The Principles of Light Microscopy Anatomy of the microscope Figure 1 illustrates the basic components of the Diaphot microscopes that you will use in this laboratory exercise. The light microscope consists of an optical system and a body . The body is composed of a base which rests on the desk, a stage which supports the material to be viewed, and a tube through which the specimen is viewed. The optical system begins with a light that shines through the condenser lenses located above the stage. The function of the condenser is to focus the light source onto the specimen on the stage.
Light travels through the specimen to the objective .
This lens magnifies the image of the specimen which is carried to the eyes by the oculars or eyepieces . The Diaphot is a compound microscope. The Diaphot is an inverted microscope . Many of you may be familiar with standard upright microscopes. The inverted microscope differs from the upright microscope only in the orientation of the condensor relative to the objective.