STEREOMICROSCOPES continued
Table 1 – Manufacturers of stereomicroscopes Carl Zeiss Microscopy
Carltex International Inc. Leica Microsystems Inc. MIDSCI
Motic Optical
Nikon Instruments Olympus America Inc. VEE GEE Scientific Vision Engineering
Jena, Germany Nyack, NY
Buffalo Grove, IL St. Louis, MO
Richmond, BC, Canada Melville, NY
Center Valley, PA Kirkland, WA
New Milford, CT
Fluorescence stereomicroscopes, with magnifications in the region of 2500×, are widely used for cell biology, genetics, and embryology. The M205 FA Automated Fluorescence Stereomicroscope from Leica Microsystems (Figure 2) has a total magnification of 3.9× to 2560×.
Polarization contrast is widely used in plant biology. It reveals cel- lular structures, including cellulose and starch, without the need for staining.
Ergonomics When choosing an instrument, consider whether it will be used by one
person for long periods, or whether viewing angles, interpupillary dis- tances, and working heights will need to be adapted to different users.
www.zeiss.com www.carltex.com
www.leica-microsystems.com www.midsci.com www.motic.com
www.nikoninstruments.com
www.olympus-ims.com/en/microscope www.veegee.com www.visioneng.us
The Leica M80 has an adjustable 10° to 50° viewing angle for easy height adjustment. The interpupillary adjustment range for Motic Optical’s (Richmond, BC, Canada;
www.motic.com) SMZ-171 microscopes is 48 mm–75 mm.
The Mantis Elite from Vision Engineering (New Milford, CT; www.
visioneng.us) is designed so that the apparent distance to the viewed object image is identical to that of the real object, eliminating refocusing of the operator’s eye, thus reducing the likelihood of fatigue.
Stands Your choice of stand will depend on the sample and the illumina-
tion technique. Check the flexibility and stability of different stands. The 1200ZB VanGuard Stereomicroscopes from VEE GEE Scientific (Kirkland, WA;
www.veegee.com) (distributed by MIDSCI [St. Louis, MO;
www.midsci.com]) feature a durable boom stand that permits 415 mm of horizontal travel and 300 mm of vertical travel and a solid base that requires no counterbalance.
Imaging Trinocular heads add a digital camera to the two eyepieces, allowing for
the recording of still or video images. The Olympus SZX16 has a tilting trinocular head that enables the user to switch between viewing and documentation.
Some digital imaging software will also record the optical settings for each image, making it easy to recreate the 3-D image as required.
Stereomicroscope manufacturers A list of stereomicroscope manufacturers is given in Table 1. For more
Figure 2 – The Leica M205 FA Automated Fluorescence Stereomicroscope combines apochromatic 20.5:1 zoom with Fusion Optics™ Technology that uses the right channel to produce very high resolution, while the left channel provides very high depth of field. (Image courtesy of Leica Microsystems.)
information, please visit
www.labcompare.com.
Katriona Scoffin,
B.Sc., is a freelance science writer; e-mail: articles@
scoffin.co.uk.
AMERICAN LABORATORY • 30 • JUNE/JULY 2013
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