This one is honestly one of the strangest looking microscopes I have ever laid eyes on. And, it’s sufficient to say I’ve seen a great deal of microscopes.
I haven’t touched on inverted microscopes too often yet, but this Omax microscope is both affordable and portable, so it has a great deal to offer the common user of a microscope instead of just a huge, expensive, advanced compound microscope used in labs.
Omax’s CS-M615INV is small enough to take out into the field, which is extremely rare for an inverted microscope. An inverted microscope is exactly what it sounds like it is–a microscope that’s been flipped upside down. Instead of having the objectives on the top of the microscope and the light coming up from the bottom (transmitted light). So the objectives on here are on the bottom, and the light comes from the top and shines down. The reason for this is that things larger than slides need space to fit on the stage.
Omax Microscope Review “CS-M615INV”
Now, the light still has to pass through the sample, so this isn’t a microscope for opaque objects. This is something you want to use if you have samples in petri dishes that you need to fit on the microscope stage. The light still passes through the sample in this Omax microscope, but your sample is seen through the glass.
Also, they typically have long working distance objectives on them, which is what allows them to penetrate the glass–otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to get close enough to your sample to actually focus on it, which would be a bummer. Omax microscope model CS-M615INV comes with 3 total magnification settings–40x, 100x, and 400x. This is achieved with 10x eyepieces, and 4x (16mm working distance), 10x (3.6mm working distance), and 40x (0.6mm working distance) objectives on the unit. So I would be careful if you have a very thick bottom dish, as the 40x may not be able to penetrate it fully. Generally the middle is thinner for this purpose, but still be certain before getting it.
A 100x long working distance objective is generally very expensive, so the price is kept down by not having this in the package I assume. I’m not sure if one can be added separately, but if you can find one, check to ensure it’s the same objective standard as the unit, which is a DIN standard.
The light source is a 0.1W LED bulb. The wattage is very low, however this is about equivalent to a 10W halogen bulb, so you can expect to have enough lighting with this Omax microscope. Having a lower magnification setting helps with this also, as they have larger apertures on them. If you had a 100x objective as we talked about above, you may need a brighter light source, which is possibly another part of the magnification puzzle with Omax microscope model CS-M615INV. It’s powered by 2 AA batteries, so the LED should have an excellent life for field work, but it never hurts to carry extras.
I personally found the image quality of the unit superb for such a small device. It was surprising to me to see this kind of a configuration at such a price at all, as normally the full sized versions of these can run several thousands of dollars, so if you have a simple, basic need for an inverted microscope, this Omax microscope will help fit within your budget.
For more information on Omax microscope model CS-M615INV, you can check it out here: CS-M615INV