Martin Microscope Company

08/31/2026

We made the Meiji Techno America banner add! We have a great relationship with Meiji that goes back 40 years.

08/25/2026

Working with the Z750 stereomicroscope and arranging seeds. To image this arrangement in one shot I first tried adding a 0.5x auxiliary lens, but the resolution dropped too much, so then I added an XY mechanical stage and used the Mosaic-3 software included with our M4KHD2 cameras to live-stitch the image at a higher magnification. An X/Y stage is an available accessory for most of our stereomicroscope stands.

08/20/2026

Working with a new Unitron Z750T Apochromat Greenough stereomicroscope today. This model competes with the Leica Investa-3 and Zeiss Stemi 508. Not having either of those currently in stock, I compared it to a Leica M80 with 1x Achromat. The Apo correction on the Unitron is immediately apparent, as you can see in the comparison scale bar image (cropped central portion of the images). The Z750T zoom body with eyepieces and C-mount costs roughly $2,500.00 and can be configured with any of our stands, illumination options, and digital cameras to create a complete system. The standard working distance on the Z750T is also impressive at 125mm. This is a welcome addition to our Greenough stereo lineup!

08/11/2026

A pair of custom Digi-Unimac-4K macro inspection systems ready to be delivered!

07/16/2026

The more I work with the new Motic SMZ-172 stereomicroscope the more I like it. The optics are surprisingly good, and as the various accessories are being rolled out I'm even more impressed. For instance, the dual gooseneck option is really nice. Trinocular with dual LED gooseneck, built-in near vertical illumination, transmitted light brightfield and darkfield - all for $1,650.00! For anyone in the market for stereoscopes, these are definitely worth considering.

07/09/2026

Some microscopy history today. Bob Martin, Sr, worked for a B&L distributor in Atlanta, GA, prior to WWII, and I recall him saying that B&L had a relationship with Carl Zeiss, Jena, prior to the war. I asked ChatGPT about this - see below. Image is of a Baush & Lomb catalog dated 1929. In small print it says, "To greater vision through optical science."

Per ChatGPT: "A bit of interesting microscope history:

Many people don't realize that Bausch & Lomb and Carl Zeiss had a close business relationship long before World War II.

Beginning in the 1890s, Bausch & Lomb entered into licensing and technical agreements with Zeiss, allowing the Rochester, New York company to manufacture a number of Zeiss-designed optical products for the U.S. market. During this period, B&L engineers worked closely with Zeiss, and there was significant exchange of optical technology and manufacturing expertise. Zeiss also held a minority ownership interest in Bausch & Lomb before World War I.

The partnership was interrupted by World War I but resumed in the early 1920s through new patent and licensing agreements. These covered not only scientific optics but also military optical instruments such as rangefinders and fire-control equipment.

The relationship ended as international tensions increased before World War II, and the U.S. government later challenged some of the licensing agreements on antitrust grounds.

Although Bausch & Lomb and Zeiss eventually became competitors, their early collaboration played an important role in the development of the American optical industry and helped establish B&L as one of the world's leading manufacturers of precision optics."

07/08/2026

So this was cool - pun intended! A giant ice carved tardigrade! I can't say for sure if it's a Macrobiotus martini, but I'm claiming it... 🙂 I'm also curious if any of our tardigrade researcher friends have seen this or know where it is.

07/04/2026

Happy 250th birthday to the USA!
And happy 80th to Martin Microscope!

06/19/2026

Check out this recent article from our friends over at Media Cybernetics on why Image Pro AI is one of the most powerful programs on the market for Microscopic Image Analysis!

We are happy to be a provider of this amazing tool!

AI is transforming microscopy, but not all AI tools are created equal. Explore five reasons Image-Pro AI rises above the competition.

05/29/2026

Basic microscopy lesson of the day that a lot of people miss: Eyepieces have a field of view number which is the 2nd number after the magnification. For instance if an eyepiece says 10x/23, the field number is 23mm. This means you will see a 23mm diameter circular field at 10x total magnification. So, if you have a stereomicroscope with a zoom setting of 1x and a typical 1x objective (no auxiliary lenses), the field of view will be 23mm. You can check to see if there is any magnification adjustment in the system by setting the zoom on 1x and putting a ruler under the microscope. If you measure the field of view in mm, it should match the field number stated on the eyepiece. If it doesn't, there's something else modifying the magnification. Working with the new Motic SMZ-172 microscope today with 0.4x C-mount and 2/3" sensor camera, I would expect a lot of vignetting because normally one would match a 2/3" sensor with a 0.65x C-mount. But surprisingly with the SMZ-172 and a 2/3" sensor, I'm not getting the severe vignetting that I would expect. In the image of the ruler you can see that the camera is capturing almost the full 23mm field of view horizontally that I'm seeing through the eyepieces. I believe the explanation for this is that the field number for the photoport is quite a bit wider than the 23mm field number for the eyepieces.