We are considering purchasing a Motic AE2000 trinocular microscope with a Moticam 1080 digital camera. I was wondering if anybody had this brand of microscope and could tell me if it has a good optics.
It surely gives decent images. Motic also makes good student microscope clones for the bigger brands. The condenser NA however determines the max magnification, and these type of scopes are not ment for objectives >40x.
Concerning the camera you could get a lot better for your money (to start with you should get usb3). Check the Imaging Source for a decent cmount camera. BTW, good imaging depends mostly on the imager, no exception there.
HTH, René
The traditional way of evaluating the optics of a microscope was to use diatomaceous earth, or just diatoms. - A lawn of diatoms will tell you a great deal about the spherical aberations in the lens and the resolving power of the lens. Toothpaste used to be a good source, but I doubt that the modern stuff contains any diatoms! Anyway - if you can get hold of some - use a diatom slide to compare the microscopes on offer.
To quote Dr. Jan Hinsch, former director of the Microscopy lab at E.Leitz Rockleigh (Wild Leitz, Leica) "Diatoms fascinate microscopists. Almost everyone is attracted to the formal beauty of these microscopic plants. Moreover, to the person with an interest in the physics of the microscope the silica shells of diatoms with their repetitive, ordered fine structure are suitable objects for various kinds of enlightening diffraction experiments. In places where microscopy is taught comprehensively, the study of diatom structure is part of the curriculum intended to deepen the understanding of terms like resolution and corrections for chromatic and spherical aberrations of microscope objectives. Often progress in microscope optics and illumination methods, such as DIC, has been demonstrated first on diatoms".
Motic microscopes are the best microscopes for the money currently available. I own the Motic Polarizing microscope which cost about $4000 where as similar scopes from Nikon, Olympus and Zeiss cost over $20,000. I also own several Olympus microscopes, 2 Nikon Optiphots, and A Zeiss Axioscope. The Zeiss scope is the best but it cost close to $30,000. I wrote a review on the Motic polarizing microscope here: https://www.canadiannaturephotographer.com/MoticBA310Pol_microscope.html - after reviewing it I purchased it. The microscope is well made uses the same size eyepieces as the Zeiss - they are interchangeable. I recently reviewed the phase contrast on this scope - and produced high quality images up to 400X. The condenser NA 0.9 limited the resolution of the 100X oil and the light source needs to be brighter, but otherwise I was able to see structures down to 200 nm. My experience is that they are the bests copes for the money - the 4 name brands - Zeiss, Leica, Nikon and Olympus do offer better scopes, but at a cost of 3-4X more. Incidently I don't recommend any of these companies C mount cameras - they are extremely expensive and for under a $1000 you can purchase a 20MP RisingCam which equals a professional DSLR from Nikon or Canon - see my review
https://www.canadiannaturephotographer.com/cellphones_dedicatedcameras_DSLRs.html - Cell phone cameras were also tested and they are Ok for students and telemedicine, but not for high quality images. Note I am now doing reviews and blog articles for Motic - but my reviews are unbiased and I am not an employee and as I said I own several brands and I am of the opinion that Motic is the best for the money. I have been working with various microscopes for over 50 years - see my home laboratory microscopes image attached - my web site features articles about microscopy. www.canadiannaturephotographer.com
They are excellent for the money - about quarter of the cost of a Zeiss, Nikon or Olympus and about 75% as good. Read my review: https://www.canadiannaturephotographer.com/MoticBA310Pol_microscope.html - I purchased the scope after reviewing it for about $5,000 - quotes for a similar scope by Nikon and Olympus were over $20,000. I own Zeiss, Nikon, and Ollympus scopes as well. My Zeiss Axioscope for polarizing cost more than $36,000 - is it better - yes it is but Motic is close. Cameras - I can not recommend any C mount cameras except for one by Rising Cam (China) . Most are way overpriced and not close the resolution you will get from a name brand Nikon or Canon DSLR. I reviewed them as well on my web site www.canadiannaturephotographer.com - use my search tool to find the articles on my site. Hope this helps - I sill own the Motic scope - my only complaint - get a brighter light source. I prefer 100 W halogen lights. I take photomicrographs commercially now days. Cheers
Robert Berdan