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Microscopes in Horology
By Ron Morris. Secretary, Microscopical Society of Southern California
For most horological work, the best type of microscope is what is known as a "stereo binocular " microscope. These are generally made for low power use of less than 100 times magnification. They are designed with two parallel optical paths, one for each eye, so that you have true stereoscopic vision, with full depth perception and great depth of field. This is important when you are doing assembly-type work of fine mechanical components, electronics assembly, or butterfly dissection.
The compound lab microscope is designed for high power inspection of cellular objects, usually mounted on a glass slide with a coverslip covering the specimen. Because the coverslip is a integral part of the optical path, these scopes have objective lenses with relatively low depth of field. Also, even though some have binocular heads, the image is not stereoscopic, and thus not suited for assembly work.
I have tried most of the stereoscopes out there, including the Russian ones. I have one of them in fact, the MBS-10, made under contract for the LOMO organisation. It can be had for around $450 U.S. , and various accessories are available for them such as 2X objective lens doubler (gives you magnifications up to 200X), camera port attachment, etc. I bought mine from a fellow in Las Vegas with a shop called Bill Rogers Camera- he has a table at the Buena Park Camera show the third Sunday of the month in Southern California.
There is a outfit called GEK in Virginia (they are on the Internet) that sells the full line of Russian microscopes. They sell the MBS-10 as the "StereoScopic" for around $550.
The Russian microscopes offer a lot for the money, the optics are based on East German Zeiss Jena technology. The fit and finish is not up to Japanese standards, but for the money they are a true bargain.
Most of the other brands such as Bausch and Lomb, A/O, etc. are made overseas now, including China. I feel that they are way overpriced for the money, however I've seen some for sale at camera shows complete with boom stand for around $400-$500.
Olympus and Nikon both make very good stereoscopes, but run well over $1,000 SMZ-1 and 2 are good scopes, that can be sometimes purchased new.
A fluorescent ring illuminator with variable power supply is also nice, and will provide glare-free, shadowless ,even illumination over the subject.
Right now, used stereoscopes generally fetch premium prices at the used dealers; your best bet is find one at the industrial clearance auctions, or at the camera swap meets that are held in major metro areas.
