🔬 How important is IMMERSION OIL for microscopy?

Many microscopes come with a 100x Oil Immersion objective. This allows you to observe specimens up to a magnification of 1000x, which is pretty much the upper limit that one can meaningfully magnify with compound light microscopes. You do have to use immersion oil, however. But how important is it? I am going to show you the differences with and without immersion oil and I am also going to show you how it's done.
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[@jimzielinski946]

I'm watching this video about a year late so my comment may not help anyone but I'd like to add anyway. Some manufacturers do make 100x objectives designed to be used without oil. The quality of these dry objectives does vary so it depends on what you are trying to accomplish - I find that a 60x dry objective is usually just as good as a 100x dry. Another thing to know is that many manufacturers make 40x and 50x oil objectives. These objectives are useful if you want to get a wider field of view after using a 100x oil objective without having to clean the slide. You can carefully wipe most of the oil off a prepared slide, then swing in a dry objective for viewing, but the remaining oil film can distort the image. Historically, there have been some manufacturers that have also made oil immersion lenses in the 2.5, 10, and 20x range. Having a whole set of oil immersion objectives allows you to switch magnifications quickly without having to cleanup until you are finished. Low power oil immersion objectives occasionally show up on eBay. I'll add one more thing. Some oil immersion lenses designed for transmitted light can also provide an acceptable image if used with "epi" lighting where you would usually require a specialty or metallurgical objective.

[@connormclean1110]

I'm from Australia and I truly love your chanel you inspire me and make me happy I hope you have a good one and cheers for being a good guy :)

[@bendirval3612]

I would love it if you would try a water immersion objective. Those supposedly give you almost the same resolution and they are less finicky, hard to use, and hard to clean up after.

[@1mcob]

So helpful. I'm seriously considering swapping out my oil 100x objective for a dry 60x objective. I just have to make sure I get all the specifications right! Your videos are so instructive, thank you.

[@marcelmaes5275]

If only you and the internet were there in my younger years. I have an old Olympus GB with 100x objective and I never understood why the 40x objetive gave a better resolution then the 100x. Also didn't know about "depth of field" and somehow didn't conceive or understand that objects still have a thickness even if the cover glass lays flat on the object glass. In the end I was not happy at all with what I saw under the microscope. Thought I would only get good images with super expensive apochromats and other expensive things. So what could have been a nice hobby was tucked away (for over 40 years now) in a dark corner of my wardrobe, together with the microscope itself. Today, after seeing some of your videos I'm even glad that I couldn't afford all this extra gear: I still would have been disappointed (and probably even more) That is what I always wanted to write you since I found your channel: thank you so much!! And now, I'm going to do some digging up!

[@jcmillerfarm2040]

Thank you for your channel. I'm homeschooling my eight year old and used this video to drive home to her that cells aren't just still like the images she sees in a book, that they are alive and moving and that "life is movement". I love your channel for teaching and learning my hobby!

[@balancebreaker6885]

Even I showed some of his videos to my kids. They initially weren't satisfied upon learning that compound microscopes can't see atoms and molecules. However, now, they're showing interest in seeing different sort of cells, at least.

[@giu_who_twitch]

I have just started Biology at University and I wanted to get a microscope to keep at home and to work on, also as a hobby. I have watched some of your videos and you were super helpful! You answered many questions that I had and your videos are made very well too! Thank you!

[@shyamjiverma3966]

Really love that cupboard ❤️

[@gatotacha]

Very good class. The tip about the synthetic oil and the natural one, which is more yellow...Very informative. Thank you

[@glasslinger]

Ordinary corn oil (used for cooking) works as good as the $20 a small bottle microscope oil. It has the slightest yellow tint but this doesn't show up in the image because the film of oil is so thin. Corn oil does not harden into a crust on your lens like microscope oil will if you forget to clean it. It should only be used with oil immersion lenses of course!

[@NavinF]

I'd expect that to go rancid if you don't clean it

[@JohnHoranzy]

Have you tried other oils? I tried mineral oil but not the right refractive index but better than nothing.

[@jaqhass]

I was just thinking about oil immersion. Thank you for saving me from messy objectives!

[@nicolegilbo7844]

Wow, extremely helpful. Thank you for this video!

[@thomaswoods1625]

Hi Oliver, you might want to mention the advantage of also oiling the condenser when using oil immersion. 40X and 50X oil immersion objectives offer fabulous images and provide much greater fields of view and depth of fields than 100X versions.

[@baronvonrotten3]

Can you explain how to oil the condenser and what the benefit to that is?

[@thomaswoods1625]

@@baronvonrotten3 Oiling the condenser increases resolution beyond that which oiling only the objective provides. Temporarily remove the slide and lower the condenser. Apply a drop of immersion oil to the top lens of the condenser. Replace the slide, and gently rack up the condenser until the oil makes contact with the underside of the slide (you will see a flash of light). Lower the oil immersion objective into the drop of oil you have placed on top of the slide and focus. Enjoy your enhanced resolution!

[@wemcal]

Great video and great information

[@Monselicense]

what solvent do you use to clean lenses with lens paper? Thanks for these videos, they are truly amazing

[@firelord4766]

Very helpful for beginners like myself!

[@kensowinski4383]

I have both 60X and 100X dry objectives. No oil allowed on the 100X and depending on the type of sample, it gives a great image.

[@RobertB168]

I find I use oil immersion occasionally when I'm trying to see details within a cell. Once I've got my eye in I can see, for instance, the eye spot in a Euglena with the 40x, but the first time I needed the 100x oil objective. I may yet swap it out for a 60x and just out it back when it's needed.

[@dominikschubert6911]

Hi i am a medstudent considering buying my first olympus microscope. I am going for 4x 10x 40x but How about 100x (0.95) dry objectives? Are they as good as the ones used with immersion oil?

[@atharva-upclosingnature2423]

O my Gosh Oliver.....Your Microscopy cupboard is so nice!!!!

[@Aledostoevskij]

Thank you, i needed this video

[@tubepkn]

Me too. I didn't even realize that the immersion oil should be applied ON TOP of the cover glass. Thank goodness I haven't tried it yet, that would have been a complete mess :-)

[@DungBeetle24]

After watching your video I decided to swap the 100x (oil) for a 20x which my microscope(Amscope) didn't have .

[@worldofmicroscopy6896]

very helpfull video.

[@DerDanachDenkende]

If you are used to working with immersion oil it really is a no-brainer. For the confocal microscope, just put a droplet of oil on the lense, then put the slide on there, wipe it off after the measurement with special lense tissues, done. The numerical aperture (NA) is what determines your resolution in the end. The best objectives without immersion have an NA of 0.95 and can reach a resolution of ca. 300 nm with 550 nm light. The best immersion lenses can reach a NA of 1.57 and 175 nm resolution at 550 nm light. Quite a significant difference.

[@andrec1597]

Great video

[@royalfolkspark]

What stereo microscope ((kit)) should be purchased from your website....... For a (stereo microscope), . : : focusing on insects and plants ? Thank you very much in advance.

[@karamjallaw]

First of all I’d like to thank you for your great videos. They are a great help for a beginner in microscopy like me 🌺👌 I bough an old Carl zeiss Jena . My 80x objective does not have “oil” marking . What should I do , how are they supposed to be used? Thanks for your help

[@JohnHoranzy]

Oil works beautiful for metal samples but that is coaxial illumination and a flat surface.

[@williamheywood9115]

Hi, Oliver. I really appreciate your informative videos. But as well as oil immersion I have read about water immersion objectives, what is your opinion of those?

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

Expensive! And they do have special applications. Probably not used by amateur microscopists a lot. I did hear of a company that made objectives that could be used with water and oil. I think it was the italian company optika that produced those.

[@icesystem7]

how about adding a cap to the rest of the objectives when using the one with oil?

[@sciencekudi]

Thank you

[@justarandomboi865]

May I ask what microscope you are using?

[@teddyruxpin3811]

what kind of solvent do you use?

[@abdellahgogop5653]

could i use parrafine oil for immersion?

[@UNDERST0RY]

Could you not achieve the same benefit of oil immersion without oil by simply improving the images in post processing via enhancing luminance curves to heighten contrast?

[@atharva-upclosingnature2423]

Even I hate oil immersion...Rather I bought a 60x objective like Oliver, and a 15x Huygen eyepiece...I have tried oil immersion once...but it created a huge mess....My whole stage was so oily....also focusing is a bit issue... But I have feel its worth trying on specimens which are heat fixed on the slide...like gram staining...What I do is I unscrew my 40x objective and keep it away, while using 100x....objective..

[@asmolbean9300]

If you use a dry objective with oil Oliver will come and break your knees ✨

[@wahabvlogger1651]

Plzz make a vidoe on onine root tip with complete guide

[@jessicaherrera7900]

Could you cover the non-oil lenses with a ziplock baggy cut to size and a rubber band or something or would that mess the other lenses up? They should make little covers for the other lenses so this doesn't happen.

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

The distance between the objective and the coverglass is so small for the 40x objective, so that there will not be much space for a cover. A small plastic bag might work, though. The other objectives (10x, 4x) are so far away that they will not be able to touch the oil.

[@showdoctors]

Shall I ask you Can you use water instead of oil Just want to know what will happen ?

[@Siskovski]

What happens if you use water instead of immersion oil? Do you get somewhat better resolution than no oil at all?

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

As the refractive index is of water is higher than air, I assume it will be better, but I don't know how the objective responds to water (possible damage if water which is ore liquid goes into cracks?). There are special water-immersion objectives that do require water, though.

[@diatomsaus]

You do get better results than nothing, but it's still not that great. (Just use the brand recommended immersion oil and get accustomed with cleaning... please).

[@pleasuregaming2601]

Question, What is better.. 10x ocular and 100x OIL Or 25x ocular and 40x or maybe 60x dry lenses

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

10x ocular and 100x oil. Otherwise it looks blurry.

[@pleasuregaming2601]

@@MicrobehunterMicroscopy and is esaw a good microscope company? And I'm from a India,lota of love to you, hail microscopes

[@pdagaming7736]

Can I use water for immersion for 625 x ?? ( eye piece is 15x and objective lens is 45x ) reply please please

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

ONLY if it is a water-immersion objective! These are rare. You risk destroying the objective otherwise. Do not use water or immersion oil unless it is a water or oil immersion objective.

[@pdagaming7736]

@@MicrobehunterMicroscopy thank you so much

[@king-en7tm]

We can use any type of objective

[@johnrobinson4445]

It might be reasonable to have one mike stand dedicated to oil use.

[@alexevans7916]

I am into astronomy and if you are not using a lens you put a cap on it.. why would you not have caps on objectives and oculars ..so before you go to oil you would cap all objectives.

[@Siskovski]

You are supposed to use caps on unmounted objectives. When you aren't using the microscope you should cap the eyepieces and the whole instrument with the shroud

[@teresashinkansen9402]

Is not really efficient to be capping and uncapping all your objectives when you are working with a microscope, you will never see a microscopist doing this specially if they are doing routine work and have hundreds if not thousands of specimens to observe like in a hospital lab. Maybe when you are beginning to learn to use immersion oil it might be a good idea to cap your last non immersion objective though. I only put caps on my oculars and a cover over the microscope when Im not using it, the objectives doesn't get that dirty as they are pointing downwards.

[@alexevans7916]

Thank you Kristijan and Teresa for your input. I am new to the game, although I have used various "toy" microscopes, and am waiting arrival of a professional microscope from an internet friend, a retired micro bioligist in USA.

[@alexevans7916]

And..could you not use distilled water rather than oil.

[@tur80bo]

You don't use distilled water because it doesn't has a the optimal refractive index of optical glass

[@analysistime830]

First vedio i got with 1k+ views and 0 dislikes😉

[@lotharmayring6063]

40 times shows more details than 100x oil

[@lotharmayring6063]

Welchen Sinn macht es Ojekte, die schon 100000-mal und viel besser gesehen und dargestellt wurden unter dem eigenen Mikroskop zu betrachten, wenn man diese Dinge viel einfacher, billiger, besser und komfortabler im Internet sehen und downloden kann. In der lediglich betrachtenden Mikroskopie gewinnt doch nur der welcher das meiste Geld hat und sich das beste auf dem Markt zur Verfuegung stehende Mikroskop leisten kann. Dies Materialschlacht ist sinn- und zwecklos. Zudem sind bekannte Dinge heute viel genauer mit einem konfokalen Laserscanning Fluorescenz-mikroskop, der Rasterelektronenmikroskopie etc veroeffentlicht und allseits bekannt. Kindern die Mikroskopie zu lehren ist jedoch ein hohes und ehrenwertes Ziel. Dabei sollte man aber nicht an den Kosten eines guten Mikropskopes sparen, sondern zu einem gebrauchten Forschungsmikroskop der 80-iger Jahre des 19. Jahrhunderts der Fa Zeiss oder Leitz greifen, denn sonst machen sich die Kids nur ihre Augen kaputt. Ein kleines gebrauchtes transportables Stereomikroskop neben einer mobilen Laboraustattung fuer Probenentnahme und Praeparation vor Ort leistet draussen in der Natur bei der Feldforschung gute Dienste. Auf eine fotografische Ausruestung sollte man dabei zunaechst voellig verzichten, denn es ist nicht nur fuer Kinder viel lehrreicher das Gesehenene von Hand selbst zu zeichnen. Insbesondere sollte aber die Praeparationtechnik immer im Vordergrund stehen und nicht die Bildgebung, denn jedes Bild ist nur so gut wie die Praeparation und Probennahme des Objektes. Fuer mich macht Mikroskopie nur Sinn, wenn ich dabei etwas Neues entdecken kann und veroeffentliche. Aber auch dabei ist das Mikroskop nur ein technisches Mittel zum Zweck und darf nie im Vordergrund stehen. Vorraussetzung etwas Neues zu finden sind aber fundierte Kenntnisse der Biologie, eine hervorragende handwerkliche Praeparationstechnik und das geschulte Auge, um draussen in der Natur Neues zu sehen und zu finden. Bei ihren Lehrvideos fuer Kinder sollten sie mehr Aufmerksamkeit darauf lenken anstatt immer wieder die end- und sinnlose Diskussion ueber die mikroskopische Technik zu fuehren.

[@davidpreneta3805]

When I use my 100X oil objective...I wrap a length velcro strip around the outside of the other objectives and secure it around the back of the microscope body. This way I cannot rotate the turret and accidentally use a non oil objective on the slide with oil on it.