Zeiss Photomicroscope III My current 'workhorse' is Zeiss Photomicroscope III, made in West Germany circa 1980. This is a beautiful machine, state-of-the-art in mechanical and optical engineering. The Zeiss microscope is equipped with 10x wide field compensating eyepieces, Optovar (magnification changer + Bertrand lens), turret phase/darkfield condenser, circular rotating mechanical stage, and a 100w/12v halogen illuminator. I added simple polarizer and analyzer filters and retardation plate, so the microscope is capable of polarized light technique. Currently, I own a very nice set of objectives, including Zeiss 10x/N.A. 0.32 Apo, Zeiss 25x/N.A. 0.60 Neofluar, Zeiss 40x/N.A. 0.75 Phase Neofluar, Zeiss 100x/N.A. 1.32 Phase Neofluar, Olympus 10x/N.A. 0.40 Planapo and Olympus 20x/N.A. 0.70 Planapo. The microscope has an automatic 35mm camera system built-in. Additionaly, it has a 20%/80% splitting prism and upper port that allows connecting other imaging devices, e.g. digital cameras. Overall, it is an excellent microscope, very easy to use.

Dave Walker published a series of excellent articles related to this microscope, available from Micscape Magazine website: A tour round a Zeiss Photomicroscope III. Topical Tip: A simple flash / tungsten lighting setup for a microscope with built in base lamp. Quick 'n easy flash photomicrography on a microscope with built-in lamp. You can read more about connecting the fibre optic "cold light" source to this type of microscope in Ron Neumeyer's article published in Modern Microscopy. Zeiss website includes manuals for Photomicroscope III and other microscopes. There is a manual for Zeiss PM3 (and other microscopes) available on Gordon Couger's Science-Info.net website.