Posted: 7/11/2013 5:10:14 PM EDT
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For those of you who spend your days working with a microscope or who work in a lab environment, your input is requested. We homeschool, and our oldest will be a sophomore so it's time for biology. Along with a dissection kit and assorted things to carve up, we are also looking to buy a microscope. There is our need. Here's my wants... I would like to get a good microscope, ideally with HD video out. The reason I want HD video out is because of issues relating to less-than-perfect vision; I could use the microscope to find the object / structure / organism, then display it on a much larger HD TV. We don't have a ton of money to spend, and this is not a research facility. Suggestions on a brand / model that should fit what I'm looking for? (And, before anyone asks, yes, I have looked online. Amazon has a few with those or similar features, but I know nothing about the brands or models beyond what I read there.) Thanks! |
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Quoted: Is price an issue? Most of the ones I've used and would recommend are well into the $20k range  Yes - aside from not having a spare $20K in my sock drawer  , we're not running a major pharmaceutical or university lab. This is for sophomore biology, with the considerations outlined in my original post.
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Amscope looks to be Chinese made.
That said, they are likely more than adequate for a student microscope. Forget about the 1000x you see (often 100x objective ad 10x eye piece). It takes immersion, a lot of light, and very expensive scopes to get there. Resolution is more important than magnifying power. A lower power stereo scope is often better for dissection work. |
Haha the first thing I thought of when I read the title was the kind I use:
They run around $300,000. Seriously though, for high school biology, don't go overboard. You don't need HD out, just plain old video out, that will be sufficiently sharp for anything a high school student needs to examine up close. |
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What's your budget? Olympus and Nikon make GREAT scopes but they are $$$
Rentals/leasing come to mind, too. So, does resale after use to recover some/all of your investment. Have you considered buying photomicrographs of the objects you want to study? You can still do the dissections but the imagery doesn't have to be yours. If you were studying/practicing the preparation of the slides (staining, preserving) that can be done without a scope. If you want to study the optics that can be done without the scope. It's the mechanics of the scope itself, practicing the use of the microscope, that might be different - you'd want a scope. Some of those skills are machine-unique. What specs do you need in a scope? What magnification, monocular or stereoscopic? Do you need various types of illumination (bright field dark field, transmission)? Student Scopes at Edmund Scientific Celestron at Optics Planet |
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We run Olympus BH-2's w/Trinocular head for video out applications.
We run those 2 w/polarized light and wave plates. We also run Olympus CH's for phase contrast microscopy and just got an Olympus CX31 also for phase contrast. The BH-2's are my favorite to work on and we run them HARD. |
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Hope this is not too late.
We have homeschooled our children their entire school careers (daughter, 17, freshman at Texas A&M; son, 15, high school sophomore). 8 to 10 years ago we purchase a microscope from here: Great Scopes I have been very impressed with the quality versus what we paid. |