Hello Howard,

We live in a wonderful world where industry buys expensive microscopes
uses then for a short while and then when they are amortized puts them
on the used market for enthusiast like us. A good industrial
microscope that has seen adequate care will retain its usefullness for
30 to 50 years.

There are two types of microscope you should consider owning. A
stereo microscope will magnify in the range of 10X to 40X give or take
a few X. These are wonderful for examining hand held and unprepared
specimen. Flowers and leaves are very good subjects. The second
type of microscope is the compound microscope with magnification from
100X to 1000X. A compound microscope is basically designed for
examining prepared slides. The higher magnification is needed to see
cellular details. Specimen must be very thin for this microscope to
work well. .

The four major manufacturers still in business are Zeiss, Olympus,
Nikon and Leica. Older companies that are no longer in the microscope
business also have a legacy of quality instruments. Bausch and Lomb,
Reichert and Wild Heerbrugg are a few. These companies made the best
scopes and the best bargains are used instruments from these makers in
the 15 to 30 year old range. There are huge numbers of both type
instruments for sale on eBay at very reasonable prices.

There are also lots of newer scopes coming in from China and India
that look like good microscopes but just do not have the quality of
the older used instruments. Another advantage of the better used
instruments is that they hold their value for resale. Newer
instruments loose value the instant they are purchased. The lost is a
very large part of the purchase price. Much worst than buying a new
car.

Unfortunately, it takes some hands on experience to understand and
evaluate microscopes. The only way you can get this experience is to
hook up with a serious enthusiast or visit a local dealer and learn.
Microscopes at one level can be simple but they can have all sorts of
features which are best decided upon before purchase. Too many
newcomers get impatient to own a scope, have no idea of value, start
with an under funded budget and buy the first scope that comes along
only to see other better opportunities a short while later.
Hello
My advice is to do your home work first and put off purchasing a scope
until you can focus in on what you will really want..

The best source for information about microscopes are the Molecular
Expressions and Microscopy U websites. These are professionally
maintained at the highest level and are sponsored by the biggest names
in microscopes. They are also free of commercial content and THEYARE
FREE. The information is vast and this is THE place to begin. Better
than any books you can purchase.

Start with learning about the parts and features. There are
interactive applets that illustrate the various principles. All the
different variations of equipment are discussed in detail.

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/

http://www.microscopyu.com/

Good luck,
Aaron


On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 13:30:56 +0000 (UTC),
(Howard Clase) wrote:

Now that I'm retired and have more time for botany I'd like to get something
better for plant identification that the 10x and 20x magnifying glasses
I've been using up to now. I've seen some marvellous things through
binocular microscopes in biology labs and would like to get something
similar for myself, new or used. So I'd like some advice on what to look
for and possible sources for someone living on the north eastern edge of N.
America (Newfoundland, Canada).

Howard Clase