Beginner seeks Advice on Purchasing Video Capable Microscope

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tbaldwinster

Beginner seeks Advice on Purchasing Video Capable Microscope

Post by tbaldwinster »

I am a school of the arts graduate student currently writing a proposal for a research grant that provides up to $1000, for which I must provide a detailed budget list. I have no experience in microscopy, other than recent research, but I am planning on using this budget to purchase microscope equipment to create still images and color video of relativly high quality and high resolution for manipulation with video editing/composite programs. I plan mainly on working with protozoa (paramecium, amoeba, stentor). I am looking for advice on a microscope setup within that budget that has CCD video or possibly USB or Firewire capability, and the possibility of different illumination techniques (of which I still know very little, only that I would need dark field/light field capabilities). Does anybody have any advice with regards to the setup I would need? I would like to have a fairly good range of magnification, and I saw a CCD Microscope from Precision World on Ebay that had 40X to 1600X for around $350. Do I need a stereo microscope in addition to a video capable light microscope, in order to prepare slides? What suppliers should I look to? What other equipment, in addition to the microscope setup, should I include in my budget? I am still a complete beginner, but have been researching the subject extensively and am really impressed and interested in the community surrounding microscopy, besides the fascination with microscopic organisms themselves. Please Advise, as these possible funds would be at my complete disposal.
Thanks,
Taylor

Charles Krebs
Posts: 1200
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2004 10:50 am
Location: Issaquah, WA USA

Post by Charles Krebs »

Taylor,

Where to start! :wink:
As usually happens, your "want list" is a bit at odds with your budget.

It seems you have two approaches. You can put together a system from used equipment from sources such as Ebay, LabX, and others. This may take some time, and requires a fair amount of knowledge to do well. The "plus" side it that you can put together a system of higher quality than the same money would purchase new. If you live in an area that has a reputable dealer that handles used equipment, it's worth a visit. You'll pay more than, say, Ebay. But if you are not fairly knowledgeable (as you have said) the advice and help of a fair dealer would be very valuable.
Occasionally I have seen some very nice American Optical microscopes that could fit your budget. (You need to stick with AO objectives on these)

To purchase new equipment, within or near your budget is possible I guess, but I have no idea what type of image quality you will get. You will probably be looking at equipment made in India or China. Equipment from these countries covers a large range of quality. (Some of the better Chinese equipment is not all that "cheap" anymore) I simply am not familiar enough with this equipment to offer an opinion.

Do you have an idea of the pixel dimensions you would want for your project? It's going to be a challange to get high res digital at your price point.

Based on the subject matter you mentioned (paramecium, amoeba) you will be wanting a compound microscope (not a stereo). Although not absolutely necessary, since these are live subjects, it would be best to have a trinocular head (to mount the camera) that allows you to split the light between viewing and photography.

If you want new, you might also want to look at the Russian Lomo microscopes. Pretty good value.

There's so much info on the web about microscopy. Take a crash course, digest it awhile, and you will have a better idea of what you want.

tbaldwinster

A little more knowledgable....

Post by tbaldwinster »

Thanks for the reply. Within the last 24 hours I have indeed spent time getting this crash course in video microscopy, and what you say is true. I had anticipated I would have a fair amount of breathing room with that budget, but apparently not.

I will surely need a trinocular head, and I'm hoping to get at least DV quality 720x480 resolution, but that may be my naivity talking. Nightingale Microscopes have some pretty good American Optics compound microscopes, as you mentioned. I also just check out Lomo and they have a Multiscope TMH4-BF that is in my price range (it's around $900). Does that seem like a reasonable setup? They also listed their 'best for your buck' economy model (I assume) called the Multiscope-EF, but didn't list as many specs for that, or even a price. Nightingale also listed a refurbished National Microscopes Model 163 that was relatively well priced and seemed to have most of what I needed. I've established that I'm going to need dark field illumination capabilities, as I plan on doing alot of chroma-keying and compositing of the video footage, and a uniform background and border would help immensely (I realize now that achieving that black background is not so cut a dry).

Anyway, I think I'll start looking into the notion of building my own system and doing some research into what that would entail. Thank you for the advice. Since I posted the first strand, I've had the oppotunity to survey this sight much more, and beyond being hugely impressed with the community itself, I have seen much of your photography in the galleries - which is phenomenal. Admiration to you sir. Judging from your work, I'll take your advice very seriously.

I'll keep posting my questions and hopefully everyone will be so kind as to answer a few. Someday I'll be able to contribute to the gallary.....

Guest

Post by Guest »

Here is a link to the Multiscope-EF, although I'm sure you all are familliar. Is this quality at a bargain?
http://www.lomoamerica.com/multiscopeEFDataPage.htm

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