How good are cheap microscopes?

[@dolphintouchmichellepsychi6217]

Thank you for doing this live! 😊

[@magdalenapopa16]

This helped me a lot!

[@Nextsession271]

Is there a big difference between the swift 350t & the 380t? What day do your go live?

[@Microbehunter]

I go live usually on Saturday 21:30 CET. The 380T has better optics. www.microbehunter.com/microscopy-forum/viewtopic.php?t=12505

[@jimzielinski946]

In my opinion, low cost "cheap" microscopes that were available in the '60s and '70s were terrible compaired to modern made Chinese/Taiwan made microscopes. Still, you get what you pay for.

[@alexandrevaliquette3883]

We still can find the very bad ones. They are toy for kids with 2500X magnification printed in large colorful on the box (off course it's unusable). But decent entry level like SWIFT350 and Amscope are VERY nice and best ROI. Nice image quality that open you +95% of all the sample you can think of. We are lucky to live in 2024 and get affordable high quality science equipment and free video tutorial like this!!!

[@treymurphy6398]

Is amscope any good?

[@olejrgenbrnner4708]

What is the brand/model of the expensive microscope used here? Is it the Olympus one?

[@jonballard4453]

Is there any way of converting an entry level microscope to DIC imaging? also I would like to look at opaque samples like steel of knives, is there some ring LED accessories I can install on my microscope?

[@raghuc-m2n]

adding methyl blue rbc appears what color

[@alexjinks6172]

Late question perhaps for next video ..'Why mouths tingle after eating Pine apple? kind regards Alex

[@alexandrevaliquette3883]

It's not related to microscopy. It's an enzyme that chemically 'attack' your mouth a little bit.

[@29walla09]

anything about usb microopes?

[@DonnyHooterHoot]

They are mostly rubbish.

[@msgucci6634]

yes

[@rayguile-rb6qi]

Are there 3D microscopes in existence or are they impossible to manufacture?

[@indraniroy1104]

3d microscope already exites

[@alexandrevaliquette3883]

Look at "PUMA 3D microscope". Off course, you don't print the optic. My suggestion: buy a cheap microscope that have a great 1.25NA Condenser such as SWIFT350 or 380. From there, you already have a solid base to custom it to get it to the next level. Ex: remove the head and design a 3D printed head to put an APSC camera, make epifluorescence, various filters, etc. Starting a 3D microscope from scratch is way too long and you might end up with lower quality compare to basic units. My background: analytical instrumentation and proud owner of SWIFT380B.

[@jasne2992]

I think he meant 3d microscopes, which show real 3d images of an object or sample

[@Dasycottus]

They exist. It's really a question of what your sample size is. Technically, a laser scanning / confocal microscope is 3D for extremely small stuff. Suffice to say they are MUCH more expensive than consumer microscopes, but the bigger issue is sample preparation, which is not always trivial when it comes to biologicals. High end laser scanning microscopes are six figures. If you'd like to do 3D microscopy on larger items, you're typically also going to be dealing with X-ray microscopy-internal anatomy. These are essentially CT scanners. Sample preparation for those is often as simple as "stick it in a tube and make sure it doesn't move", but can get more elaborate if you'd like to see really exquisite internal anatomy. They do not work on live samples-movement ruins scans. Soft stuff requires contrast enhancement. MicroCT scanners start at about $250,000. True X-ray microscopes (submicron resolution) start around a million dollars. They require fairly serious computers to reconstruct and segment scans, but after you've dropped hypercar money on an XRM, 20-50K for a giant NAS and workstation isn't too bad. Source: I use X-ray microscopes. (In a professional / lab setting-I'm not rich!)

[@rayguile-rb6qi]

@Dasycottus Thanks.

[@rick6429]

When I worked at the U of M we paid Over $1000 per binocular Nikon student scope and that was 15 years ago. The scopes were optically very good and they were also durable as they were used daily. Durable means the coarse and fine controls the condenser and the mechanical stage and tumbler had to be good.

[@tommcqueen3145]

👍👍

[@j.olacio5298]

I purchased a AmScope to look at dog semen and I can't see anything. It has a WF25X eye piece and 100/1.25, 40/0.65, 10/0.25, and 4/0.10 lens. Sorry, I don't the technical terms. Should this microscope work for this? Or am I probably doing something wrong?

[@Microbehunter]

Use small amount of fluid. Close the condenser all the way. use the 40x objective. They are small and difficult to see.

[@j.olacio5298]

@@Microbehunter thank you

[@andreychizov8201]

1:15:02 just realized that the table jn cheap one don't move in horizontal plane!! That's a toy.

[@andreychizov8201]

Looks like a difference between PointandShoot cameras and DSRL, both good for the beginners, but cheap are waste of time, money and interesting moments. And very important sturdiness, heavy all metal parts, smoothness of mechanisms.

[@darkwingbeatz1835]

I would strongly disagree with this. Photography is all about photograph composition and perspective. Lots of award winning photos have been taken on cheap cameras.

[@andreychizov8201]

@@darkwingbeatz1835 What about shades, colors, depth of field, clarity, details...? Any example of "award winning" made with pointandshoot camera?

[@cumulonimbus2522]

Not everyone has DSLR money. When 100 bucks is all you have, it is better to have a cheap micro than no microscope at all. Talking about hobbyists here.