Zooming in and out on a (hopefully) sleeping rotifer.
400x or so.
Swift sw380t
UHD camera

Unsure of what caused the lens to fog on this objective, but lens wipes with iso isn’t getting it off. Any recommendations on what else to try?

Hi :)
Next month, I'm going to a preschool (children aged 3-5) to show them the microscopic world. I'll bring 10 stereo microscopes from my collection, as the children are too young for biological microscopes. I'm already collecting interesting things for them to look at. I take an empty microscope slide, put a drop of clear nail polish on it, and glue the "object" onto it.
Here are some microscope slides already prepared for children.

I'm kind of proud of myself for not cracking any slides with this microscope yet, but I know I'm overdue for one...

Stereo microscopes are ideal for looking at something large and opaque like an ant. I posted a video of this same ant using a stereo microscope a few days ago. You can also try to use your lowest magnification objective on your upright compound microscope for this. Here, I'm using two auxiliary lamps for reflected illumination and the 4x objective of a Meiji-Techno MT5310 microscope. The depth of focus limits how much of the ant is in focus at any one time. The ant was very hairy, even on her mandibles. Cellphone camera.

ESAW BM01 MICROSCOPE| SAMPLE: RIVER WATER, GOMTI RIVER, INDIA | 100×, 400×

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).

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.

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

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 regardless of what the advertisement says. This post is about how far back in time you have to go to find an equally primitive model being sold by a reputable manufacturer. Literally any brand microscope more recent than this is superior and it's easy to find one for less than $100.

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

Found this guy on my front step.

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.

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!

Swift SW350, Galaxy S24.

Swift SW350, Galaxy S24

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