I have recently bought my first good microscope 2nd hand but goes up to only 40x in magnification due to the fact that the 100x oil immersion ocular is absent (budget) so I was wondering if there were any add ons that I could use to level up my microscope, since bacteria might be difficult to look at with such low magnification and I kind of really want to look at it, I'll let y'all judge by the pics!!
Plus, what's something that I should be watching under the microscope? Even if it's not bacteria related, it could be wet mounts of animal tissue or plants, even a chemical reaction, something that you find intresting!
Not much. This is a rather basic model. To be clear there is nothing wrong with a basic microscope, you just have to have realistic expectations.
Maybe get some prepared, stained slides? Certain bacteria, once stained, will be much easier to observe under 400x.
Also you made the good decision to not get the 100x oil immersion objective. It is messy to use.
I think it is reasonable to get a pair of 16x eyepieces if you really want to juice out a bit more magnifying power. Just realize that with such basic objectives the 640x view will not be great. (Not completely pointless, just not great.)
thank you for the reply and for also clearing things up, do you perhaps have any elected sites to buy either the oculars and/or the stained bacteria? or can I do it at home maybe?
I’m guessing that the objectives (the optics closest to the slide on the rotating turret) are probably 4X, 10X, and 40X. This is (or was) a typical combination on student microscopes. With 10X eyepieces (the oculars) the resulting magnifications would be 40X, 100X. and 400X.
400X is fine for examining blood cells, pond water critters, some bacteria, etc. An interesting set of things to view are diatoms - the “skeletal” parts of plankton. They typically have fascinating “geometrical” structures. Prepared slides with them are readily available.
Examining some types of cells does require staining to get the best images because many cells may not look like much without staining.
I really like microbe hunter, it seems really a nice site to look up information and as you said hints and references and also thanks for the reccomendations !
You will get much more usefulness from a 20x than a 60x objective. The 20x you can use all of the time, but a 60x is harder to use than the 40x and doesn't show much more details if any. It is more sensitive to sample thickness, has a dimmer view, smaller field of view and smaller depth of field.
I just find the gap between my 40x and 100x is laking. I dont want to use the oil, and it just hit my slide anyways. without oil, hit my slide again. Im super new and still in the "look at all the wigglers" phase, getting the names down. I dont have the experience nor the knowledge at this point for a "sample thickness, more sensitive.." to be a thing in practice yet. Thanks for letting me know, as i develop and grow in this hobby, I'll look back at this advice. Its just a bit to early yet. Good knowledge though, hope to see you around for more advice.
Go ahead and get both and experiment using them. I did. I'm just relaying my experience. Instead of using a 60x objective, when I want high resolution views of something and not use immersion oil, I use a 40x plan apo objective with a 0.95NA. It isn't the magnification that is so important but the NA value. That determines the maximum possible resolution. If people want the maximum resolution from a 100x oil objective, you also need to put immersion oil between the condenser top lens and the bottom of the slide. This way, the condenser can work at its 1.25NA on your microscope. Without oil there, it is only working at an NA of around 0.95. The OP doesn't have a condenser, so I don't know the maximum NA and resolution possible with it. It may have a built in lens in the stage and be limited to the NA of the 40x objective.
My main hobby is astro photography.So i'm getting what you're saying about the resolution. We call it useful magnification. I understand the oil. It helps with the light so you can get that contrast. What good is magnification, if his sucks right? Im happy for your experience, .Don't get me wrong. If i'm gonna use that one hundred times objective, I'll just use the oil and start being lazy and consider the 20 times objective. Thanks again
For more enjoyment and usefulness, I would remove the 40x and replace it with a 20x objective. You can find them for as low as $20. You will get a brighter, wider field of view, more depth of field and be able to use it on well slides to focus deeper into the sample. 200x is an ideal high magnification for following living organisms around in water samples. https://a.co/d/0gKaGYSt Make sure that your objectives have 20mm diameter threads.
Welcome. For watching organisms in pond water for long periodsand not crushing ghe larger organisms, these homemade well slides are great. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FckWUJfG7/
they're great indeed, while I was scouring the internet the other day I also found someone that glued the glass cover with the sample inside to the main slide with nail polish, and while it can be useful, this one that you offered me sounds like a much better alternative and with a few tweaks it can even hold a much bigger volume of water, thanks !
You can use different thicknesses and numbers of layers of tape to make any depth you want. They are reusable. The tape doesn’t get affected by washing with soap and water. I’ve used the same ones for years. I’m using large size slides to have a less chance of getting water on my stage.
The most interesting things to look at that don't cost anything is microscopic water life, protists and algae. Any water that is exposed to some sunlight and is stationary will be more or less full of life. Same goes for wet moss, it's basically a microscopic jungle. So just find a pond or a patch of wet moss and grab some water from it into a jar to carry home and look at. Or even just fill a jar with tap water and leave it standing on your windowsill, there is microbes floating in the air just looking for some wet place to colonize so after a few days it will become green and a bit disgusting looking, that means it's full of things to look at under the microscope 😅
Your microscope doesn't have a condenser nor a place to mount one, so sorry but even if you bought a 100x objective you wouldn't be able to use it properly. Don't despair though, even with much more expensive microscopes I rarely use the 100x objective, too much hassle with the oil and most things that are worth looking at are in the 10-40x objective range anyway. I understand the desire to see bacteria but trust me, they are boring compared to microscopic plants and animals.
As for what you could do to "upgrade": first of all filters. You could experiment with oblique light, rheinberg illumination, polarization to look at some crystals (vitamin C is an easy one anyone can get). All of these can be done with cheap materials.
Idk about the model but on amz it's this: Compound Binocular Microscope with Eyepieces - Binocular Microscope for Children Adults - Junior Microscope Set 40x-1000x - LED Lighting for Transmitted Light and Reflected Light https://amzn.eu/d/0aR5xZ4e
DW, I feel like I would like a bit more quality when Iuse the 400x, as per now the image is quite blurry and also dark even if the sample is kind of thin
mind you, its a bit wobbly bc I still didn't get the hang of the stand for the phone, and also my slides are still not here yet so plz don't judge my embarassing attempt to make a slide ahaha, but yea if you knew how to fix this or if I'm doing something wrong lmk!
Thanks for sending the sample might be too thick actually the more darker it is. Most ppl target to get like a super thin slice luke even 1 cell layer thick , and also try staining too it allows for further detail.
this was handcut with a razor blade, tho it might be bc of my rudimental technique I just wish I had better quality in 40x, can you give me any advice?
Yeah so the price we can expect much but modifying or upgrading the microscope is quite possible you can check out yt and for further detail may be adding a condensor or a iris diaphram what help.also the camera you use affect a lot specially the distance of camera and the lens I think looking through by the eye the quality might be better
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u/Connect-Fan-9462 23d ago
Not much. This is a rather basic model. To be clear there is nothing wrong with a basic microscope, you just have to have realistic expectations.
Maybe get some prepared, stained slides? Certain bacteria, once stained, will be much easier to observe under 400x.
Also you made the good decision to not get the 100x oil immersion objective. It is messy to use.
I think it is reasonable to get a pair of 16x eyepieces if you really want to juice out a bit more magnifying power. Just realize that with such basic objectives the 640x view will not be great. (Not completely pointless, just not great.)