Geological Microscopes is your source for good quality polarizing microscopes, petrographic microscopes, and ore microscopes. We provide a wide variety of microscopes for the geologist to study rocks and minerals in thin sections (thin enough to be translucent) and rocks and minerals in thick polished specimens, using an ore microscope. These geological microscopes come complete with Bertrand lens, two polarizing filters known as the polarizer and analyzer, and compensator plates such as quartz wedge, mica, and gypsum. Some versions come complete with a photographic trinocular port for attaching ccd cameras for output to a cctv monitor or attaching digital USB microscope cameras that connect directly to a computer’s USB port. Our lines of USB microscope cameras are perfect for capturing digital still geological images of rocks and minerals directly on your computer. We also provide measuring kits complete with microscope stage micrometers and microscope reticles for measuring grain sizes in petrographic samples.

For hundreds of years, the basic structure of the microscope has remained pretty much the same. However, constant improvement has added functionality. Experts noted the most recent improvements in microscope technology. The biggest improvement in microscopes is the change from fixed tube length to infinity-corrected optics. In the past, microscopes had a fixed optical length of about 160 mm from the objective lens to the eye. This meant that light had to hit the object at just the right angle and distance from the lenses or the user would not get a clear picture. In simplest terms, infinity-corrected lenses enable the light to emerge parallel or focused to infinity, within the microscope. Plus, within this parallel range of light, devices such as beam splitters, polarizer and prisms can easily be added without the user losing optical quality. Another improvement is the quality of lenses. Now, with computers designing the lenses and computers controlling the machines that actually make the lenses, they are better than ever before. Our wide selection includes the polarizing microscopes for viewing thin rock and mineral specimens under plane polarized transmitted illumination and cross polarized transmitted light. The light is transmitted through the thin rock and mineral specimen mounted on a glass microscope slide. However, often rocks and minerals will be thick opaque polished sections and the light needs to be incident and reflected. For viewing these types of geological specimens, we recommend our line of ore microscopes. They are still a polarizing – petrographic microscope, but they have the added feature of viewing geological specimens with epi-illumination, meaning light through the microscope objective lens. These ore microscopes have the added ability to do plane polarized reflected illumination and cross polarized reflected light. Whatever your need is regarding a geological microscope, please be sure to give us a call as our skilled microscope sales staff would be happy to assist you. We can also save you lots of money, as we provide discount geological microscopes priced much lower than identical units in science catalogs and through other microscope dealers. You’ve came to the right place to buy a geological microscope.