buying a mircoscope

[REDWOOD]

I'm thinking of buying a Bresser Biolux NV with 20x -1280x Magnification are they any good

 

[itma]

I'm thinking of buying a Bresser Biolux NV with 20x -1280x Magnification are they any good

They are OK when they show up in Lidl. And you get a 3 year warranty, with no fuss return/refund if not satisfied.

 

[Ruary]

I'm thinking of buying a Bresser Biolux NV with 20x -1280x Magnification are they any good

First off: you won't get X1280 magnification with these lenses with any degree of definition. It is really a toy and not suited for serious work as the field of view is too small.

 

[REDWOOD]

Ha lucky I was out bid on ebay then so what would you suggest as a budget good quality used or new scope

 

[itma]

If its still less than £50 this December in Lidl, it'll still be a bargain for Nosema testing.
Even if the extra USB video eyepiece is low res, its in for nothing.


I just wish that there was an easily-available and equivalently priced stereo/dissection microscope ...

 

[Norfolk]

Ha lucky I was out bid on ebay then so what would you suggest as a budget good quality used or new scope

I have one of these

http://www.celestron.com/science_education/lcd-digital-microscope.html

If you want to pay for insured postage both ways I'll lend it to you for a month if you want.

 

[Arfermo]

I have one of these

http://www.celestron.com/science_education/lcd-digital-microscope.html

If you want to pay for insured postage both ways I'll lend it to you for a month if you want.

Discontinued according to website.

 

[Norfolk]

Discontinued according to website.

Oh ok, still a few about though but maybe the replacement is better.

Amazon are still selling them

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-44340-Digital-Biological-Microscope/dp/B0014YNGCK"]Amazon.com: Celestron 44340 LCD Digital LDM Biological Microscope: Camera & Photo[/ame]

Ebay too

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Celestron...quipment_Lab_Equipment_ET&hash=item41726917b9

 

[REDWOOD]

No longer available
I have been looking at a second hand Lomo Biolam a Russian bit of kit

 

[pargyle]

Ha lucky I was out bid on ebay then so what would you suggest as a budget good quality used or new scope

So was I ... and I didn't win it either ... looked like a reasonable deal until it started going up in price ... thought it would be useful to have a USB camera on the end of it and a cheap replacement for my 40 year old Winkel-Zeiss Gottinghen !!

 

[REDWOOD]

The older microscopes look a better quality than some of the new one's, probably not made in China

 

[Tom Bick]

If its photos you are looking for I get good results with my old built like a tank made for schools microscope.

I simply focus the item and then rest my smart phone camera over the eye piece the screen allows you to position and click, all you have to do then is transfer to computer and you have an image on your phone and computer.

 

[Ruary]

If its still less than £50 this December in Lidl, it'll still be a bargain for Nosema testing.
Even if the extra USB video eyepiece is low res, its in for nothing.


I just wish that there was an easily-available and equivalently priced stereo/dissection microscope ...

The field of view is far too small to examine slide for nosema if the infection level is low if the slide is covered in spores then you will see them with this.

 

[pargyle]

The field of view is far too small to examine slide for nosema if the infection level is low if the slide is covered in spores then you will see them with this.

The Lidl Bresser job has a mechanical table so ... if the field of view is small can you just move the slide across and/or up on the table using the controls to see a larger sample... ?

I'm not a microscophy expert and one of the problems with my existing scope is that it was, originally, a geological polarising microscope and the field of view with the lenses I have with it is very narrow - but, trying to move the slide about without a mechanical table is not very successful.

 

[itma]

... It is really a toy and not suited for serious work as the field of view is too small.

So, how little money do you think one might be able to get away with, for a beekeeper's beginning microscope?

 

[Ruary]

The Lidl Bresser job has a mechanical table so ... if the field of view is small can you just move the slide across and/or up on the table using the controls to see a larger sample... ?

Using Yates as an example he states that before you can declare a sample as free you must not have found a spore in 5 distinct fields of view. That is using a narmal microscope with X10 WF eyepieces. To do that with one of these microscopes with threir restricted view mean that one must examine 16 field of view.

Ruary

 

[Ruary]

So, how little money do you think one might be able to get away with, for a beekeeper's beginning microscope?

Well I would be worried about buying a beginning microscope in the first place. It won't be long before the disadvantages of such a microscope come apparent. That said my first (adult) microscope cost 100 punt; it was mococular, X4, X10, X40 objectives and I got X10 and X15 eyepieces. There was no mechanical stage and the condensor was a fixed lens, condenser aperture was a series of cut our holes on a rotating disk. I could do nosema and pollen ,and aging sea trout by reading their scales with this, and your hands learn to cope with no mechanical stage. After a session at Gormanston, I found the ease of binocular vision sunverted me and I went as expensive as I could afford in buying a brunell microscope. As everyone knows one also needs a stereo microscope but I went as cheaply on this as the magnification required was not high. That said new lenses were got for this so I could reach X80 if I required.
Then for teaching purposes a quad-ocular compaund microscope was obtained.

 

[REDWOOD]

Would something like this be OK

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131031982293?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648

 

[Ruary]

Yes, would be better if light source was electric, but a person with good mechanical ability could adapt that.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Well I would be worried about buying a beginning microscope in the first place. It won't be long before the disadvantages of such a microscope come apparent. That said my first (adult) microscope cost 100 punt; it was mococular, X4, X10, X40 objectives and I got X10 and X15 eyepieces. There was no mechanical stage and the condensor was a fixed lens, condenser aperture was a series of cut our holes on a rotating disk. I could do nosema and pollen ,and aging sea trout by reading their scales with this, and your hands learn to cope with no mechanical stage. After a session at Gormanston, I found the ease of binocular vision sunverted me and I went as expensive as I could afford in buying a brunell microscope. As everyone knows one also needs a stereo microscope but I went as cheaply on this as the magnification required was not high. That said new lenses were got for this so I could reach X80 if I required.
Then for teaching purposes a quad-ocular compound microscope was obtained.

The biolam is ok, if Redwood gets one, i used one for years , it has an abode condenser with iris and a standard mechanical stage fits and the Lomo Din though not as good as S-flat served me well except the lomo oil x100 which seemed too dark

i've now got a Meiji M2000 Quin turret and kholer condenser with x4,x10 x20 x40x80 oil s-plan objective and x10 and x20 eyepieces, i however tend to just use x20 objective and x25 digitsl usb camera from brunel (£45)# (there are better cams now)

i found my meiji on Ebay for £140 under the title heavy old microscope and i noticed the s-plan on the objective....Brunel sell refurbished ones for £499