In my experience the condenser lens is best used with with the included light module. If you’re using a bight background (a lamp or anywhere outside while it’s sunny (Don’t point directly at the sun!)) then it usually works best without the condenser lens. The condenser lens creates two focal points when it’s used without the light module. This has the interested effect that if you focus at just the right point then you can see both your sample and whatever is on the other side of your microscope (a table with paper on it for instance if you’re at a table with paper on it). Doing projection microscopy requires a brighter light source than was included in the foldscope kits. It might be possible with an extremely bright flashlight (I’m not really sure). Let us know how your experiments go!

Your question might have also been best answered by the videos that were recently posted on the assembly page of this website.

Independent of the fact if you have done a lot of microscopy or not, please do watch these short videos:

https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/assembly/

Any tool has to be used properly – and since we ask you all to first make the tool, some subtle changes change the performance. For example, the quality of your projection image is really dependent on the light source you use. You clearly want a single light source – play with several options.

The first thing to master would be use the microscope with a cell phone to record video (see examples from others on the website). I use a little bit of a digital zoom to get complete sensor covered with the image. Once you have mastered that – you are on your way 🙂

Happy holidays..

cheers
manu

using the flashlight of my cellphone works great. Lock yourself inside an interior room (bathroom) close the door and project at the ceiling. Or wait until nightfall and just lie in bed, wait for the bedbugs, catch one, and project it on the ceiling. That should scare all the bugs away! 🙂 Or just use it to scare the wife/gf, fun guaranteed :).