1. Before you plug in the microscope, turn the light intensity control dial on the right-hand side of the microscope to 1. . Now plug in the microscope and turn it on.
2. Place a rounded drop of immersion oil on the area of the slide that is to be observed under the microscope, typically an area that shows some visible stain. Place the slide in the slide holder and center the slide using the two mechanical stage control knobs under the right-hand side of the stage.
3. Rotate the white-striped 100X oil immersion objective until it is locked into place. This will give a total magnification of 1000X.
4. Turn the light intensity control dial on the right-hand side of the microscope to 6 . Make sure the iris diaphragm lever in front under the stage is set approximately at 0.9, (toward the left side of the stage. Do not close the field iris diaphragm ring on the light source; that should remain fully open. The knob under the stage on the left-hand side of the stage controlling the height of the condenser should be turned so the condenser is all the way up.
5. Watching the slide and objective lens carefully from the front of the microscope, lower the oil immersion objective into the oil by raising the stage until the white-striped, 100X, oil immersion lens just touches the immersion oil on the slide. Do this by turning the coarse focus (larger knob away from you until the 100X oil immersion objective lens just touches the oil. When the lens enters the immersion oil you will see the light scatter away from the lens. Do not push the spring-loaded portion of the lens up into the barrel of the oil immersion lens.
6. While looking through the eyepieces, turn the fine focus (smaller knob) away from you at a slow steady speed until the specimen comes into focus. If the specimen does not come into focus within around 30 seconds of turning the fine focus, go back and repeat step 5 and 6.
7. Using the iris diaphragm lever, adjust the light to obtain optimum contrast.
8. When finished, wipe the oil off of the oil immersion objective with lens paper, turn the light intensity control dial back to 1, turn off the microscope, unplug the power cord, and wrap the cord around the cord holder on the back of the microscope.