Andre, First of all what are your specimens going to be like. Sections of plants? Small solid objects? Seeds, shells, tiny animals, micro-organisms, insects, pollen grains (these are great, often having beautiful sculptured detail on the surface), protozoa? A microscope suitable for a blood smear, animal tissue sections, bacterial cultures, protozoa and the like would be a transmission instrument with a condenser of NA 1.4 and a set of objectives say 4X, 10X, 40X and 100X oil immersion; two pairs of eyepieces - 8x and 12X would do - very expensive purchase indeed.
If you want to take pictures of small solid objects, say between 0,1 mm and 10 mm in size a stereo microscope would be suitable. The barrels of these instruments have a diameter of 33 mm - Leitz, Zeiss, Wild, Reichert, Olympus, Nikon and such, are all the same. Pentax will make an adaptor for this size as well as one for transmission instruments which are smaller - 26 mm. Transmission microscopy always involves the preparation of the specimen in a laboratory. It's not something that can easily be done by a beginner. Using a stereo microscope is much easier, you can use it to look at anything that will fit on the stage, or not if you have the right support. Limited transmission is also possible. But remember this - at final magnifications - more than about 5X you will have hardly any depth of field. There are ways around this problem, but all are very complicated and expensive. A Wild M1, a simple student instrument will give a range of magnifications from about 5X to 80X and be the most suitable for a start. You'd need good lights, at least two and a couple of reflectors perhaps. Most labs use halogen lamps with fibre optic light guides these days - expensive things. But tell us what you have in mind. If you don't know, as I didn't when I first started this at 15, it can be frustrating. Cheap Chinese or Russian microscopes should be avoided at all costs. The good ones will cost a few thousand dollars, but for a few hundred you might get a nice instrument on eBay - a Wild or Leitz with a couple of sets of eyepieces and a magnification range of 5X to 250X. I saw one a while back. There was also a Nikon transmission instrument, starting at a few hundred dollars that was, in my opinion, worth at least $5000. The seller had no idea what he was dealing with and thought the small bottle of immersion oil in the case was for "cleaning lenses". By the way, the mechanical parts of a microscope are very important. If it shakes, or the focussing mechanism has backlash, or the optical system doesn't line up, you can forget it. It would be like using a pair of binoculars with a loose prism. Remember this though: the results will always be a bit disappointing. What you see with two eyes is always more impressive than a picture taken through one of the tubes. Don Dr E D F Williams http://personal.inet.fi/cool/don.williams Author's Web Site and Photo Gallery Updated: March 30, 2002 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Langevin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 12:02 AM Subject: Advice for a microscope for photog. purpose? > I would like to enter the world of microphotography. What microscope > type is the most usefull for photographers. I already have the > Microscope Adapter K and two Mplan lenses (5X and 10X). Basic > Olympus microscopes seem to go for little money on eBay. > > Maybe Don could give me some advices? > > Andre > -- > >
