Review on Siedentopf Research Grade Trinocular Microscope with Enhanced Magnification by Josue Porter

A few years ago I bought an Amscope B120C compound microscope for just under $200 and found it to be excellent value for money. Among other things, I used it to observe plankton samples, typically at 40-100x magnification. I tried different photography methods including through the eyepiece and the Amscope D-SLR adapter, but in the end I got the best results by removing the binocular attachment and mounting the video camera through the eyepiece and the telescope's special attachment. built-in tube (tube from an old vacuum cleaner). At this point I wish I had bought a trinocular microscope so I could scan the specimen through the eyepieces and take pictures/videos of the species of interest. I wrote to Amscope to see if they sold the trinoculars separately and they declined (but to be honest their complete trinocular microscope was a lot cheaper than just other brands' trinoculars). Then I came across the Swift 350T trinocular microscope for just over $200. From the pictures it seemed very similar to the Amscope 120 in design, except for the handle built into the stand - so I decided to order it. Upon delivery, I noticed a clear resemblance in assembly, suggesting some of the parts were made in the same factory (Swift on left in photo). There were slight differences in stage, and the capacitor adjustment was a screw rather than a rack and pinion. The headgear was interchangeable between the AmScope and Swift. As far as I could tell, the image quality was the same. The camera port on the head of the trinocular had multiple threaded tubing, and I was able to attach an Eagle Optics eyepiece (sadly no longer available) through a pair of camera filter step-down rings. This telescope eyepiece has a large diameter and long eye relief, making it easy to mount your camera or camcorder. Luckily, the telescope's eyepiece and regular eyepieces were parfocal, making it easy to take pictures when something interesting came into view. The trinocular head constantly splits the beam approximately 50:50 between the camera mount and the eyepieces (ie each eyepiece receives about 25% of the light). The LED is bright enough to give a good darkfield image when the rear limiter is in place in the filter holder (phytoplankton example shown in photo) and more than enough for normal brightfield illumination. All in all, the Swift 350 is an excellent microscope for the money, ideal for serious students and hobbyists.