🔬 Accessories and some advice for newbie microscopists

Here I show you the most essential microscopy accessories.
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🔬 MICROSCOPE RECOMMENDATION
I receive many questions on which microscope one should buy. I recommend the following models for amateur microscopy (Affiliate Links to Amazon):
Children’s/Introductory - Swift or National Optical SS110: amzn.to/2WdS4PX
For Amateurs - Swift SW380T (with phototube) or Swift SW380B: amzn.to/3fu7aIY
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[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

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[@gameliashiagbor5965]

You draw so well

[@paulfarrell5935]

Oliver! Perfect, perfect, perfect! This was all the information I was looking for plus some! The note book is an excellent idea. For almost 20 years I was an avid scuba diver completing over 1000 dives mostly in the north shores waters of Massachusetts. I kept a log with dive detail such as location, date, ocean condition, depth and length of dive, along with picture of the marine life I saw. Over the years that log book became priceless as a reference tool. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself. Thank you so very much sir!

[@jimzielinski946]

A video about specimen preparation for permanent mounted slides is a great idea.

[@tbjas]

I have no idea if you will read this, but i wanted to thank you. i've always been interested in microscopes but never had the chance to buy one. But i finally bought one after seeing lots of your video's on both of your channels. My microscope has everything i want. A mechanical stage, condensor, 4 obectives (4, 10, 40 and a 60x), a coarse and fine focus knob. It arrived today and i've been spending at least 7 hours so far discovering new things. From mold on a forgotten cucumber to my own blood. Yeast cells to the wing of a housefly. Thanks for the videos and clear information. I wish you all the best and happy microbe hunting.

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

Hello, I read all comments! I may not respond to all maybe, but I do read them. That's actually one of my goals, to get more people interested in this great hobby. Thank you for your comment!

[@tbjas]

@@MicrobehunterMicroscopy Thanks for the reply. Keep up the videos!

[@barryt09]

As always, very informative. Thank you.

[@thepistilpacker61]

The picture book is really neat. Good job.

[@usernamemykel]

Please do a video on which stains for which purpose. THANK YOU!

[@chrisdado]

For the shallow glass dish shown in here (and other Microbehunter videos) search for 'Tea Light Candle Holder'. Most household stores carry them, varying shapes and depth, shop around for shallow ones. HTH.

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

thank you!!

[@JaySDunham]

I really wanted one exactly like he uses--finally found at Carolina Biological Supply--about $5 each. Search for square watch glass.

[@lorenzo5749]

The drawings you made are beautiful!

[@simone222]

Thank you. ❤️

[@PaulingtonGoose]

I use old eyedropper bottles for dispensing water onto slides, it gives a lovely amount of control and are very spill-proof, easy for beginners and involve no glass pipettes which students are adept at breaking.

[@raymondandrezonlopulalan1137]

Your drawings are impressing

[@CavalloDiSpade]

Oh man, the film canister. I used to use those as little containers to hold various stuff. I haven't done that for years though.

[@SawFits]

🤣 Me too!

[@jurajmikulas4508]

Great video,thank's

[@MonoStudios-cd6jo]

this KZbin Channel is the Best😁👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@yuukikawaii2712]

Excelente vídeo 👏👏👏👏👌

[@2omskwithlove]

Wonderful. Question @Microbehunter, what is your process for reusing /recycling slides? I mean how do you wash and how do you dry them? Cover slides?

[@edward_grabczewski]

Euparal is almost impossible to buy now. What alternatives are there?

[@johnspicer6887]

Get a notebook. I think this was the most important for there is so much to learn and this helps me for my memory isn't the best. Thanks so much for your videos.

[@Fibr3Optix]

If you wanted to make a permanent slide of a flower stem cross section using a microtome. How do you preserve it? I mean Euperal is the mount medium but how do you make it not shrink? Do you soak it in alcohol?

[@Leitros-kj4qb]

There are drawing accessories ( camera lucida) for older microscopes. I keep looking out for a Zeiss one. However, they are rare and expensive. So far I have not been successful. Do you know whether any of the modern cheaper microscopes have such an accessory? I haven't seen any. I suppose because of the ubiquity of relatively cheap photographic methods they are considered unnecessary. I think that's shortsighted. The best way of understanding some animal or part is to draw it in my opinion. What's your view on the matter

[@tanmaygupta2373]

Like your channel

[@obsoletepowercorrupts]

IMO: I reckon this video could have a Part2 which would pertain to _"cheaper ways to upgrade equipment"._ Examples of this might be how some people use a old plastic camera film container (similar to the 5:57 thing you held up) to adapt a cheap webcam onto a microscope so as to make it digital (and thereby add zooming ability digitally). Example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2e3p3aFhbNopqs It would be a cool usage of a DesktopPC or RaspberryPi4 since it has dual4k hdmi screens. For video, brownian motion in pollen might be captured. And then for 3D, the PicoLay software you spoke of might be a cool way to import into blender (an easy to use 3D software). Basically, the way in which people upgrade their 3D printers (which are normally £150 to £200) or upgrade laser cutters is the sort of approach. The frugalfilmaker channel does some similar things for photography using a tap-and-die set (or maybe soldering and threaded-rod stuff), and WoodGears does similar for DIY tools. Maybe modding a webcam to remove the IR film filter could be a cheap way to make a basic heat camera on a mscope. Maybe using a multimeter or similar for pH testing. Usage of a carbon C-battery internal rod has been used in the past as a known quantity component instead of the tungsten in a pH meter build. Using a GCSE maths book (or even pre A-Level prep books for polynomials) with maths libraries in various coding languages (even just basic python scripting, let alone fancy usage of R with java) can allow for data analysis in software like pspp (a free sort-of-version of spss). Obviously Chemistry, Physics and Biology can be handy. Maybe using a thermocouple (in a multimeter or oscope) could help build a waterbath for raising temperature (in a starch test or amylase reaction or whatever). Maybe how to aquire enzymes (protease and amlase) and yeasts for the basic gcse style practicals could be useful. Comparisons of cheap epoxy and methacrylate adhesives for keep samples (e.g. of a dry leaf or onion cell). How how about this? Hacking that homemade centrifuge of yours by means of an optical encoder wheel (salvaged from a PC mouse of joystick to be driven in glovepie and joy2key) could allow for a speed measure or control for it, such as with a solenoide, wii-remote, or steppermotor. Nothing over-the-top complicated. Just bruteforce software CPU power and simple coding so as to keep things easy.

[@brandrewmiller]

"Microscope slides - that's kind of clear" 😃😂🤓

[@JosephKeenanisme]

Without having started the video yet I'm curios on how many things I got right (and have on my "when I have money" list) and how many things I missed .

[@rcjp]

When cleaning your slides do you recover the cover slip too, or throw those away?

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

As several cover glasses break during the cleaning process, I usually throw them away. Sometimes there is dried specimen sticking on it, which makes cleaning also more difficult (more force needed and then they break). Sometimes I recycle them, mostly not.

[@caidenmartin1839]

Microbehunter Microscopy I even have I jar for the broken coverglasses

[@ukGunther]

I clean cover glass and never breaks

[@sadatordeney3116]

Those dishes are easily available and are called cavity block

[@oliviergrimard3845]

So do you reuse old slides after washing them, or do you put them in the recycle bin

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

the ones that can be cleaned easily I reuse.

[@miguelelento5637]

How about cleaning the microscope?

[@ButterBallTheOpossum]

Use compressed air. Don't try do disassemble anything especially the lenses unless absolutely necessary.

[@edward_grabczewski]

I was such a novice that when I bought my first AmScope M150C from Amazon, I almost returned it because it had a strange pointer in the eyepiece. I cancelled the return after I did a bit more research!

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

This pointer can be removed easily from the eyepiece. It is usually a wire that is held in place.

[@edward_grabczewski]

@@MicrobehunterMicroscopy Would you recommend doing so?

[@bendirval3612]

You like Euparal better than Hoyer's? The latter seems to be easier to find and less expensive. What's the reason?

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

Hoyer's contains Chloral Hydrate and this substance is not allowed everywhere. Hoyer's is therefore not easily available in all countries. I would say that no single mounting medium is always better than another one. I depends much on the refractive index that is needed and also on the compatibility with the specimen. I simply am using Euparal becasue I know it and am comfortable with it. I would not consider it automatically better for all purposes, but it has for amateur use some advantages over resin-based media (they have xylene).

[@bendirval3612]

@@MicrobehunterMicroscopy Thanks for your answer. I'll have to do a little research on this. Still hoping for a video on staining, especially staining microbes that are still alive (can it be done?).

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

Live staining is really difficult as the chemicals might actually kill the organisms. This is one reason why Phase Contrast microscopy was invented - so that you can see live organisms better. But by feeding eg. paramecia green algae, they will take on the color of the food.

[@arvetis]

Why are all of these books out of print and expensive?

[@evilren1981]

Welcome to scientific publishing. The more useful and specific the book is usually the more it costs. You have to understand the audience may be extremely limited in some cases. It's not unusual to see books priced at 200-300 USD and more. That said there are probably alternatives to the publications recommended here.

[@ianbcnp]

I just bought Das leben im wassertropfen new for £30 - fabulous book and well worth the price.

[@ChainsawDNA]

"Insect People" :)

[@n1lknarf]

Things you need as a novice? A notebook. The rest, slides and etc we don't need to spend too much time on those obvious things. 🤦