A compound microscope is a wonderful science investment. But what are the different options, and how do they impact the cost?
Eyepiece:
Microscopes have a 10x eyepiece, with or without a pointer in it. A monocular scope has one eyepiece while a significantly more expensive binocular scope has two eyepieces for one person to view using both eyes.
Nosepiece with Objective lenses:
All scopes have a triple nosepiece with 4x, 10x, and 40x objective lenses that, with a 10x eyepiece, gives magnifications of 40x, 100x, and 400x. A quadruple nosepiece adds an oil immersion lens (100x) which is a nice extra but requires you keep a small bottle of immersion oil on-hand.
Light source:
You have a choice of 3 types, each progressively more expensive. First is the standard tungsten light, which gets hot over time and dries up your specimen. It’s not as bright as other types, but still works fine. Fluorescent is cooler and brighter. Halogen is the brightest, though it also gets quite hot.
A word to the wise: check how easily you can get replacement bulbs. Microscopes last; you don't want it to be rendered useless because you cannot replace the bulb. See if it has a standard bulb that you can get easily.
Stage:
A basic stage has spring clips to hold slides. If you want to scan over a slide, you need to move it around with your fingers. A nice extra is a mechanical stage in which the slide is held by an arm and you can move it around more smoothly and precisely using knobs for horizontal and vertical movements.
Other things you might see:
The coarse and fine focus knobs may be separate or coaxial (one inside the other.) The diaphragm, which adjusts the amount of light coming up through the stage, may be a multi-holed disc or, preferably, an adjustable iris. Most of these scopes are parfocal (stays in focus) and parcentered (stays centered) when switching objective lenses.
What do these microscopes cost? That's part 2.
You can also visit Buying a Compound Microscope at AtHomeScience.
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