Subject: Binocular microscopes
In response to Sharon Connell's question about binocular microscopes, I have the Meiji with trinocular head and dual fiber-optic illumination which I purchased from Micro-Optics. While I can't compare it to the Olympus, it does compare favorably with my old Carl Zeiss which cost (in 1978) six times more than the Meiji does now. The Meiji is a good buy for small budgets and has beautiful optics. What I would suggest is to spend a lot of money on the stand. I have a table mounted stand which is substantial but if a lot of people use the microscope I fear it will prove to be the weak link in the system. When a microscope head this size, with fiber-optics, plus a camera is at full extension on my system, the stand needs a little help assisting it up and down the vertical column. This is not a problem looking at flat art where the distance over the table changes very little, but with other items you'll need to remember to slide the microscope closer to vertical column before raising it. Having said this--I'd buy another Meiji in an instant. *** Conservation DistList Instance 10:82 Distributed: Thursday, March 20, 1997 Message Id: cdl-10-82-002 ***Received on Monday, 17 March, 1997