Compound Microscopes are so called because they are designed with a
compound lens system. The objective lens provides the primary
magnification which is compounded (multiplied) by the ocular lens
(eyepiece). Visual information produced by compound microscopes are two
dimensional, as opposed to those produced by stereomicroscopes which
are three dimensional. Most provide an image which is upside down and backward as compared to
the actual orientation of the object. Compound microscopes usually have several
objectives in magnifications ranging from about 4x to
100x. Eyepieces are commonly 10x resulting in total
magnifications of 40x to 1000x (Objective x Eyepiece). Compound
microscopes may be upright or inverted. There
are a variety of microscopy techniques available for compound
microscopes, many of which are listed below. Choose from the lists below for more information
about these techniques as well as specific examples from our
inventory.
