[Lucidblue]

What is the best magnification to run fecal exams? I've been looking on ebay for a good microscope and I've noticed that most of them come with many magnifications and I don't want to get one that has objectives that magnify too much or too little. Would anything over 40X work?

 

[Homer]

You will need a compound microscope to do fecals. Most compounds have a 10 x eyepiece and the objectives read 10x, 40x, and maybe a 100x oil emersion. The actual magnification is the eyepiece x the objective (so, 100x, 400x, 1000x). You will definitely want something with 100x and 400x power capability, and 1000x is nice to have when you want finer detail.

I would stick with some of the better name brands like zeiss, bausch & lomb, etc. There are a lot of amateur microscopy websites out there that will help you pick a good microscope model. Secondhand equipment from a college laboratory is good, as well.

All the best,

Homer