Re: Microscope optics field of view
 

On Nov 27, 6:56*am, Mike B <someone@noplace> wrote:
> Any optics gurus here?
> I have a no-name brand stereo microscope with a 10x wide field eyepiece and a 2x
> objective. It's great except the magnification is too high so I purchaseda pair
> of 5x wide field eyepieces thinking that the reduced magnification would result
> in a wider field of view, but I was wrong. Although the magnification is half,
> the field of view is also half the size which means I'm seeing the same image,
> but smaller which puts me back to square one.
>
> There seems to be many kinds of optical designs for eyepiece . Does anyone know
> what kind of eyepiece I should of specified. The optics world is somewhat
> bewildering.
>
> Mike

Cheap microscopes often have eyepiece tube diameters that do not
permit large enough field lenses (the lens at the bottom of the
eyepiece) to accommodate a wide field of view. Wide field microscope
eyepieces are usually marked, "WA" but it's no guarantee you will
actually get a wild field. If the eyepiece tubes of the microscope
are less than 1.25" in internal diameter, lower power likely will not
increase field size no matter what eyepiece is used. On the plus
side, using better eyepieces might improve overall optical
performance.
For decent stereo microscopes, look for used in good condition, Wild,
Olympus, Reichert or Zeiss.