Anyone here use a microscope to look at spiders they've caught in the field?

[ZyklonG]

Heya,

I'm wondering if YOU have a microscope, and if so what kind? How much did it cost? I see a lot of use in getting a Stereo Microscope (dissecting scope) and have been looking at brands, but I want to get some first hand experience from people caught in the spider web. Any specific magnifications you prefer? Do you have a trinocular-scope for cool pictures and easy viewing of your subject?

Any input, advice or experience is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Goodrah

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

I use a stereo microscope for examining spiders found in my house and for dissecting tarantulas for identification. Here is what I use and some thoughts on the subject.

The microscope I use is an AmScope ZM series trinocular stereo zoom microscope with 7x-45x magnification. For lighting I use both a LED ring light attached to the objective lens and a dual gooseneck fibre optic lighting system. For pictures, I use an iDu iPhone microscope adapter which fits on my iPhone like a case and is inserted into either the trinocular port at the top of the microscope head or in the ocular slot where the eye piece goes.

My setup maybe overkill for the vast majority of casual users since the total cost of it all amounted to well over $1,000. What it came down to is good optics and good quality images costs money. AmScope has a wide range of stereo microscopes in the 7x-45x magnification range which will be suitable for examining all kind of spiders. However, the cheap microscope cameras are very very bad and if you need to take good quality pictures, either an iPhone adapter or the cameras in the $400+ range will have to do. Don't expect amazing quality microscopy images akin to DSLR images from an entry level microscope camera though. Those types of images are done with microscopes and imaging systems that cost in the 10s of thousands of dollars.

One bit of trouble I have run into though is the image quality through the optics, not the camera, when the highest magnification at 45x is used to examine small spiders that are only a few millimeters in length. Even with the more expensive AmScope ZM series, the image quality suffers at the highest magnification. Also, 45x is not enough to examine the smaller species of spider. Trying to examine Parasteatoda spp., for example, is difficult. I haven't yet figured out how to solve that problem.

My advice though would be to spend a little bit more money than you would expect, like in the $300 range, on a good quality microscope and LED ring light. If you go cheap, you may very well become disappointed and lose interest in observing spiders under the microscope. Also, don't get cheap and buy one of those digital USB microscopes from Amazon to observe spiders. The image produced by the cheapest old fashioned optical microscope will always be better than the most expensive USB digital microscope. Besides, those USB microscopes only produce a 2D image, you need a 3D image of a stereo microscope to study anatomy.

 

[ZyklonG]

I use a stereo microscope for examining spiders found in my house and for dissecting tarantulas for identification. Here is what I use and some thoughts on the subject.

The microscope I use is an AmScope ZM series trinocular stereo zoom microscope with 7x-45x magnification. For lighting I use both a LED ring light attached to the objective lens and a dual gooseneck fibre optic lighting system. For pictures, I use an iDu iPhone microscope adapter which fits on my iPhone like a case and is inserted into either the trinocular port at the top of the microscope head or in the ocular slot where the eye piece goes.

My setup maybe overkill for the vast majority of casual users since the total cost of it all amounted to well over $1,000. What it came down to is good optics and good quality images costs money. AmScope has a wide range of stereo microscopes in the 7x-45x magnification range which will be suitable for examining all kind of spiders. However, the cheap microscope cameras are very very bad and if you need to take good quality pictures, either an iPhone adapter or the cameras in the $400+ range will have to do. Don't expect amazing quality microscopy images akin to DSLR images from an entry level microscope camera though. Those types of images are done with microscopes and imaging systems that cost in the 10s of thousands of dollars.

One bit of trouble I have run into though is the image quality through the optics, not the camera, when the highest magnification at 45x is used to examine small spiders that are only a few millimeters in length. Even with the more expensive AmScope ZM series, the image quality suffers at the highest magnification. Also, 45x is not enough to examine the smaller species of spider. Trying to examine Parasteatoda spp., for example, is difficult. I haven't yet figured out how to solve that problem.

My advice though would be to spend a little bit more money than you would expect, like in the $300 range, on a good quality microscope and LED ring light. If you go cheap, you may very well become disappointed and lose interest in observing spiders under the microscope. Also, don't get cheap and buy one of those digital USB microscopes from Amazon to observe spiders. The image produced by the cheapest old fashioned optical microscope will always be better than the most expensive USB digital microscope. Besides, those USB microscopes only produce a 2D image, you need a 3D image of a stereo microscope to study anatomy.

I lit up a little bit when you mentioned AmScope, they must be reputable then, yeah?

I was considering these two, any input or any advice as to which may be a better bang for the buck? I don't want to say money is no object, but I'd be willing to spend probably $50 dollars more than the more pricey of the two. Thanks for your help in looking at this!

 

[pannaking22]

I'll throw in for AmScope as well, I use mine a lot for various insect/arachnid IDs. I wish I would have gotten a trinocular so I could mount a camera to it more easily, but so it goes. Once this one wears out in a few years I'll just have to upgrade my setup. I spent about $350 on the scope and consider it money well spent, though I agree with AphonopelmaTX that image quality goes down pretty fast at the highest magnifications. It's still workable, but I think you need to have a lot of light on your specimen to kind of work around it.

This was the one I got when it was on sale - [Mod Edit: 3.5X-90X Inspection Dissecting Zoom Power Stereo Microscope with 64-LED Light (SKU: SM-1BSZ-64S)]

You can get really nice scopes there when they're on sale.

 

[The Snark]

One avenue you might consider exploring. Hospitals and specialist physicians typically write off capital expenses like scopes over a given time period. When newer equipment comes in, the old gets shoved out into storage. So keep an eye out in the bio-med trade sheets and consider pestering the local bio-med techs at hospitals. Always a chance you can run across a $100,000 gold mine for pocket change.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Here are a couple of pictures I took using my AmScope stereo microscope and an iPhone 7 with iDu Optics adapter.

 

[Galapoheros]

I use Dinolite, it's pretty versatile, hand-held or use a stand, comes in handy. A few examples, I caught a dentist charging me for work he didn't do. I'm not sure, I think that's a springtail. I use it for checking solder joints with electronics also.