Go Digital on your Compound Monocular Microscope

Looking back to the earliest history of monocular microscopes, we have to give credit James Logan. He was one of the brilliant minds who have followed Anton van Leeuwenhoek’s works on simple microscope. It was in 1871 when James Logan discovered and presented a simple wooden monocular scope. This type of microscope has a circular base having a turned pillar, which supports the eyepiece and its mirrors, both stage and sub-stage. Further discoveries were revealed. The demand for monoculars grew rapidly and at around 19th century, enormous improvements in design and function took place.

A monocular microscope is a compound microscope, which has a single eyepiece. It follows the tradition of simple designs with all the important features needed for basic microscopy. In terms of function and parts, monocular microscope is different from binocular microscope and their difference lies on the usability for the eyes. A monocular microscope uses one eye to look at subjects which further means looking only to one microscope objective. Binocular microscope uses two eyes to view a certain subject.

In our modern days, the latest development of this type of microscope resulted to what is called as the digital compound monocular microscope.

A digital compound monocular microscope offers high-quality optics. Its ability to capture, display, and safeguard specimen images is of equal or greater importance than just actually viewing the specimen itself. These microscopes are most often used by students and schools making it an ideal one for educational purposes. It utilizes digital technology, that is having USB (Universal Serial Bus) connectivity, to maximize its magnification and enhance subject viewing on computer monitor. It is fully portable freeing ourselves from the headache of messy wires.

The entire idea of a digital monocular, however, is to have something lightly portable. Normally, nobody would prefer taking a heavy binocular microscope even if it has better magnification. Most of these digital compound monocular microscopes have inclined monocular head, which allows you to rotate 360º. Most of this type comes with a built-in CMOS (complimentary metal oxide semiconductor) sensor; a 10X wide-field eyepiece with pointer; adjustable rack stop; floating stage with stage clips; rotating triple nosepiece with objectives ranging from 4X up to as high as 100X; a retractable 40X objectives which provide protection from slide breakage; fine focus controls; six aperture disk diaphragm; rechargeable or on/off switch disk at an approximated watt illumination; main supply charger; focus knobs, which features a slip clutch; and a USB PC connection. Also, some has LED lighting. A digital compound monocular microscope can cost as low as $100 up to as high as $2,000.

Different parts can be added to further enhance magnification. Some examples include higher level eyepieces, prepared slides, glass cover slips, etc.
When you plan on purchasing one, you must consider a lot of factors. One is magnification, well that’s as always. It is the most important concern. Some are capable of higher or lower magnification. But for monocular microscopes, it is mostly intended for low resolution requirements.
The second factor is the dimension of the front lens, which is measured in millimeters. True enough, the larger the front lens is, the better the visual performance. Nevertheless, it has to be emphasized once again that bigger is not inevitably better. Bigger lens for digital compound monocular microscopes means bigger and more profound microscopes. The third aspect is optical quality. It is in point of fact more important than objective lens dimension if we focus on performance. As a matter of fact, there are optically exceptional monocular available these days if someone is willing to shell out the huge price.

Another consideration is the view field. View field is the total area you set eyes on when looking all the way through the monocular microscope. We have to instill in our minds that in the fundamental law of optics, as magnification increases, view field decreases. Therefore, if you want a wide view field, maintain your monocular magnification at the minimum. There should also be the issue of eye relief as it is equally important. Eye relief is the gap or distance at which your eye focuses starting from the eyepiece while still being able to see the entire view field. Its measurement is in millimeters. Typically, some of us wear glasses. Observing an object wearing your glasses is an unfavorable feature because of the reason that you glasses will not allow you to get your eye close to the eyepiece. If you choose to wear glasses, it is better to look for a version that allows a 14-mm eye relief or maybe more.

Having close or nearby focus matters, too. It is defined as the minimum gap or distance on which a monocular microscope will concentrate on an object of analysis. On some versions, the close or nearby focus is actually calculated in inches instead of yards. This makes close focus versions very flexible. There is nothing as magnificent as viewing a beautiful butterfly rested a few feet away all the way through a superior-quality monocular.

Lastly is the lens coating. This feature has an influence on the brightness of the image observed. Most of the finest monoculars are identified as completely multi-coated, multi-coated, and completely coated. Great equipment for great things - may it be just a simple hobby or a prolific research. There are a lot of technologies to choose from, but this digital compound monocular microscope is the perfect one especially for beginners.