Knowing Your Dissecting Field Microscopes

Knowing Your Dissecting Field Microscopes
Field work is not necessarily the most exciting of duties to a laboratory or bench scientist, but it is wonderful news to any scientist who has spent long hours confined within white walls in the company of machines. Field work can be exciting: it may mean discovering a new species of plant or animal, or finding out new things about old species that have long been underestimated or misinterpreted. It may mean looking at volcanoes or examining exposed fault lines, perhaps to help predict the next earthquake and the damage that it may cause.

There are many ways that field work can be both fulfilling and exhausting, and there are many tools that scientists will carry with them as they walk their ways through the world. Archaeologists will take along a cleaning and excavation kit filled with brushes and chisels, to chip away at old rock and clean away fine dust to reveal the next great archaeological find. Plant biologists will carry along blades or scissors, and catalogs or books of well-documented plant parts, to identify species that grow in different habitats.

In both these scenarios, as well as in a great many others, a field microscope will be essential. Such a microscope should be able to withstand all the shocks and jolts that come with walking or riding through uneven terrain and unpaved roads. Such a microscope should be well built to withstand the dust and grime that come with constant exposure to unforgiving temperatures and weather conditions. Such a microscope should last these scientists and researchers a long, long time, as field work is not something that ends in a year or two.

In general, many scientists and researchers who are working out in the field will not have access to the sectioning and slicing equipment that microscope users have in the laboratory. This sectioning and slicing equipment cuts specimens into thin slices, which can then be mounted onto slides, stained, and viewed under a high power microscope. Because of the lack of sectioning and slicing equipment, scientists and researchers have to rely on a microscope that can show them the magnified details of a specimen even if the specimen has not been section. Therefore, many scientists and researchers who have to do field work will often carry with them a stereoscopic or dissecting microscope.

A stereoscopic microscope will magnify objects up to over a hundred times their original size, and with the help, usually, of a zoom lens. Depending on the model being used, a stereoscopic microscope can allow for digital photography or video capture, thanks to the help of a digital camera that can be mounted onto the top of the microscope. This is suitable for use for many field researchers who cannot carry away the specimens that they are looking at, or who might need to send pictures or videos immediately to superiors and colleagues via email.

Most stereoscopic microscopes, however, have a narrower depth of field, and will not show a great deal of the object being observed. Some models will also require a separate light source, which stereoscopic microscope users can utilize as a means to shadow certain parts of the specimen being examined in order to look at and capture even more details. At higher magnification, moreover, stereoscopic microscopes cannot resolve much detail clearly: images will often blur, making photography and observation even more difficult. Add to this the fact that photography is difficult to set up with a separate light source to manipulate, and you will realize why most scientists would rather use magnifying glasses if they can.

Technology, however, has allowed scientists to simply take their laptops along, and a little microscope with them. In this age of the plug-and-play appliance, researchers have also come up with a plug-and-play microscope. Although some of these models are generally toys, there are some models that can actually come in handy in a forensic setting, where forensic scientists have to capture images at the crime scene before bringing evidence to the crime lab; and in a wildlife research setting, where researchers cannot take samples with them, but have to do wildlife species surveying to finish their work.

For more information on the field microscopes available for your dissecting needs, visit http://www.field-microscope.com. Working out in the field can be exhausting and difficult, but with the right field microscope, the right equipment and accessories, and a lot of effort on your part, you will be able to get the results that you want and need. All you need is a good field microscope to help you out with your dissection and you will have a dissecting field microscope to help you for a much longer time.