Hi VEG,
My apologies for not getting back to you sooner, but we have just had one of our dogs die and have gone a bought a puppy.
Right Microscopy.
When using a microscope at our level the term is ?Light Microscopy? as we only magnify to a maximum of about X1600. Anything above that and its electron microscopy.
So what as beekeepers do we use microscopes for?
To test for bee diseases,
(A) AFB ? EFB Yes X1000
(A) Nosema Yes X400
(B) Acarine Yes X20-50
(A) Malpighaimoeba Yes X400
(C) Viruses No X1000>
(A) Pollen Yes X400>
(B) Internal organs yes X20-40 (X100>)
(B) External organs yes X20-40 (X100>)
Types of microscopes.
For small magnification we use a Stereo microscope which is used for dissection work. Ideally it should have a magnification capability of X5 ? X30 with eyepieces of X5 or X10. Lighting is from above and (below but this is not essential). A good working distance from the objective to the base is needed as one will be handling instruments.
Stereo microscopes will give a good 3D image of the object.
Uses; (B).
For all other uses a Compound microscope is required. With this type of microscope it must have 4 objectives X4 X10 X40 X100, with eyepieces of X10 or X12.5 or X15.
The stage should be a mechanical stage with graticules running on the ?X? and ?Y? lines. The remainder of a compound microscope comes as standard and there are accessories that can be purchased for various other manipulations.
I have not mentioned price as you get what you pay for.
So VEG you wanted to test for Nosema so you would require a compound microscope.
I have seen other children?s ocular microscope that can magnify to about X500 and can be fitted to a PC or Laptop. I do not know what they are like for resolution etc.
Hope this helps.
Regards;
