Microscope Recommendations: Good value for money and takes photos?

[Isopod]

TL;DR Summary

Looking for an affordable microscope which can also take digital photos

Hi there!

I'm doing a project where I will be making 3 ecospheres (ecosphere = enclosed water ecosystem trapped in a jar) using water & substrate taken from 3 different natural sources. I'm hoping that microscopic life will flourish in these jars because my plan next is to study the lifeforms under microscope slides. I really want a microscope that can take digital photos so that I can also make some large prints of my ecosphere creatures. Does anyone have any recommendations for an affordable microscope suitable for these purposes?
Thank you very much~

PS: I'm a student living in the UK.

 

[Tom.G]

Since you emphasized affordable...

Just a quick search found:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084HJ44J5/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Above, and thousands more, found with:
https://www.google.com/search?&q=video+microscope+amazon

Sounds like a fun project!

Cheers,
Tom

 

[DaveE]

If you're on Facebook check out the group "Amateur Microscopy". That would be a great place to ask this question. Lots of UK people there too.

 

[BillTre]

Have you had any experience with microscopes?
Do you have a budget in mind?

You should figure out what you want to take pictures of and under what conditions.

Microscopes are often divided into two kinds:

1) a compound scope with different powers of lenses that can be switch around. It is usually used with microscope slides. The lenses often have a very shallow depth of field. This means you have to focus up and down to get a good look at a large 3D object. Microscope slide are usually very thin slices of something that used to be alive. To view something alive and moving (like a Daphina or amphipod) you will have to get (or make) some special slides so your little animals won't get crushed.

Tinier things like paramecia will usually be fine under a cover slip, but you might want to prop the coverslip up on pieces of coverslip to hold it up, so things aren't crushed.

2) the other kind of microscope is a dissecting scope. It is a lower magnification scope, with a longer working distance (distance between the lens and the object in focus), and a much bigger field of view (how much area you can see). This kind of scope is good for manipulating things. For example, they can be used for surgeries.

Its my impression that now-a-days you can get a pretty good home microscope with a digital camera built in, at a decent price.
You might be able to get a nice used compound scope from people who were in vet or medical schools for a bit more.
Research grade scopes cost much more.
If you are seriously shopping for a scope, it would be good to try it out with some samples, of whatever you are going to want to look at, before you buy it, if possible.
Something like the FB microscopy group @DaveE mentioned would be a good source of information about what is out there now, that is good. To some extent, it would be a stand in for really checking it out in person.

Lighting is also an important aspect of microscopy.

 

[Fra]

As noted already, there are different kinds of microscopes depending on the size of the "creatures" you are talking about. And what photographic quality you expect from your "large prints". I've got some limited experience both with photography and hobby microscopes and one option I tried which is really low budget is if you want to take functional photos of groups of cells, I have used a simple hobby level microscope and instead of the USB camera that was shipped with it, used a normal digital camera that i simply mounted over the eyepiece. Crappy functional, but works for documenting cell counts, look at mold or cell staining but nothign to print for the wall. As cheap as it gets, my microscope back them was just 70Euro. This was years ago though. (sample pics from a toy microscope(70Euro) + simply digital camera held over eyepiece, the cells in the pics are S.Cerevisae(breing yeast) and they are around 8um)

If you are talking about large things like BUGS, I would consider instead of a microscope a normal DSLR with a good macro lens, that way you can also probably easier work with lightning to get the right level of contrast with a mini studio setup with flashes or external directed lights.

https://ehabphotography.com/best-macro-lens-for-insect-photography-the-top-5/

The main problem I had with my old setup except for poor optical quality (lenses are low quality in the microscope) was the unstable mechanics, so as oon as you remove your fingers from the focus knob, there was a spontaneous drift. With a better budget you can probably solve that though.
/Fredrik

 

[BillTre]

The main problem I had with my old setup except for poor optical quality (lenses are shitty in the microscope) was the unstable mechanics, so as oon as you remove your fingers from the focus knob, there was a spontaneous drift. With a better budget you can probably solve that though.
/Fredrik

A feature in many older microscopes is that you can often tighten up the resistance to vertical drift by turning the two main up-down focusing knobs (on either side of the microscope body) in different directions. This will often reduce the drift, but make it harder to do the focusing.

 

[jrmichler]

Several years ago, I bought a USB microscope from this company: https://www.dino-lite.com/. I think this is their lowest cost scope: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GA9QJQY/?tag=pfamazon01-20.

We bought a slightly more expensive model that had built in measuring capability. I don't remember the exact model. It was easy to use and gave high quality images. We used it to measure some part features less than 1 mm in size that could not be measured using standard measuring tools.

 

[Isopod]

Since you emphasized affordable...

Just a quick search found:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084HJ44J5/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Above, and thousands more, found with:
https://www.google.com/search?&q=video+microscope+amazon

Sounds like a fun project!

Cheers,
Tom

Thank you for the links, the microscrope in the 1st one looks like it could be very good for my needs!

If you're on Facebook check out the group "Amateur Microscopy". That would be a great place to ask this question. Lots of UK people there too.

Ah, I am afraid that I quit a lot of social media 2 years ago :/

Have you had any experience with microscopes?
Do you have a budget in mind?

You should figure out what you want to take pictures of and under what conditions.

Microscopes are often divided into two kinds:

1) a compound scope with different powers of lenses that can be switch around. It is usually used with microscope slides. The lenses often have a very shallow depth of field. This means you have to focus up and down to get a good look at a large 3D object. Microscope slide are usually very thin slices of something that used to be alive. To view something alive and moving (like a Daphina or amphipod) you will have to get (or make) some special slides so your little animals won't get crushed.

Tinier things like paramecia will usually be fine under a cover slip, but you might want to prop the coverslip up on pieces of coverslip to hold it up, so things aren't crushed.

2) the other kind of microscope is a dissecting scope. It is a lower magnification scope, with a longer working distance (distance between the lens and the object in focus), and a much bigger field of view (how much area you can see). This kind of scope is good for manipulating things. For example, they can be used for surgeries.

Its my impression that now-a-days you can get a pretty good home microscope with a digital camera built in, at a decent price.
You might be able to get a nice used compound scope from people who were in vet or medical schools for a bit more.
Research grade scopes cost much more.
If you are seriously shopping for a scope, it would be good to try it our with some samples, of whatever you are going to want to look at, before you buy it, if possible.
Something like the FB microscopy group @DaveE mentioned would be a good source of information about what is out there now, that is good. To some extent, it would be a stand in for really checking it out in person.

Lighting is also an important aspect of microscopy.

1. I have no experience with microscopes.
2. My maximum budget is £100 for everything (the microscope and whatever else I need to go with it).
3. I would really like to be able to view creatures of Daphinia size under the lens.
4. Do you think that I would be better off getting a Dissecting Scope?

Thank you!

As noted already, there are different kinds of microscopes depending on the size of the "creatures" you are talking about. And what photographic quality you expect from your "large prints". I've got some limited experience both with photography and hobby microscopes and one option I tried which is really low budget is if you want to take functional photos of groups of cells, I have used a simple hobby level microscope and instead of the USB camera that was shipped with it, used a normal digital camera that i simply mounted over the eyepiece. Crappy functional, but works for documenting cell counts, look at mold or cell staining but nothign to print for the wall. As cheap as it gets, my microscope back them was just 70Euro. This was years ago though. (sample pics from a toy microscope(70Euro) + simply digital camera held over eyepiece, the cells in the pics are S.Cerevisae(breing yeast) and they are around 8um)
View attachment 298959View attachment 298958

If you are talking about large things like BUGS, I would consider instead of a microscope a normal DSLR with a good macro lens, that way you can also probably easier work with lightning to get the right level of contrast with a mini studio setup with flashes or external directed lights.

https://ehabphotography.com/best-macro-lens-for-insect-photography-the-top-5/

The main problem I had with my old setup except for poor optical quality (lenses are low quality in the microscope) was the unstable mechanics, so as oon as you remove your fingers from the focus knob, there was a spontaneous drift. With a better budget you can probably solve that though.
/Fredrik

I want to be able to study both tiny bugs like Daphinia (so like. 0.02mm long) and things much smaller as I want to get into the unseen world of the ecosphere's water too (basically, I want to study as many levels of it as possible). I'm primarily a Fine Art student and I want to produce quality prints of the waters life both for artistic reference and study as well as to put up in my exhibition (I'm doing a research laboratory theme looking at stuff like the sense of self in the tree of life).

A feature in many older microscopes is that you can often tighten up the resistance to vertical drift by turning the two main up-down focusing knobs (on either side of the microscope body) in different directions. This will often reduce the drift, but make it harder to do the focusing.

I'm really a total newb to all this kind of stuff (lots of enthusiasm but very little knowledge/experience), I appreciate you spending the time to give me all this advice!

Several years ago, I bought a USB microscope from this company: https://www.dino-lite.com/. I think this is their lowest cost scope: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GA9QJQY/?tag=pfamazon01-20.
View attachment 298974
We bought a slightly more expensive model that had built in measuring capability. I don't remember the exact model. It was easy to use and gave high quality images. We used it to measure some part features less than 1 mm in size that could not be measured using standard measuring tools.

Thank you for the links!

 

[Fra]

I want to be able to study both tiny bugs like Daphinia (so like. 0.02mm long)

Here is a page with someone taking stunning Daphinia pictures even from artistic perspective.

https://www.canadiannaturephotographer.com/daphnia.html
https://www.canadiannaturephotographer.com/photomicrography_tips.html

/Fredrik

 

[phinds]

I've had good results with this model
https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-Handheld-Digital-Microscope-Pro
Here's an example: NOTE: FOR SOME REASON THIS IS ONLY SHOWING AT HALF SIZE. It's more impressive at full size

 

[BillTre]

https://www.canadiannaturephotographer.com/photomicrography_tips.html

I think this is a really good reference.
It covers a lot of things that come up in trying to take these kind of pictures.
It also shows his scopes, which don't look cheap.
Kohler or DIC imaging is not cheap, but the oblique lighting is doable wih the right set-up.

 

[Tom.G]

For very low cost extra magnification you can add another lens in front of the objective. The image quality usually suffers, and positioning is difficult, but it may be worth a try with a tight budget. Use whatever lens you can get your hands on, a magnifing glass, an eye loupe, eyepiece from old binoculars, etc.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[DrDu]

Better get a second hand microscope from renowned manufacturers like Leitz, Olympus, Zeiss... and a mechanical adapter to fix your smart phone to the ocular. Smart phones yield excellent photos on microscopes and you take full advantage of the optical correction of the ocular.

 

[Isopod]

Thank you SO MUCH for all these replies, you have all been SUPER helpful !

Here is a page with someone taking stunning Daphinia pictures even from artistic perspective.

https://www.canadiannaturephotographer.com/daphnia.html
https://www.canadiannaturephotographer.com/photomicrography_tips.html

/Fredrik

These images are really fantastic, I'm having a good look through this page, thank you!

I've had good results with this model
https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-Handheld-Digital-Microscope-Pro
Here's an example: NOTE: FOR SOME REASON THIS IS ONLY SHOWING AT HALF SIZE. It's more impressive at full sizeView attachment 299032

Thank you very much for the recommendation and for sharing your pictures!

I think this is a really good reference.
It covers a lot of things that come up in trying to take these kind of pictures.
It also shows his scopes, which don't look cheap.
Kohler or DIC imaging is not cheap, but the oblique lighting is doable wih the right set-up.

Unfortunately, as a student I really am on a strict budget (I'm used to being adaptable though!).

For very low cost extra magnification you can add another lens in front of the objective. The image quality usually suffers, and positioning is difficult, but it may be worth a try with a tight budget. Use whatever lens you can get your hands on, a magnifing glass, an eye loupe, eyepiece from old binoculars, etc.

Cheers,
Tom

I will see if I can get hold of any old cheap magnifying glasses or binoculars on ebay, thank you!

Better get a second hand microscope from renowned manufacturers like Leitz, Olympus, Zeiss... and a mechanical adapter to fix your smart phone to the ocular. Smart phones yield excellent photos on microscopes and you take full advantage of the optical correction of the ocular.

I will check out those brands and a Smartphone adapter, thank you!