If you’ve ever asked yourself “What is the maximum magnification of a light microscope?” you’re not alone. Calculating the maximum magnification of any optical microscope (sometimes referred to as a light microscope) is a matter of multiplying the magnification of the light microscope’s two lenses.
Compound optical microscopes were invented in the 17th century, and they use a set of two lenses to magnify a specimen. Light microscopes use natural light (either ambient light or light from a power source) to magnify the image of small samples or specimens.
The most powerful light microscopes capture their images with light-sensitive cameras to generate a micrograph. In the old days these images were captured on photographic film, but now with a number of microscopes coming with USB ports, it’s easy for young scientists to capture digital images and download them directly to their computer.
About the Lenses and Magnification of Light Microscopes
Light microscopes have two lenses, an optical and an objective lens and the maximum magnification of a light microscope is determined by multiplying the magnification levels of each lens which is used.
Standard Magnification Levels of Objective Lens
The magnification level of an objective lens on a light microscope will typically range from 5x magnification all the way up to 100x magnification. Some extremely high-performing ocular microscopes require matching magnification levels on the eyepiece to deliver the best performance.
Standard Magnification Levels of Ocular Lens
The eyepiece of most light microscopes comes with a few standard levels of magnification which range from 5x to 10x (probably the most common), and all the way up to 15x and 20x.
The Maximum Magnification of a Light Microscope?
Magnification Level of Light MicroscopeOn a stock, high-performance compound light microscope, magnification levels of 1000x can be achieved (10x ocular lens, 100x objective lens). With that said, the maximum magnification level of a light microscope at the high end of the performance spectrum is 2000x magnification (20x ocular, 100x objective).
Compound Light Microscope
Optics, Magnification and Uses
A compound light microscope is a microscope with more than one lens and its own light source. In this type of microscope, there are ocular lenses in the binocular eyepieces and objective lenses in a rotating nosepiece closer to the specimen.
Although sometimes found as monocular with one ocular lens, thecompound binocular microscope is more commonly used today.
The first light microscope dates back to 1595, when Zacharias Jansen created a compound microscope that used collapsing tubes and produced magnifications up to 9X.
Microscopes have come a long way since then—today’s strongest compound microscopes have magnifying powers of 1,000 to 2,000X.
Because it contains its own light source in its base, a compound light microscope is also considered a bright field microscope.
Bright field microscopy simply means that the specimen is lit from below and viewed from above.
With bright field illumination, the sample’s contrast comes from its absorption of the light, as opposed to dark field illumination where the contrast comes from the sample scattering the light.
Conceptual cells
In order to ascertain the total magnification when viewing an image with a compound light microscope, take the power of the objective lens which is at 4x, 10x or 40x and multiply it by the power of the eyepiece which is typically 10x.
Therefore, a 10x eyepiece used with a 40X objective lens, will produce a magnification of 400X. The naked eye can now view the specimen at a magnification 400 times greater and so microscopic details are revealed.
Magnification is the ability to view an object as larger. A good image is obtained when the amount of specimen detail is also increased. Magnification alone will not achieve this.
Resolution
Good resolution or the resolving power of the microscope is necessary to see the valuable details comprised in an image.
Resolving Power is the ability to measure the separation of images that are close together.
Optical quality plays a vital role but the distance of the wavelength of light used is crucial.
With a shorter wavelength, you have increased resolution.
Working Distance
At low magnification your working distance is longer and so vice versa when increasing magnification.
Damage to your specimen is inevitable if you are not cautious of the shorter working distance when increasing your magnification.
Be especially careful with oil immersion lenses. This objective has the smallest working distance and your careful handling is important.
