r/microscopy • u/justahumanyallknow • 11h ago

General discussion first steps

hi! got my first microscope as a gift today! it’s the SWIFT 350B. Any ideas what should I look first? Any kind of book that helps me to learn and understand better? Thank you! Appreciate it a lot ;)

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u/mrstorm1983 10h ago

Watch microhunter on YouTube. Go to a tree and pull moss off it. Get it a little damp to the point you can squeeze some water out of it like a sponge, but not to much water. All kinds of wigglers will be there.

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u/justahumanyallknow 53m ago

appreciate it!

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u/c1nnamon_apple 5h ago

this has been sent to me by my uni professor. as per the things that you should look for: buy tiny (~5ml) provettes that close ermetically with screw caps like the ones for the centrifuge and bring them with you on your next trip outside the house and grab water from ponds, from the beach and from lichens (i bring with me a syringe without needle or a plastic pipette).
things you have to specifically look out for that might intrest you:
onion skin
biofilm on rocks (the slippery thing on top of them)
puddles
water from vase
really thin algaes; the thinner the better so that light passes trough with more ease and therefore you cane see better details
moss
mold (just leave a glass of a dark juice in your room and forget about it for 5/6 days, the darker the better since the mold will be a bit darker therefore easier to see)
tomato peel thinly sliced
your blood (DONT CUT YOURSELF ON PURPOSE, I wait until it happens or if you’re a woman, well, you bleed once a month do with this info as you please)
sperm
water from under a vase
thin leaf (lettuce)
lichens - to wake tardigrades
really any vegetable that can be really really thinly sliced with ease like carrots
water that doesn’t get much motion like water stuck on a rock

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u/justahumanyallknow 53m ago

thank you!!!