Bewildered by the choice... and by the european brands

[manu3d]

Hi everybody!

First of all, thank you all for the amount and quality of information you have, over time, collected in these forums. Not to mention the great images! For one, by reading various threads in this forum, I've decided to ditch the idea of buying a stereo scope with a trinocular head in favour of a binocular one, as it transpire that taking pictures through a stereo microscope is not quite a good idea if one is after quality. And the first priority of this purchase is actually to just to have a look at the beauty of everyday subjects, from the surface and texture of home objects to insects and anything small I might stumble upon. So, I concluded, a bino head should save me some money to reinvest in higher quality optics and/or accessories.

In this context, and considering a total budget between 500 € and 800 € I have a few question marks orbiting my head.

1. Modularity: how do I recognize if a microscope will allow me to easily upgrade its components? I.e. is it difficult to convert a bright field stereo microscope to a dark field one? Or eventually changing its main objective from its standard one to one from one of the famous brands, such as Zeiss or Leica?

2. Lighting: is it just my impression or buying a stereo microscope without lighting to then add to it one of those lighting units with two flexible heads might be a wise way to do things? If anything I could use the same lighting unit if I get into micro/macro photography. But how do those kind of lighting solutions will fit later with more specialized lighting such as dark field, phase contrast, or even polarized light?

3. Optics: having worked 12 years in the visual effects field (3D computer graphics) I am probably more sensitive than average to issues such as blurry details or chromatic aberrations. Brands such as Zeiss or Leica are, for the time being, seemingly well over my budget and I see them only as later upgrades. So, how do European brands such as Müller or Bresser fare in this context?

4. Accessories: what are the must-buy accessories I should buy at the same time I buy the microscope? If anything, how do I keep a live critter from escaping the stage? A petri dish perhaps?

Thank you very much for any wisdom and knowledge you'll be kind enough to share!

Ciao!

Manu

[Charles Krebs]

Manu,

I've watched you post now for a few days to see if anyone would reply. One problem is that most here are reticent to post opinions on equipment they have never used. Brands like Müller or Bresser may be common in some areas but outside of Europe they are never seen.

I have no way of know about those brands you mentioned, but a great many brands of stereo microscopes are made in China. This is not necessarily a bad thing ((Even some of the big names make equipment in China) but it does mean that it is nearly impossible to offer an opinion unless one has actually used a specific microscope.

You might want to consider Meiji. They are made in Japan. Meiji has an excellent reputation for their stereo scopes.

[Alan Wood]

Manu

1) Modularity. The only way to be sure is to find a brochure or website for the particular model that interests you. For a new microscope, check with the supplier that the accessories that you want are really available.

As far as I know, you cannot swap objectives between brands. With Olympus, there are different objectives for different models.

2). Lighting. For top (incident) lighting, you can always use separate fibre optic or LED lamps. For transmitted light, you should make sure that a suitable base is available for the microscope that interests you. If you want dark ground, then make sure that a suitable accessory is available. Polarised light is fairly easy to set up once you have transmitted light - one polariser below the subject, and another attached to the objective; you need to be able to rotate one of them. I have never see phase contrast for a stereo microscope.

3) Optics. Nikon, Olympus and Wild also have a good reputation. Charles is correct about lesser European brands; they are probably made in Asia, and the only way to choose a good one is to try it for yourself, or rely on a recommendation for a specific model.

4) Accessories. Petri dishes are definitely useful to stop live specimens from escaping. I prefer small ones (50-60 mm diameter) to the more common 90-100 mm ones. Pipettes for transferring liquids. There all sorts of accessories for holding, tilting and rotating specimens, but most of them can be improvised at low cost.

Alan Wood

[manu3d]

Thank you Charles for your reply. I noticed you often mention the issue of not wanting to comment on equipment that one hasn't personally tried. I think it's an honest position. I've looked at the Meiji website and elsewhere I stumbled upon many mentions of the brand and its products. I do not doubt they are excellent, I've browsed ebay for them and I asked for a price list to the UK dealer. I am however skeptical I'll find one in my affordable price range.

Also thank you Alan, who so kindly replied point by point: much appreciated. On point 2, lighting, have you heard of any setup that allows for darkfield to be added post-purchase? Or accessories to the flexible-heads lighting setups that allow for darkfield viewing? Ultimately, is it as simple as obtaining the optical darkfield components and finding a way to place the light source underneath it?

Again, thank you both.

[Alan Wood]

On point 2, lighting, have you heard of any setup that allows for darkfield to be added post-purchase? Or accessories to the flexible-heads lighting setups that allow for darkfield viewing? Ultimately, is it as simple as obtaining the optical darkfield components and finding a way to place the light source underneath it?

I have a dark-field adapter for my Olympus SZ4045 that simply replaces the stage plate. I use a fibre optic cable pointing at the diffuser and mirror in the transmitted light base, to send light up into the dark-field adapter. The adapter and base are probably expensive to buy new, but mine were about £50 each on eBay.

I have seen similar dark-field adapters for cheaper Chinese stereo scopes.

I also have a Scott Fostec fibre-optic dark-field adapter that is intended to replace the condenser in a compound microscope. It provides oblique illumination of a subject against a black felt background. It is about 2 inches tall, and can be fixed to a stereo microscope stage plate and a specimen held above it.

Alan Wood

[Constable]

Manu

Try having a look in Fotohaus Wolf in Freie Str. They often have a few Olympus in stock.

Ed

[manu3d]

Hi everybody,

and thank you both Alan and Constable for your last contributions.

I have eventually decided that given my newbieness to the field to stretch my budget and buy something expensive (i.e. a Meiji) was too much of a risk at this stage. I therefore bought something at a price point a tad below my original budget, so that even if it didn't turn out perfectly good I wouldn't regret it.

I bought a Bresser Science ETD-101 for about 485 €.

It turns out the optics seems to be made by Meade, the telescopes maker, and I'm quite happy with them. The image is sharp across the whole field of view and in the whole zoom range (7x-45x). There is some chromatic aberration at the highest magnification but is fairly minimal.

I am less happy with the manufacturing of the instrument. The zoom's handle has a little bit of give before it engages and actually starts zooming. Also, I was disappointed to find out that the focus is -not- maintained while zooming - this is pretty much the biggest disappointment - but mine is just light, amateurial use and I'll just live with it. I also don't think the instrument is particularly modular/upgradable - one of my original criterias. The whole head can be separated from the stand and therefore theoretically replaced. I just don't know if the stand is standard enough (it's a chrome cylinder about 20mm in diameter). The 2 halogen lights (incident/transmitted) do their job well. I would have preferred LEDs (given that I'll be checking out most live insects in the neighborhood) or the option to eventually upgrade them to LEDs, but again, I can live with it. Also, I haven't seen much in the way of accessories. I.e. I'd like a mechanical stage to smoothly pan the samples across the field of view, but I don't know how to determine if a stage is compatible or not with this instrument.

Finally, it's somehow frustrating that I can't easily share what I'm viewing. The two insects I managed to collect for the microscope's "first light" were quite beautiful to see so up close. But going for a bino rather than trino head had been my decision and I can't fail the microscope for it.

Overall I would have hoped in something more at this price point, especially in terms of manufacturing. But with this knowledge maybe a few years from now I'll buy a better one knowing what to look for.

Again, thank you all for your contributions to this thread.

Kind Regards,

Manu

[Charles Krebs]

Manu,

Enjoy your new microscope!

Also, I was disappointed to find out that the focus is -not- maintained while zooming - this is pretty much the biggest disappointment -

It is possible that this is merely a "set-up" issue. There is a simple set-up procedure that should be used (initially, for each individual user) to make a stereo zoom microscope "parfocal". (Or at least as close to "parfocal" as the design and construction allow).

Here's a clip from a Nikon SMZ800 manual:




This same procedure is also discussed on this page:
http://www.microimaging.co.nz/parfocalmicobj.php