seems like what you said. Something close to the 25x eyepiece. Lady on the phone may not have known what she was talking about. I am still getting a new one because I want the 100x objective lens with oil capability. Videos of those look much clearer than what my video showed

 

[islandbreeze]

They say we live in an expanding universe but maybe it just gets smaller and smaller. They more close I look the cooler it gets. I almost went the bifocal route hooked to a pc but when i thought about it, as much as I'd like to look at motile tetraselmis suicca growing in my algal culture, it might first be more interesting to at look at macro specimens, like my morphing fry or corals, crabs, etc. Im still interested in a scope down the road but i must recommend one of these broadfield monoscopes at 1080. they have a hdmi out, micro sd to take bursts and record shots, an adjustable light ( i find using a side light of different types, led, atnic, etc, works much better) and a rickety adjustable stank but it works and you get used to tweaking it. Bottom line is it was around hundred bucks i got it off ebay or amazon i forget ill try to find the link ltr but I have my scope hooked up to my 55 Samsung Curve UHD and its beyond hd! Awesome entertainment for hours, you can put petri dish or rammican w water and specimins like the frag plug even.

 

[islandbreeze]

A few more pics, the rainbow acan is about 1/4 inch.

 

[mcarroll]

My toy microscope included four blank plastic depression slides in the kit.

Do I really need more than this – it seems like there're very reusable? Are glass slides better? I like the reduced breakability of the plastic, at least so far.

I like the looks of these too since the well is deeper, but are they not for compound scopes?

United Scientific Supplies CSPLG1 Plastic Well Slide, 1" Wide, 3" Length (Pack of 10)
by United Scientific Supplies

77¢ each.




Concavity Slides, Plastic, 3 x 1 in, 18 x 3 mm Well, Pack 10
by Carolina Biological Supply Company
$1.15 each

;Peeking

So I took a video of phytoplankton on my microscope with a 40x objective and the camera that came with it. According to Amscope that was only a 40x video and not the 1000x I thought it was.

I'm sure they know their products, but I'm also sure they weren't making up laws of physics.

If the 100x objective (lens close to the slide) was in place and the camera was looking through a 10x eyepiece, then it was at least 1000x.

But if you take the eyepiece off and replace it with your camera, then it depends on the exact camera you have....like @jason2459 said. In that case it would be 100x times the camera's contribution from its optical (and/or digital) zoom.

 

[jason2459]

Concave slides can be useful but for normal use I find a pain as it will make it harder to find, track, and follow specimens. Especially without a mechanical stage.

 

[mcarroll]

Concave slides can be useful but for normal use I find a pain as it will make it harder to find, track, and follow specimens. Especially without a mechanical stage.

I think I may need to take the clips off my (tiny little) stage....seems like they're mostly in the way when I'm trying to chase something across the slide or even simply scan around to see if there's anything on the slide. I'll give that a shot when I get it out again – with luck that'll be today at some point.

 

[brett_schn]

Get glass

 

[mcarroll]

I'd love to have a mechanical stage.....it'll be a requirement on the next scope.

Get glass

Roger that.

 

[Monkeynaut]

@jason2459 @mcarroll to follow up with the camera and objective lens conversation. I believe the person I spoke with at Amscope was probably wrong. This is simply based on the images I was getting with the camera and the 40x lens. Also Jason you said your camera seems to be close to the 25x lens... you are probably correct. I just ordered the microscope I had posted above. But not before I asked about the camera magnification on amazon. Their response was

 

[jason2459]

Which matches up with using the .5x reducer to get a wider view making it about 15x

 

[mcarroll]

So a 100x objective with a 30x camera would give you a potential of 3000x, right?

So what @jason2459 was just saying is that a 0.5x "reducer fitting" would make that a more-sane 1500x with a bigger field of view.

Am I getting this right?

 

[jason2459]

So a 100x objective with a 30x camera would give you a potential of 3000x, right?

So what @jason2459 was just saying is that a 0.5x "reducer fitting" would make that a more-sane 1500x with a bigger field of view.

Am I getting this right?

Really with these cheap objectives anything over 1000x (100x objective * 10x eye piece) image quality starts to go down. It really starts to get noticeable at 2000x (* 20x eye piece) and worse from there.

So, the 0.5x reducer helps in two ways. Wider viewing area and better image quality when using a 60x or 100x objective.

 

[mcarroll]

I took a sample of some green slime this time and examined two slides from it.....one had nothing....the second had lots of nematodes. Still nothing but nematodes. ??

 

[jason2459]

Oh I bet there's plenty there besides them but I find nematodes in pretty much every sample.

 

[Monkeynaut]

Really with these cheap objectives anything over 1000x (100x objective * 10x eye piece) image quality starts to go down. It really starts to get noticeable at 2000x (* 20x eye piece) and worse from there.

So, the 0.5x reducer helps in two ways. Wider viewing area and better image quality when using a 60x or 100x objective.

Yeah, it is only a 2500x microscope. So I find it hard to believe anything close to 3000x will be delivered. I will post pictures on here when I get it next week. We will see just what is delivered

 

[mcarroll]

Oh I bet there's plenty there besides them but I find nematodes in pretty much every sample.

Just need more time for more looking and more samples!

 

[drawman]

Any thoughts on this scope? The price is right but not sure if it provides any advantages over the toy scope @mcarroll and others are using. Could I use a camera phone with this setup do you think?

http://www.amscope.com/40x-1000x-bi...QObpZeUxKV7M-oQrW2ZwFdM-KMIDtPIgaApK6EALw_wcB