We use stereo microscopes around our office daily, and typically find them used from surplus shops that buy equipment from failed biotech and aerospace companies. They usually start around $400 for used equipment, though I doubt you'd be looking at 100x lenses (with 10x first stages) for the same kind of bargain. The cheapest way you can get into it would be to buy a dissecting scope from somewhere like this: http://www.dissectingmicroscope.com/ http://www.dissectingmicroscope.com/ or http://www.amscope.com/ They have great deals. The apertures on the lenses aren't that great, but it's a start, and they have scopes starting at $200, plus they have a usb camera you can use in place of one of the lenses to do photos/videos for really cheap, I think around $100 for the camera add on.

We use stereo microscopes around our office daily, and typically find them used from surplus shops that buy equipment from failed biotech and aerospace companies. They usually start around $400 for used equipment, though I doubt you'd be looking at 100x lenses (with 10x first stages) for the same kind of bargain. The cheapest way you can get into it would be to buy a dissecting scope from somewhere like this: http://www.dissectingmicroscope.com/ They have great deals. The apertures on the lenses aren't that great, but it's a start, and they have scopes starting at $200, plus they have a usb camera you can use in place of one of the lenses to do photos/videos for really cheap, I think around $100 for the camera add on.