If there is a need for users to view unstained specimens under a microscope, one of their better options would be using a darkfield microscope for the job. Darkfield microscopes are special types of microscopes that produces an image of any specimen being viewed against a dark background.

Viewing unstained specimens is possible with special types of microscopes. A regular bright field microscope can’t be used for this purpose. This is because a transparent specimen won’t look like anything with its illumination system. Therefore, either a phase contrast or a darkfield microscope needs to be used.

A darkfield microscope has its advantages and disadvantages when viewing unstained specimens. For ease of discussion, colorless or transparent specimens has to be stained so that they can obtain the color of the dye they are treated with. Transparent microorganisms cannot be viewed under traditional microscopes and bright field microscopes, as the light would merely pass through their bodies. This is the reason why specimens need to be stained so that they are tinted accordingly.

But primarily because of the advancement in technology of today’s microscopy, the need to staining specimens are eliminated with the use special types of microscopes. Therefore, novice microscope users need not understand or master the concepts being staining of samples. Prior to darkfield microscopy, this certain skill is required before users can effectively use a professional microscope. Indeed, a darkfield microscope had provided for an easy solution to this particular problem.

The application of unstained specimen microscopy is commonly seen inside medical institutions. The most common use of unstained specimen microscopy using the darkfield mode is in the study of certain tissue cultures. In other certain applications where in a quick result is needed, much like in IV or in vitro fertilization, unstained specimen microscopy is employed as well.

Guided by the special instances that the specimen to be viewed cannot be stained, microscope manufacturers sought for a way for microscopes to allow only the oblique rays to hit the specimen that is placed on the slide. What was produced is a nice contrast wherein the light that was diffracted form the specimen. After which, that same light was used to illuminate the sample. The result is a view wherein the specimen shines brightly against a very dark background. The concept of darkfield microscopy is then born.

In line with this, livings cells and tissues are the most common specimens viewed under a darkfield microscope. If the cells that are to be observed need to be kept alive while undergoing the examination process, it cannot be stained by chemicals. Doing so may cause them to become inert, eventually lose oxygen, and die.

Another application of darkfield microscopy is when the edges, outlines, refractive index gradients, and boundaries of a certain sample has to be determined with full accuracy. Darkfield microscopy is best for viewing the anatomy of an very small insect sample. Some high quality darkfield microscopes can even allow for a sufficient working distance to possibly dissect the insect being observed. But if the insect cannot be dissected, then its internal structures may not be totally visible under a darkfield microscope. This is an instance where bright field microscope with high magnification capability is better employed.

In the medical field, the principles of unstained specimen microscopy is especially useful in hematology. It is the tool best used in examining fresh blood samples. While a darkfield microscope can also be used to view fixed stained cells, medical and research institutions find these devices most useful when it comes to live blood sampling.

Both unstained specimen microscopy and darkfield microscopy  can be used in non-biological applications as well. For this purpose, the microscopes are used to inspect, analyze, and view specimens like chemical crystals, minerals, and colloidal particles. Darkfield microscopes can also be the best tools for examining the porosity and inclusions in ceramics, glass, and thin sections of polymers.

In reality, any other bright field laboratory microscope can be converted to use the darkfield illumination principles. What a user needs to do is to use a special type of darkfield condensers with the regular bright field microscope. The darkfield condenser can either be an oil type or a dry type. It just have to be fitted to the device accordingly so as it can be used in its full functionality.

Darkfield microscopes are interchangeably called as darkground microscopes. And these are the definite role of these types of microscopes, as far as unstained specimen microscopy is concerned. While its counterpart, the phase contrast microscope, prove to have similar applications to darkfield microscopes, using these devices prove to be more practical in the long run.