Upright Biological Microscopes

Biological Upright Compound Microscopes are used for observing thin, transparent, slide mounted specimens under high magnifications typically ranging from 40X to 1000X.  They are equipped with a bottom light which provides transmitted illumination through the specimen.  Typical specimens suitable for observation using this type of microscope are, histology sections, thin sections of plant material, transparent parts of organisms such as insects, blood, cytological specimens, crystals and emulsions.

Biological Upright Compound Microscopes are most commonly purchased by amateur microscopists (although, it has to be said, usually by mistake!).  If you want to look at, for instance, blood or 'invisible to the naked eye' waterborne creatures and if you want to use techniques such as phase contrast or fluorescence then this is what you need.   If you want to look at whole 'lumpy' subjects like insects, minerals and plants with no or minimal sample preparation - do not buy this type of microscope, choose a stereo microscope or monozoom.  

TYPES
Biological Upright Compound Microscopes are available in a variety of types, you can choose from this range of heads:

• Monocular - a single eyepiece tube - these are the cheapest and smallest with the most basic optics typically. They are not designed for microphotography.  You can mount a camera on them and we have adapters for this, but we do not recommend it for DSLRs especially.
• Binocular - two eyepiece tubes - these are very common but not the best for photography.  You can mount a camera on them and we have adapters for this, but it is not ideal for several reasons, especially if the camera is a DSLR.
• Trinocular - these are the best type, especially for photography as they have a dedicated camera port - you will still need a microscope specific camera adapter in order to attach your camera and each type of camera has a camera specific connection at the camera end of the adapter, there are other considerations such as magnification and parfocality - it is easy to get this bit wrong - Ultramacro are experts in this field and manufacturers of adapters, we will be happy to advise.