Hobby microscopes for the adult scientist who has been away from the miniature world for too many years. They consist of two optical systems, one for each eye. These instruments typically begin their magnification where the stereo microscope ends. Individual objectives from 4x to 100x are the most commonly used. These microscopes are available in either upright or inverted design.
Most compound microscopes used for transparent biological materials on glass slides are upright.
If you examine cultured cells in a chamber or flask you will need an inverted microscope. These instruments are relatively easy to outfit for photomicroscopy or videomicroscopy. Since there is only a single optical channel on a compound microscope, it is easy to align a film or video camera to be parcentric with the visual field of view. We do recommend a microscope with a good lamp and variable power supply 15 watt minimum, 30W halogen or higher is best. These are usually called trinocular body tubes two ports for the viewing oculars and one port for the camera.