Brightfield Light Microscope (Compound
light microscope)
This is the most basic optical Microscope used in microbiology
laboratories which produces a dark image against a bright
background. Made up of two lenses, it is widely used to view plant
and animal cell organelles including some parasites such
as Paramecium after staining with basic stains. Its functionality is
based on being able to provide a high-resolution image, which
highly depends on the proper use of the microscope. This means
that an adequate amount of light will enable sufficient focusing of
the image, to produce a quality image. It is also known as a
compound light microscope.
Parts of a bright-field microscope
(Compound light microscope)
It is composed of:
Two lenses which include the objective lens and the eyepiece or
ocular lens.
Objective lens is made up of six or more glasses, which make
the image clear from the object
The condenser is mounted below the stage which focuses a
beam of light onto the specimen. It can be fixed or movable, to
adjust the quality of light, but this entirely depends on the
microscope.
They are held together by a sturdy metallic curved back used as
an arm and a stand at the bottom, known as the base, of the
microscope. The arm and the base hold all the parts of the
microscope.
The stage where the specimen is placed, allowing movement of
the specimen around for better viewing with the flexible knobs
and it is where the light is focused on.
Two focusing knobs i.e the fine adjustment knob and the coarse
adjustment knob, found on the microscopes’ arm, which can
move the stage or the nosepiece to focus on the image. the
sharpen the image clarity.
It has a light illuminator or a mirror found at the base or on the
microbes of the nosepiece.
The nosepiece has about three to five objective lenses with
different magnifying power. It can move round to any position
depending on the objective lens to focus on the image.
An aperture diaphragm also is known as the contrast, which
controls the diameter of the beam of light that passes through
the condenser, in that, when the condenser is almost closed, the
light comes through to the center of the condenser creating high
contrast. But when the condenser is widely open, the image is
very bright with very low contrast.
Magnification by Bright field Microscope
(Compound light microscope)
During visualization, the objective lens remains parfocal which
means, when the objective lens is changed, the image still
remains in focus. The objective lens plays a major role in focusing
the image on the condenser forming an enlarged clear image
within the microscope, which is then further magnified by the
eyepiece to a primary image.
What is seen in the microscope as an enlarged clear image of the
specimen is known as the virtual image. To calculate the
magnification, multiply the objective and eyepiece objective
magnification together. The magnification is standard, i.e not too
high nor too low, and therefore depending on the magnification
power of the lenses, it will range between 40X and 100oX.
Calculation of magnification = Magnification of objective
lens/magnification of the eyepiece lens
The objective lens plays a vital role in not only enlarging the
image but also making it clear for viewing, a feature known
as resolution. Resolution according to Prescott, is the ability of a
lens to separate or distinguish between small objects closely
linked together.
Whereas the eyepiece magnifies the image at the end of the
viewing, its magnification range is lower than that of the objective
lens at 8X-12X (10X standard) and that of the objective lens at
40X-100X, magnification, and resolution of the microscope is
highly dependant on the objective lens.
Applications of the Bright Field Light
Microscope (Compound light microscope)
Vastly used in Microbiology, this microscope is used to view fixed
and live specimens, that have been stained with basic stains. This
gives contrast for easy visibility under the microscope. Therefore
it can be used to identify basic bacteria cells and parasitic
protozoans such as Paramecium.
