The stage is the flat, plate-like surface on the microscope. It holds the slides that you will be observing.
The nosepiece is the rotating portion of the microscope above the stage. It will have three or four objective lenses attached to it. The objective lenses are the magnifiers that are attached to the nosepiece. They will be labeled with their magnification level, which is typically 4X, 10X, 40X, and 100X. They will also be color coded for your convenience.
Be sure that the slide is about ¼” away from the objective. To adjust the distance, move the stage up or down.
Adjusting the coarse focus knob may not give you optimum clarity. The coarse focus knob is meant to bring the object mostly into focus so that the fine focus knob can be effective.
When adjusting the stage, be sure not to allow the objective lens to touch the slide.
Focus each objective lens before moving to the next magnification. If you skip objective lenses, you will not achieve the best focus possible.
