each has its own strengths.

If you are buying a microscope, consider what your needs are. It is usually wisest to keep the array of toys to a minium and buy the best components that your budget will allow.

In the laboratory you will need to have a dissecting scope and a 'research' or compound microscope.

The dissecting scope will need to have substage illumination.

The compound scope can be inverted (if you use tissue culture vessels, settlement chanbers, or manipulation at high magnifications you will benefit from an inverted scope) or it can be upright.

For working with protists, the compound microscope will need optical systems that provide for contrast enhancement, typically phase contrast and differential interference contrast optics

For working with protists, the compound microscope will require objectives that range from X10 - X 100 magnification. You will almost certainly need to specify that you need objectives for phase contrast and Differential interference contrast optics. Supplemetary magnification systems that sit between the microscope and camera are often useful.

For documenting organisms, you will need to have some imaging system . It can either be a still camera or a video camera.