Microscope

[Deezill]

hey guys I need to I.D what type of Dinos I have. I am going to buy a microscope but I am not sure which one I need. Would a 1200x suffice? These things seem to get expensive when you go 1200x.
Put some links in the post so I can have an idea on what to buy. Thanks.

 

[mcarroll]

1. Selecting a microscope
   (Ed: You can start with post #66 if you want to see what I picked for my first scope.)
2. Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?
   I don't know what percentage of folks had luck battling dinos with any of the methods in the old Dino thread but it's obviously a very low...

 

[mcarroll]

In short, consider those mandatory reading. You don't have to spend more than $20 to get a scope that'll do the job. (That's what I did so far.)

Spend more than $50 and you can get a more serious starter scope.

You can get a really sweet scope for ≥$100 or ≥$200 as well.

Of course as much as you want to spend from there....

Someday I'll drop at least $100 on a scope....but the $200 price point is pretty sweet.

 

[Deezill]

so I ordered the same scope you have @mcarroll but how do I go about taking a sample. Do i just use a pipette and grab water or do I grab a portion of the brown stringy stuff put it on the slide? last question for you. How to I take a picture big enough to post do I just put my camera up to the eye portal portion and snap it or is there some other method? I appreciate all of your help.

 

[hotashes]

so I ordered the same scope you have @mcarroll but how do I go about taking a sample. Do i just use a pipette and grab water or do I grab a portion of the brown stringy stuff put it on the slide? last question for you. How to I take a picture big enough to post do I just put my camera up to the eye portal portion and snap it or is there some other method? I appreciate all of your help.

That's what my method is

 

[Deezill]

So grab a portion of the brown crap on the rocks? Thanks. This is awesome info. I will pass it forward.

 

[mcarroll]

It's an adventure, so the sampling and the looking under the scope are both going to have some ups and downs...downs are samples where there just doesn't end up being anything to see. The ups are figuring out how to find what you're interested in, and the how to take pictures of what you find.

And yes, you have the right idea!