Photomicroscopy Equipment

Growing up in Egypt, it was hard to come by photomicroscopy equipment, because this was only available to research institutes. For an individual, it was unusual to take this as a hobby.

I initially was exposed to microscopes just reading books about biology, botany, and like subjects. Photos of interesting things intrigued me into seeing for myself what things look like.

A cousin of mine got a toy microscopy as a gift from his father. I recall I borrowed it to see what I can see. I also went to visit a relative who worked as a university professor, and had lots of microscopes with fancy features, such as an electric light source, polarizers, X-Y moving trays, double eyepieces, and more.

Later, I was determined to get a true microscope. I found a scientific supplies company selling a Russian made Biolam microscope for a really cheap price: 75 Egyptian Pounds! I got it and I was really thrilled.

Of course, it did not have an electric light source, nor a moving tray, but it had good optics, and that is what matters most.

I had an machinist whom I know make an aluminum microscope adapter forthe cheap Zenit camera that I owned. This was fairly easy, since it had a thread mount.

Exposure was mostly guesswork, since the camera did not have any kind of light meter, neither external or internal.

	This is the Biolam microscope, which was made in Russia. You can also see the custom made camera adapter, and the Zenit camera with a cable shutter release to reduce shaking.
	This is my balcony garden. It included a variety of plants, including Amaranthus, Hibiscus, Castor, Viola, and more. It was the source of a lot of specimens to discover through the microscope.