I'm thinking of getting a microscope in order to look at spores from mushrooms I collect. What magnification is necessary for this? Also, I'd think I'd like something that would connect via USB to a computer (I see them out there). Can anyone offer guidance? Thanks!
I picked one up at what was Radio Shack up here which is now Circuit City I think. A USB webcam type with 100, 200 and 300x magnification, sold as a childs learning tool it worked pretty well and was under $100. I talk about it in the past tense because I didnt use it often so it got retired to my storage locker :)
Fungal spores are generally in the range of 10 - 100 micrometres and the detail on the spore wall which you will want to see in many cases is going to be of the order of 1 micrometre. For these sizes you will need a magnification of x 400 or ideally x1000. You will not get a good new microscope with x 1000 magnification cheaply. You will get some inexpensive good mikes with x 400 magnification and some with USB connectivity. An alternative, but risky if you are not familiar with mikes, is to look on ebay. Here you can often get very good secondhand mikes very cheaply. Before you choose, can I suggest that you look at micscape magazine which has great articles for amateurs on microscopy, reviews of different microscopes, techniques and on fungi. The site is searchable. It is a fantastic repository of all things microscopical. http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html Good Luck BrianO
Thanks for the replies. The microscopy uk link doesn't seem to work. I did find this however: http://www.microscopy.org/ so I'll go in that direction.
