It has become apparent that part of the duties of a conservator, requires the knowledge of the complex workings of a microscope.
These are not the basic microscopes that are familiar to children with a new science kit for christmas. No, these are complex beasts with delicate, easy to break and expensive to replace mechanisms, that, I’m not ashamed to say, are extremely un-user friendly.
After a few lectures on the subject, their secrets still elude me, and I’m not entirely sure this part of conservation is one I’m going to fully understand for some years to come.
This, I have found, is a trinocular microscope, as it has three eye pieces, two for your eyeballs and one for a camera!
