Monocular compound light microscopes are considered one of the simplest types of microscopes in the market today. But in spite of these microscopes being basic, they certainly work fairly well. Understand what features they have and their respective meaning and functions.
A typical monocular compound light microscope is a powerful magnification device that has as much as 1000 times magnification capabilities. A microscope having this level of magnification means that it can enlarge an object as small as a fraction of a micrometer, or even a hundred nanometers quite easily. There are also high quality monocular compound light microscopes that are capable of enlarging human cells and other unicellular organisms such as bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Over the years, these microscopes in their basic form and structure had drastically improved human understanding of biological matters and all its components.
When one says a microscope is monocular, it means that the device is equipped with a single eye piece tube that viewers can use to inspect the specimens under observation with. This is the most common type of microscopes seen inside schools and laboratory setups. There are binocular and trinocular microscopes that are available in the market these days. Binocular microscopes have two eye pieces and trinocular microscopes have an additional eye piece to connect a camera or a digital video device with.
Compound microscopes, on the other hand, are microscopes that have more than one objective lens. It is the objective lenses that are responsible for making a specimen appear bigger and better through the eyepiece. Objective lenses are the main parts that magnify the object. And if a microscope is said to be a compound microscope, it normally has three objective lenses attached to it. The common magnification power are 10x, 40x, and 100x. But these days, there are objective lenses that are capable of 1000x magnification power for the monocular type of microscopes.
Light microscopes are the type of microscopes that employ visible light in order for them to detect the objects under observation. The method these types of microscopes follow is light microscopy, and that explains their name. In reality, light microscopes are the most common and most used tool in biology. Students, professionals, and even medical experts use light microscopes in aid of their researches.
Now summing it all up, when you say you have a monocular compound light microscope, what you really mean is that your microscope has all the features as stated above. Simply stated, your microscope has a single eyepiece but with multiple objective lenses. And it also uses the principles of light microscopy so that the specimen can be enlarged and observed through the lenses.
The prices for monocular compound light microscope vary from one manufacturer to another. The price may also change greatly depending upon the features that were integrated into the device. There are monocular compound light microscopes that are priced a little below $100. These are considered great buys and are perfect for high school students and hobbyists who might have a need for them. But there are advanced versions of monocular compound light microscopes as well and they are priced higher than $350. These are the microscopes that can be used in research facilities because of their complex features and mechanisms.
If you are an aspiring medical student that does simple researches at home, a monocular compound light microscope should be sufficient. It is also more affordable than the other types, such as the binocular type of a microscope, which costs $500 on the average. A trinocular microscope, on the other hand, is priced from $800 to a few thousand dollars.
And compared to all other types of microscopes, monocular compound light microscope are simpler to setup and to use. Beginners will find these types very convenient because they can virtually work out of the box. And because these microscopes are very basic in structure, there is no need for additional any apparatus to be attached to it before it can work fully. While it can be used with additional devices, doing that is not really necessary.
These are all the basic features of a monocular compound light microscope. And so if they generally fit your requirements, then you should go ahead and purchase one of them. Settling for a monocular compound light microscope rather than a complex binocular or a trinocular microscope that may have features you won’t use at all will save you a lot of money in the process.