MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Which stereo microscope do you have?

The newer Olympus fluorite objectives probably perform a bit better than the neo splans (I have only tried the neo splans in particular). I would say the neo splans are very capable objectives, more like fluorites than achromats from my recollection, but they are somewhat limited by the system they ...

Ah, the good 'ol Blue Beetle.
(He does not call it the Blue Beetle.)
(But he should.)

Thry were sold as American optical and as Reichert Jung after Cambridge bought thrm (AO kept the brand since they were still big in glasses). They were never sold as Bausch and Lomb, those are essentially unrelated. You can probably thread on a standard 48mm plastic ring light adapter and have it gr...

Ywahhh I didn't want to pry, but at the same time your prescence will definitely be missed.

Thank you very much for the extra info! That does clarify things a lot and add some valuable context. I wonder if they've updated the designs of the stereos--the main objective (even the nonleica one) does look a bit more modern, but I have never handled a citoval.

Maybe the symbol is telling you to look upon the brazen serpent to cure your snake bites

I finally got a chance at one of my obscure white whales this month: the Askania MZM 1, a copy of which finally came up affordably on eBay after years of watching. It is both a photomacroscope, a category I like a lot, and by an obscure German microscope firm that still makes their own product and h...

The original Nikon PL 2.5x is not very expensive (I just sold one on eBay for 40 bucks, though the buyer never paid), though you may find its performance isn't great. The newer PL 2.5XA seems significantly better, and I think the PLI 2.5x is probably better yet though I haven't confirmed 100% compat...

To clarify, did you get a 2x ndpl dslr adapter, or a c mount adapter? A c mount is a 25mm threaded mount used on video cameras with small sensor, you don't need one of those.
A photo of which head you have and which adapter would help a lot in getting you set up.

The slot can take a dic slider as well, right? Or am I misremembering?
Nice suite of attachments for sure.

Curious about the slider on the nosepiece above the objectives. That is an expensive nosepiece btw because it can be used for DIC.

That's a badass microscope at an amazing price. You can resell it for at least as much if you don't end up using it which makes it a better value than a cheaper scope.

I have the intermediate attachment with the slider and u ant analyzer and I'm definitely open to an offer on it. I don't have the official polarozer but do have a very basic 3d printed replacement I can include with it.

The only way to really know is to test it for yourself.

The approach varies a lot from model to model, and many are made with either or both options since they serve different usecases.

That's Saul's shop. I havem't tried this one but he is a very good designer.

Gatorengineer means objectives. Terminal telescopy syndrome.

I've found sorbothane very helpful but my microscope has angled narrow corners that eventually sink right through and cut the sorbothane in half so it doesn't last too long.

I'm sure 23mm wasn't selected for no reason. The smz18 comes with 10x/22s after all, this might already be pushing the design parameters a bit. Sometimes these limits seem to be selected to avoid problems if intermediate attachments are used--as an example my Leica Z6 is only specced for use with li...

You'll probably find out when you put on your camera on it, or you could put on ultrawide eyepieces. My guess is you may see some corner shading at the lowest settings and corner performance may underwhelm a bit but it will probably be usable on aps-c. I'd love to see some pictures whenever you get ...

Thank you very much for posting this! This is quite a rare duck, and like many of these systems essentially no information was available from actual users (until now that is). It's great to hear that it's so capable--after the performance of the lower-tier SMZ clones I thought there was a good chanc...

Whoops, sorry I forgot to send you my design. This should work fine, though I can still send it if you'd like. In the US labophot stands are pretty cheap, but our used market is just a lot friendlier in general. They did make some big id ustrial stands that take these nosepieces as well as some stan...

I know this might be a niche issue, but my PM inbox has been full for some time and I have to delete old messages to get new ones. It seems like this shouldn't be a big issue from a storage space perspective, and I do kind of hate to delete old messages.

It is a bipin bolt iirc, at least in the model I took apart. A pair of needlenose pliers should work.
I'd be careful with heat since you don't want to damage those laminated prisms.

Sounds like frozen grease, yeah. Opening that bolt will probably get you in there but there will be a billion tiny bearings exposed as hobbyst said. Proceed cautiously.

I modeled an adapter for labophot nosepieces (to put one on a Wild M420 head). It's a bit involved because the dovetail butts up against the slanted nosepiece but I had an original holder to take notes from. I could provide a model of just the nikon nosepiece part if you'd like.

Interesting. I haven't tried this model--it's kind of telling that they went from this sort of layout to the (once again I say, mechanically horrible) lever-driven model and then to simple sliders.
This should be a fun project! I'll look forward to your results.

Most models will allow you to pull the prisms out of the light path. The prisms cause unpleasant doubling when they're present in other imaging modes.
I'm a bit curious which model it is, but I can understand not wanting to link it during negotiations as it were.

There is no single best camera for every application and every microscope. I think quality dslrs and mirrorless cameras tend to take better photos than dedicated microscope cameras in the same price bracket if properly connected to the microscope, but there are limitations as well. The film days of ...