Quick Microscope Education
Lighting
Remember the microscopes from the old days? They either had a mirror (for
reflecting light onto the specimen) or a little tungsten light bulb that
heated up and killed your pond specimens! In your search for a microscope,
get the best lighting possible and avoid frustration! First of all, avoid
any scope with tungsten (incandescent) lighting because they cast a hot,
yellowish, and very unnatural light on your specimen. BestScopes.com provides
you with fluorescent lighting on all our student scopes and halogen
lighting on our professional scopes.
Fluorescent lighting is best because it's low cost (it produces
three times as much light as tungsten!), cool (which will keep your
specimens alive), and it casts a natural white light which is very easy on the
eye! Objects actually look more brilliant under fluorescent lighting! All
of our fluorescent and halogen bulbs can easily be replaced with bulbs from
your nearest home center!
Halogen lighting is found on all our
Revelation microscopes. It provides a very natural white light and does
have some heat output. This is the standard light in the medical and
research industry. Luckily, our scopes with halogen lights also have
variable light adjustment from 0-20 watts, which greatly decreases the heat.
Next: What's an Iris Diaphragm and an Abbe Condenser?
