I'm a retired marine biologist, and I did a lot of microscope work back in the '80s. The building I worked in was built on stilts, and it was so wobbly that I used to tease one of my colleagues by rocking the building while he was trying to weigh reagents. I used a couple of empty five gallon metal drums with a board on top to support my microscope, and I had no problem with vibration. I was looking at permanent mounts. Wet mounts might be a different story, but I don't remember having much trouble on the occasions I looked at wet mounted specimens.

If you look around this site, you will find a recipe to make your own darkfield stops.

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John Karlsson
Hope Valley, RI

Don't count your chickens until they have burned their bridges behind them.