The type and design of the light source will influence how bright and evenly illuminated the specimen will be, as well as your energy and power consumption. Moreover, do you need a microscope with a light source at the top, bottom, or side? This is important to factor in as well. Does it make use of transmitted or reflected light? How about incidental or ambient lighting? Does it employ LED, halogen, tungsten, or fluorescent light bulbs?Īll these will affect how the specimen image is produced, which translates to what you can see through the eyepiece. IlluminationĪnother important consideration is the illumination system of the microscope. Meanwhile, for binocular stereo microscopes, this is usually around 50x to 100x. The average magnification range of a binocular compound microscope is around 500x, with many promising up to 2000x or higher. Take note that while higher magnifications will enable you to see smaller details, it doesn’t automatically assure that the clarity and resolution of the image will also be great. The magnification level you need largely depends on what sorts of specimens you commonly work with. Obviously, compound microscopes will have a significantly higher magnification than stereo microscopes, but there are still nuances. The next thing that you need to take into account, which is directly related to the type of binocular microscope, is its magnification power. A built in camera is best if you have a trinocular microscope, since a detachable one on a binocular microscope is too burdensome. You need to consider whether this is what you have in mind as well.Ĭompound microscopes have a higher magnification and can be used to image various specimens, but stereo microscopes have the capacity to accommodate larger specimens, and can be used for specimens that need to be manipulated, such as during dissection.įurthermore, it’s also wise to consider whether you want a simple microscope, or a digital model that is fitted with a camera. While almost any type of optical microscope can be binocular, oftentimes, people refer to compound microscopes and stereo microscopes when talking about a binocular microscope.

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