the above is with the nearest 'hair' in focus , the next is with the middle distance in focus ie the top of the leg. Lord help Mr Goldbloom??

The slide is a pre-prepared slide that came with the scope, caught live flies are fish food.

sean u must put a drop of pond water under it and c whats living in the water.

then when u fish a leaf out of your pond u won,t eat a sandwich again without washing your hands!!!!!!!!!!.

-----------fishmaduk-----------------david--------------

It's smaller than I thought, however the quality of the optics isn't bad, despite some chromatic aberration and a little distortion in the limits of the field of view, more noticeable with the 10x objective. The led illumination works pretty well, although it lacks a little power, making high amplification observation somewhat dim.

The direct illumination is a feature, allowing for more observation possibilities (one can use it as powerful magnifier for observating insects, soil samples, etc)

Also its small size actually makes it convenient for transport.

Some things that are missing in this microscope, due to simplicity:
- No fine focus wheel (requires more dexterity).
- Condenser lens don't allow focus changes (fixed setting works good for most cases).

Some notes about design:
- Some parts have some minor aesthetical blemishes that do not affect performance.
- The transformer plugs to the wall socket and then to the microscope. It would have been desirable that it had been incorporated in the base, giving extra weight and stability, but this approach means you can plug it two the car power lighter socket (with a voltage adapter sold just about anywhere), for portable application.
- The objectives are made of plastic, it would be desirable a corrosion resistant metal with low thermal expansion.
- Changing the objectives causes an excessive variation in the focus.

Some Intelligent things about this microscope:
- It's price/performance relation is very good.
- The PC ocular works pretty good, although the resolution isn't superb (slightly more than 320x240) it works good enough to take pics of good quality up to 10x8cm, an adequate size to print on a project, along with text.
- It's particularly useful for making videos, for instance of paramecia moving around.
- It has dual illumination: transmitted as well as direct, allowing the observation of opaque objects. However this only works good with the 10x ocular, because of the obstructions the larger ones cause. The amplification can be varied with the adjustment of the Barlow lens.
- The illumination is dimmable permitting adjustment to comfort level. Also the operation of the PC ocular requires usually a low setting.
- The accessories that come with it are very nice for educational purposes (meaning good for a kid joining the 7-8th grade) but unfortunately lack so dyes and other more useful items.
- The case of the microscope is nice, having an extra feature of a removable rack holding the accessories
- Functional and Precise! mechanical stage (i.e. the thing that holds the sample can be adjusted thru knobs instead of manually pushing it - much better!)

Note: Quality is not to be compared with those toy microscopes for sale at the local department store and that don't cost much less.

Recommended to:
- Students 6th - 10th grade
- Anyone on a budget wanting a microscope that does the job without great luxuries, whether for hobbies or even for actual work. (yes it's good enough!)

Hope you find this info useful.