Buying a Microscope
for Live Blood Analysis

Entering the world of microscopes for the first time can be daunting, however our courses will familiarise you with the necessary equipment, and teach you how to set up, use and care for your own microscope.

To help you choose the right microscope, we can take advantage of many years of experience using different microscopes for Live & Dry Blood Analysis.

We have identified several options below which we believe are excellent quality whilst offering great value for money, meaning we are happy to recommend these models to our students.

What do I need?

The Microscope

Live Blood Analysis requires a highly-specialised 'darkfield' compound microscope. 'Darkfield' describes the way the light is passed through the sample, highlighting the various elements within the blood that otherwise would be invisible under normal microscopy lighting.

In order to get the most detail possible, it is vital that the microscope has a powerful light source and high quality built-in lenses, allowing for a true representation of the blood sample.

Regarding light source, halogen lighting is the gold standard. Although less compact than L.E.D., the benefits in terms of luminescence and the image quality it produces far outweigh any disadvantages.
To analyse live blood, a darkfield oil condenser is required and a x100 magnification objective (lens) is preferred, ideally with an inbuilt iris diaphragm, although it is possible to use a x40 objective. For dry blood analysis a x2.5 magnification objective is the best lens option.

Not all darkfield microscopes on the market will have these features, so it is important to choose carefully.

Red blood cells viewed under a 'darkfield' microscope at 1000 times magnification

Red blood cells viewed under a 'darkfield' microscope using a x100 objective

Digital Imaging Equipment

Alongside your microscope you need a high definition imaging setup that enables you to display the magnified image digitally on a screen.

This allows you to show the live image to your client, as well as capture stills and video of blood samples for your records.

We are happy to answer any questions that you might have about the specific requirements of a Live & Dry Blood Analysis microscopy setup.

Which Microscope Should I Buy?

Choosing which microscope to buy is a very important decision for new students, as you will hopefully be using the equipment for many years, and different models offer a range of image quality and longevity.

Although cheap microscopes claiming to be suitable for Live Blood Analysis are available, these invariably lack sufficiently powerful light sources and the required lens quality to produce detailed images at high magnification.
Budget LED microscope brands such as Amscope (read our review) and Omax are NOT usually suitable for professional Live Blood Analysis. In the past, students that have used these models have not been able to analyse the blood effectively or demonstrate to us their competency in doing so.
Conversely, there are also highly expensive models marketed for blood analysis, that are simply overkill when it comes to analysing blood effectively. There is no need to spend extortionate amounts of money on lots of features that you won’t need, when certain mid-range models (see below) give fantastic image quality and usability.

A student using the Brunel Haemascope

To help our students, we have arranged bespoke microscopy packages with several reputable microscope suppliers worldwide (see below).

All our recommended professional microscope packages are designed to be ideal for Live & Dry Blood Analysis, and represent excellent quality at great prices.

Please Note: We receive a sales commission on models purchased.

Haemascope 100W

The highest specification microscopy package that we recommend, and the setup that we use ourselves.

With a 100W halogen light source, and lab quality lenses, in our opinion this represents the best image quality and suitability for blood analysis that you can buy.

Our ‘Turnkey LDBA Microscopy Package’ offers training, microscope and imaging equipment, and FREE international shipping - everything that you need to get started analysing blood samples!