How to choose a laboratory microscope: eight questions to answer first
Before you compare models or prices, settle these eight questions. They decide most of the specification for you.
INSIGHTSPractical notes
Practical notes
from the bench.
Buying guides, technique and care for the people
who choose and use laboratory instruments.
Buying guide
Buying guide
Monocular, binocular or trinocular: picking the right viewing head
The viewing head changes comfort, cost and what you can do with the image. Here is how the three types compare in daily use.
Teaching
Teaching with a multi-head microscope
Five or ten people looking at the same field changes how pathology is taught and discussed. What to plan for before you buy one.
Procurement
Reading microscope specifications on GeM tenders
IS 4381, IS 5204, ISI marks, test reports and numerical aperture. What the common fields on a GeM microscope listing mean, in plain terms.
Care & maintenance
A simple care routine that keeps a microscope working for years
Dust, immersion oil and humidity cause most microscope problems. A few habits at the end of each session prevent nearly all of them.
Technique
Köhler illumination in five steps
Even, bright and sharp. Setting up Köhler illumination takes about a minute and makes a visible difference to every slide you look at.
Buying guide
Stereo or compound microscope? What each one is for
One gives a three-dimensional view of whole objects at low power. The other looks through thin specimens at high power. Choosing between them starts with the sample.
Technique
Getting good results with the 100x oil-immersion objective
The 100x objective shows the finest detail your microscope can resolve, but only with the right oil, the right order of steps and careful cleaning afterwards.
Histology
Better paraffin sections on a rotary microtome
Thick and thin sections, chatter, crumbling ribbons. Most sectioning problems come down to block temperature, blade condition and a few machine settings.
Lab equipment
RPM or RCF? Setting a laboratory centrifuge correctly
Two centrifuges at the same RPM can spin samples with very different force. How to convert between RPM and g, and a few habits for safe, consistent runs.
History
A short history of the light microscope
From hand-ground lenses in seventeenth-century Holland to LED-lit research stands. The handful of ideas that made the modern microscope.
Technique
Fluorescence microscopy: what a lab needs to get started
Filters, light sources, a dark room and a few working habits. A practical overview for laboratories adding fluorescence to routine microscopy.
Procurement
Buying microscopes and lab equipment through GeM
A short guide for government laboratories, hospitals and colleges buying instruments on the Government e-Marketplace.