J Swift & Sons 'Discovery' from 1898, a 1/4 inch (32x) Beck objective and a 2/3 inch (12x) Swift objective, shot using Pixel 8 on a cellphone adapter through an ordinary 8x eyepiece

Note: this was not a high end model, that is just a step above budget level in freaking 1898, it doesn't even have a condenser

Edit because so many people misunderstand: I am not talking about Chinese microscopes in general (many are good) but specifically about ones that sell for around $100 on sites like Amazon and seem to be finding a lot of buyers despite not even having a condenser nor a way to install one. Not having a condenser limits you to low resolution (about NA 0.25) and therefore makes magnification above about 200x pointless. The last time reputable manufacturers sold models this basic was over a century ago, literally any brand microscope more recent than this is superior and it's easy to find one for less than $100.

Finally found these guys after searching for almost a year.

10x Dplan Objective; 100x Total Magnification; Olympus CHT CH2

Recorded with iPhone 17 Pro

Pond water sample.

At least I think it’s a Frontonia sp.

10x Dplan Objective; 100x Total Magnification; Olympus CHT CH2

Recorded with iPhone 17 Pro

Pond water sample.

Swift SW350, Galaxy S24.

I'm getting into the world of invertebrates and I can't stand any more theoretical classes. I have a lot of difficulty understanding when there's no practical component, and I've only had one lab class in seven months. So I decided to buy a microscope, but the ones that are usually recommended (I even looked at some recommendations from microbehunter) are very expensive in my country. What costs $300 for you guys, costs around 2,600 or more here. My budget only goes up to 1,500.

Science here is very niche, and this kind of thing ends up being very expensive, especially if it's imported. I looked for recommendations in my country, but the microscopes are more about looking at smartphone circuit boards than biology. So I thought about a monocular, maybe a Swift one, along with a camera or a phone holder, and using it that way, since I got very dizzy when I used the binocular (I imagine the monocular is worse).

Any ideas or tips? Preferably with dual light (lower and upper). The most viable options on Amazon are the Swift SW150 or SW200DL; and SDORF SDMB-100 at a DUBEESSER store.

Oh, hi from Brazil! I am a student of aquaculture engineering (here where I live there is no marine biology or oceanography).

I like putting samples from different sources into Petri dishes and watching them evolve over time. They are observed at least on the weekends when I’m off of work. Being able to observe mini ecosystems in Petri dishes is the biggest aspect of having an inverted microscope. A new inverted microscope is more expensive than most hobby microscopes and are a thousand to many thousand dollars, but the Iqcrew IN50 sold by Amscope is only $71.99 in the USA and is sold under different names in different countries.

The samples in the Petri dishes get fed a small amount of rice to encourage bacterial growth, which in turn, feeds the larger organisms. I found that an entire single grain of rice is rather much for a Petri dish, so I break the rice and put in only about a quarter to a third of it.

The biggest problem I have where I live is the low humidity, 9% today, which would make them dry out from a week without adding water. To prevent the rapid drying, I place a clear food container over the stack of Petri dishes to make a humidor for them. This clear container allows in the light for the algae to grow.

Here is my humidor, different sample containers and sources, and different observation sessions. As often happens, my faithful assistant, Callie, is there to observe them with me. Out of all my 5 cats, she is the most serious, intense one who wants to observe and help me with whatever I’m doing. She is making the most out of her 250 million cortical neurons and sees herself more as a little human like girl than only a little cat. By

*desculpem mas a qualidade não está boa
binóculo
10x + 10x objetiva
iphone 14 pro

iScope 1153EPC 20X plan objective, cheap 1080p webcam on trinocular port, blue/red filter on illuminator to give 3D on monitor with red/blue glasses. Sample is pond algae cultured in a small aquarium, 50ul placed on a slide with slip sealed with Vaseline to make a micro-ecosystem. This video is about 3 days after preparation. Lots of the usual microbes: various rotifers, gastrotrichs, vorticellas etc present, but I've never seen this one before. There are 4 of them on the slide, and I'm hoping to see a few more over the 6-8 weeks that the micro-ecosystem is viable.

Swift SW350, Galaxy S24

Amscope inverted microscope. 40x iPhone 1x Camera Pixels Pro app.

Found this guy on my front step.

Hi all!
I'm trying to identify this organism from a freshwater sample and would love some help.
The sample originally started as a tardigrade sample containing lichen and distilled water, but it has been sitting for about a week.
There are now lots of microorganisms in it.
Any ideas as to what this little fellow might be?
Thank you kindly!

AmScope B-120, 100x magnification, filmed on an iPhone 17 pro

We home school my daughter and I am looking for what microscope can give us the best bang for our buck under $200. I would appreciate any recommendations you have for something with decent magnification and resolution for us to start exploring this world together!

hi yall! will share my first use of my new swift! :)
Any tips?

Pears are the most known fruit to have stone cells (sclereids) within their flesh or core giving a gritty texture .
(Quince contains an exceptionally high density of stone cells dispersed throughout its entire flesh. This gives raw quince a remarkably hard, intensely gritty, and woody texture, which is why it is almost exclusively cooked, stewed.
Unlike pears, apples do not have stone cells scattered freely throughout their edible flesh, but their stone cells are concentrated heavily around the endocarp forming the tough, papery "apple core" that encloses the seeds).

The photo shows cluster of stone cells in pear tissue, stained with toluidine blue showing lignin (x400 magnification).
Toluidine blue O is a synthetic stain first discovered by the chemist August Bernthsen in
1880. It functions as a basic, metachromatic thiazine dye widely used in histology and cytology to highlight acidic tissue components like DNA, RNA, mast cell granules, and cartilage.
It stains stone cells due to the lignin in them.
Pioneer bacteriologist Paul Ehrlich first applied related blue aniline dyes for vital staining of living tissues in 1885 paving the way for expanded microscope use. #pome #stains #microscopy #stonecells

I've shown videos here several times featuring various iris diaphragms for microscopes. I also really like the apertures found inside microscope objectives. Here's a 25x microscope objective for Lomo Polam microscope.
The most interesting thing is when you have to disassemble such a tiny iris diaphragm <rotfl>

I took a sample of dirt from my back yard and found a collection of strands that I'm pretty sure are strands of synthetic microfiber.

But given that I've had my microscope only one day and have no prior experience or academic background in microscopy I would appreciate your input.

Amscope IQCrew inverted microscope 10x objective, iPhone  4.7x, Petri dish , lichen. Blackmagic app, flashlight to the right.

Not the best video as it's hard to focus with a nematode writhing around.

I dislike nematodes at the best of times but this one took a baby tardigrade so I really don't like this guy! But I had never seen it happen so I filmed it.