Monocular, Binocular, and Trinocular Microscopes - Takmly microscope
An important thing to consider when choosing a microscope is its head type. Monocular, binocular, and trinocular head types are designed differently and suited for particular types of observations.
Monocular Microscopes
Monocular microscopes have a single tube that houses an eyepiece at one end and an objective lens at the other. The design means that specimens will appear flat and without depth when you look in the eyepiece. Monocular microscopes are easy to use and ideal for classrooms or as a home microscope for kids and teens.
Binocular Microscopes
Binocular microscopes have two tubes and eyepieces, and this can make it more comfortable to examine specimens. Binocular head pieces can be used in educational, research, and commercial settings.
Trinocular Microscopes
Trinocular microscopes are similar to binocular ones except that they have an extra port for attaching a camera and taking photographs or videos. This makes the trinocular head type ideal for educators or researchers.
Which Microscope is Best for You?
Each microscope type will be further defined below in their respective section, however, a very simple way to determine what kind of microscope you need is by thinking of the sample type you want to view. Compound microscopes tend to require samples that you can pass light through to create an image, as the light comes from the bottom of the microscope up through the sample (transmitted illumination). Stereo microscopes, on the other hand, tend to work best with samples that you cannot pass light through, as they have upper light sources (reflected illumination) to shine down and bounce off of those samples to create an image.
As an example, you wouldn’t want to use a compound microscope with a transmitted light if you wanted to view a coin. A coin cannot pass light through it, so, you would be better off with a stereo microscope with a reflected light (as well as because you want a big field of view to see the whole coin). If you used a transmitted light, you’d get a black image in your microscope, as no light can pass through the coin.
Conversely, if you wanted to view a bacterial cell, you would want to use a compound microscope with a transmitted light, because a reflected light would wash your sample out, as it does not reflect enough light to make an image (as well as because you need the higher magnification to view such small details). You would probably see a very small outline of the cell, without much detail inside, if any at all, trying to use a stereo microscope with a reflected light with a slide that had a cell sample on it.
Slides for Mounting Samples to View with a Compound Microscope
Circuit Board to View with a Stereo Microscopes
Within each of these basic microscope types, however, there can be far more demanding requirements, and a variety of advanced microscopy methods or techniques exist within each base type of microscope. There exist some compound microscopes that use reflected light to view solid objects at very high magnifications, and some stereo microscopes with transmitted lights meant to view semi-opaque/semi-translucent samples, as an example. We will go over those in more specific sections, however; if you have a very specific or unique application, you may need a highly specialized microscope or special accessories to equip with one of our products. With our wide range of microscopes and accessories, we can help you configure an instrument for almost any application.
Compound Darkfield Microscopy
Fluorescence Microscopy
If unsure of what you specifically need, please don’t hesitate to contact our Customer Success team at 1-888-950-2888, toll-free! We are more than happy to apply our knowledge and years of experience in the microscopy industry to help you succeed at whatever your application is with our equipment.
Compound Microscopes
Compound microscopes are what most people visualize when they think about microscopes. They are available in monocular, binocular, and trinocular formats, which refers to the number of ocular tubes that the microscope has. We've discussed these above, but not in respect to only compound micrscopes.
Objective Turret & Objective Lenses, 4X, 10X, 40X, & 100X, SKU: T490
Many compound microscopes also have a lens underneath the stage that focuses the light from the light source through the sample and into the objective lens, called a condenser. Some have simply a disc that controls the amount of light allowed through, called a disc diaphragm, while others have a slider with an iris and adjustable positioning, and even more have a completely replaceable condenser, allowing more advanced microscopy methods to be used, such as darkfield and phase contrast.
Phase Contrast Condenser Kit, SKU: PCT200-INF
If you know what you’d like to do with a compound microscope, the following table can assist in getting you started with what you’re looking for with some common suggestions, or you can use the top navigation bar to click “Applications” to browse by solution, or “Compound” to browse by microscopy type/specifications. Otherwise, you can continue on to read about the other major type of microscopes—stereo microscopes.
| Applications | Microscopy Method | Age/Education Group |
|---|---|---|
| Consumables (Food, Drink, Cosmetics) | Brightfield | K-8 (Elementary) |
| Environmental (Water/Soil) | Darkfield | 9-12 (Junior High/High School) |
| Live Blood Analysis | Phase Contrast | Undergraduate Studies |
| Medical/Clinical | EPI-Fluorescence | Graduate Studies |
| Microbiology | Metallurgical | Research/Professional Use |
| Pharmaceutical Research | Polarizing | |
| Opaque Samples/Metallurgy | Inverted | |
| Veterinary | Multi-View/Training |
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