The equipment at Amenex consisted of the following instruments:

Bausch & Lomb Balphot metallographs (2)
with bright & dark field illumination as well as polarized light;

Reichert MeF2 metallographs (2)
with bright & dark field illumination, polarized light, differential interference contrast (after Nomarski), and microhardness attachment;

Olympus SZH stereomicroscope
with fiber-optic (oblique light) illuminator and coaxial (quasi-vertical) illumination;

Wilson Tukon microhardness tester
using either the Knoop or the Diamond Pyramid (Vickers) indentors at loads from one gram to ten kilograms for critical hardness measurements on microscopic selected areas;

Wilson Model LL microhardness tester
with Knoop indentor for thin specimens and specimens too small for the Rockwell test method; and

Polaroid MP-4 macrophotographic camera
mounted on a stand proprietary to Amenex.

Optical resolution is limited by the numerical aperture of the objective lens and the wavelength of the incident light. High-quality lenses are required to overcome spherical and chromatic aberrations. The metallographs that Amenex used have useful magnifications between 10X and 2000X for reflected light by vertical or coaxial illumination; lower magnifications can be managed with oblique light only.

Depth of field is small for visible light at high magnifications, so specimens must be quite flat for photographs to be useful. Viewing with the eyes can reveal structures which cannot be recorded on film because of the eye's ability to refocus within the microscope's viewing system.

Special imaging techniques are quite useful for objects with little contrast, such as unetched microstructures or materials that are difficult to etch. Differential interference contrast forms images on the basis of minute differences in elevation within the field of view; our Nomarski system  used magnifications from about 50X to 2000X. Polarized light enables optically active materials to be distinguished, such as calcite, crystalline polymers, and complex metallic phases.

Microhardness measurements aid in the identification of unknown phases in a microstructure or are used to detect changes in hardness or composition that are present on a microscopic scale, such as decarburized layers near the surface of hardened steel or deformed zones near fracture surfaces.