Basic Microscope Buying Guide

These are a few tips to help you in buying the right microscope.

Microscopes enable us to see what is invisible to the naked eye. Starting from the subject that is placed under its glass bulb up to the eye piece, Microscopes gives us more understanding about the things that is unseen from the ordinary observer’s eyes. And it often times leaves the viewer, no matter what age, in a childlike wonder.

So, with only a minimal amount of information on microscopes out there, how can you choose one that will suit your needs as well making it worth your money? Heaven forbid that you make that common error by other microscope buyers and buy one with too high magnification lens that would definitely hurt your eyes and by all odds, hinder your trek in discovering the world of the unseen.

Here are a few tips to avoid that common mistake:

First, is to decide on what kind of objects you want to observe. Are they organism and bacterias? Or are they rock forms and plant formations? Because determining the stuff that you want to observe first would help you choose on what kind of microscope that you need. And if you are buying strictly for educational purposes, picking the right one is a good move so that you’ll learn more.

Second, choose the type of microscope that you want to work with. There are two types of microscopes; one is the low power kind and the other is the high power kind.

A low power microscope includes: The one that is used to inspect rocks, gems and often times in dissection of non microscopic work. They are called Stereo Microscopes or sometimes called Stereoscopes. They are used in the manufacturing business like jewelry design or analyzing stamps. Stereoscopes are also used in some parts of biology research like inspecting plant specimens. It also has the magnifications of up to 40x and often times uses an incandescent lighting bulb for better viewing.

There is another kind of low end microscope; it is the one that is often times found in scientific research laboratories across the country. They are also used in schools for studying. They are called Student Microscopes; though these kinds of microscopes have monocular heads for the eye piece, microscopes with the binocular eye piece is also available. They are able to produce a clear view of an organism that can be found in pond water or the likes. With its magnifications that often reaches 400x, Student Microscopes are used in preparing blood samples, studying cell structure, finding out about the structure of bacteria, it is basically used in any kind of scientific research that involves viewing these factors under its lens. Its light source is placed under the stage so when one is viewing a slide of like someone’s blood sample, they could easily have a clearer view of it because of its light. The light bulbs that are often used in Student Microscopes are Tungsten illumination so that it won’t hurt the eyes of the viewer when looking through the microscopes eyepiece. The Student Microscope is used in schools mostly up to the sixth grade and often times it is also a high source of fascination for children to view organisms through its lens.

The second kind f microscope is the high powered microscope.

This includes: Compound microscopes and metallurgical microscopes. They are also called High Power Professional Microscopes. These caters to research and industrial fields. The optics of these microscopes are so high that it is used for very demanding research. These microscopes has a built in mechanical stage and tri-nocular heads that is used for photography of the subject for presentation purposes. These kinds of microscope also has a variable halogen light for better viewing. Their optical magnifications often reach 1000x and sometimes, maybe even more.

Third to consider in buying a microscope is the price. If you have chosen the kind of microscope that you are planning to buy think of how much money you are willing to pay for it. If you are not really willing to cash out some big amounts, there are also microscopes that are found in the less expensive price range BUT are still capable in serving its purpose.

Having the right microscope can aid us indirectly in reaching our career goals. Of course, you have to study how to operate your microscope first before doing putting any slides of an unknown specie under its lens because it might leave some damage to your newly bought microscope. Learning new things the proper way is the best path to take to be able to understand the world that we live in.