RogueRose - 1-9-2017 at 20:19
I'm looking for a microscope with a min of 400x magnification but hopefully with 1000 or 2000x. It is for general analysis of biological material
(plant/animal) found in common living areas.
I'm not willing to spend more than about $150 and will consider used items. I'd like to be able to record what is seen so adding a video view finder
would be nice down the road.
Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
ninhydric1 - 1-9-2017 at 21:12
A quick search on Ebay got me this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2000x-Binocular-Vet-Medical-LED-Cord...
It has your minimum 400x but doesn't have a video head on top (you could always attach a camera to one of the lenses). It is pretty cheap for its
price, so I'm suspicious about quality even if it's new. I got my 2000x microscope with three lenses (2 for my eyes and one for the camera) from
Amscope for about 250$ and it has lasted me about 3-4 years, so I highly recommend Amscope's microscopes (you can also get them on Ebay).
EDIT:
I found this one with a built-in camera on Ebay too, but it's 100$ above your price range:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Binocular-Compound-Microscop...
It looks pretty nice and it's by Amscope, so I would probably trust this one more. Of course, you would need to chip in some more cash.
[Edited on 9-2-2017 by ninhydric1]
diddi - 2-9-2017 at 00:31
i have a 5mp 500x usb scope "supereyes" very happy with it. i use for minerals and microfossils
Sulaiman - 2-9-2017 at 03:32
I have owned several cheap microscopes (and telescopes, cameras, binoculars ... optics) over the years,
and used some fine optical instruments,
but I am in no way a microscopist.
Hopefuly there is someone here that has in depth experience to advise better than me, but for now;
As you only specified magnification and eye/camera option,
I'm going to assume that you do not really know what you need.
It is very difficult to choose a microscope, unless a bargain comes your way.
The stage is really important
- horizontal - or nothing stays in view
- X and Y fine movement - to find stuff
- lighting - transmitted, reflected, polarised, filtered ... much more than I know
Good quality objectives cost a lot
and there is little point in magnification without resolution.
Fine focus (Z) is indispensible at high magnification
Possibly more difficult than choosing a new car 
P.S. geologists, minerologists, metalurgists, biologists, micro-biologists ...... will all have different opinions/priorities 
P.P.S. unless someone here has relevant experience, you could join a forum and learn before you start.
(That's how I accidentaly got here, looking to do a tiny bit of electroplating 
[Edited on 2-9-2017 by Sulaiman]
[Edited on 2-9-2017 by Sulaiman]
unionised - 2-9-2017 at 03:48
You can get an arbitrarily high magnification, but unless the optical quality is good enough to support it, all you get is bigger images of fuzzy
blobs.
Beware of cheap microscopes boasting high magnifications; they may not deliver what you want.