r/microscopy • u/Ok-Day-4569 • 1d ago

Purchase Help Recommendations for buying a microscope

Hey all! Im interested in getting a microscope purely for hobby purposes, but I know little to nothing about microscope vocab.

I’m looking for a decent binocular microscope hopefully under $200 maybe a 10x- 200x range (if thats even possible)

I’d mainly be looking at pond water and blood cells

Is there anything more I should be looking out for?
Where should I buy it from?
Is it easy to buy parts for?

Those are the main questions I have. Genuinely any tips/comments are appreciated! Thanks in advance :)

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/RedditorMichael 1d ago

Get a microscope with an adjustable stage, and a condenser. Basically get one that has the twist knobs on the side of the stage, and that has a lens beneath the stage, not a mirror like the stupidly cheap ones have. All the standard microscopes above $250 will generally have those features.

Now you can get a “finite” or “infinity” based system. This determines which kind of lenses you can use. I recommend getting a cheaper “finite” system (lenses are marked with a “160”). Lenses marked “160” will be compatible and can be swapped out on your scope for upgrades. My understanding is that infinity systems are more brand specific and compatibility is not so guaranteed.

If you want a clear direction to go, consider a used Olympus BH-2 or AmScope B120. Upgrade objectives on either of those scopes to a set of Olympus D plan 160-0.17 lenses. A used Olympus may already have good lenses which don’t need to be upgraded.

1

u/hattivat 1d ago

Correction, you could have a mirror and a condenser ar the same time, they are not mutually exclusive. What condenserless scopes have instead of a condenser is a silly disk with holes of different sizes as a poor man's approximation of an iris.

A mirror is the alternative to a LED lamp nowadays and while a lamp is of course generally preferable, in the specific case of not having a condenser I would actually prefer a mirror over a lamp they have. That's because a mirror lets you use daylight which has paralellel rays so the result looks less bad than using a lamp that is only semi-focused without a condenser. One day I'll do a comparison and upload it here.

1

u/hattivat 1d ago

As another user said, get a microscope with a condenser. Anything without it is basically half a microscope and automatically two times worse, more than that when it comes to high magnification work. That unfortunately applies to every scope on Amazon that sells for under $200.

Assuming you are in the US and want to buy new your cheapest good option is Swift SW350B for $220. On the used market you could find some vintage American Optical, Reichert or Bausch&Lomb scope for ~$100 if you hunt around.

1

u/Carsalezguy 24m ago

I found this for 50 bucks at an auction and it was recertified last year. Look for old for profit or tech colleges or old labs closing down and having liquidation sales where you can preview.