[pmallory]

I am interested in starting a little yeast lab at home with test tubes and petri dishes. I know that owning a microscope isn't necessary, but I am thinking about getting one. So, I don't know how good of quality it has to be to for yeast. Does anyone know what magnification power I would need for it? How about a price range to look for or where to get them. Any good brands that aren't too expensive? Any other advice before I hop in? All I have to go on is a few books.

[lonnie mac]

There are much higher powers on here than me when it comes to these things! I have a simple college level scope I just acquired. You will need at least a 400X. Mine does not have the greatest mirrors, or glass, but it works very well so far. I picked it up from a friend for twenty bucks. You can find them on CL all the time or eBay. Everything beyond what I have would be gravy, and I am sure I will upgrade one day to a nicer scope, but this works for now...

[klickcue]

You might read these:

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=5484

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=937

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=713.0

[Kaiser]

Yes, 400x is what you'll need for yeast.

Do you have a pressure canner to sterilize media? If not you should get one.

Here are some articles that might help (under yeast culturing)

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page#Fermentation

Kai

[Tim McManus]

I just picked up one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Q768K8/ref=oss_product

And love it!  500x maximum magnification.  Got it more for the kids to learn how to use one, but we've been looking at yeast for the past few weeks.

You might also want to get these too:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UEQM7I/ref=oss_product

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UEQM8W/ref=oss_product

[Thirsty_Monk]

Talking of microscopes.
How about something like this?
http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-44340-Digital-Biological-Microscope/dp/B0014YNGCK/ref=pd_cp_p_3

[Kaiser]

This is kinda neat since you can take pictures and, if you have the software, can do the counting automatically.

Having a mechanical stage, i. e. being able to move the slide through knobs, is very helpful as well. I'm not sure if these models have this.

Kai

[Tim McManus]

The only thing I don't like is the LCD.  You are at the mercy of your optics, and as such I prefer my eyes over the interpretation of an LCD screen.

I can't agree more about having a mechanical stage.  It makes moving samples at high magnifications a relatively simple task.

[roffenburger]

Talking of microscopes.
How about something like this?
http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-44340-Digital-Biological-Microscope/dp/B0014YNGCK/ref=pd_cp_p_3

I personally wouldn't bother with something like this. For the price, the optics are undoubtedly low quality.

[mthogan1997]

I rigged a webcam and use it for my telescope and microscope. It's nice to point things out to my daughter on the screen and then put the better lenses on for observation.

Here's the link that i based my webcam mod on: http://www.pk3.org/Astro/index.htm?k3ccdtools.htm