MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Scarodactyl wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:50 pm

Moving the eyepiece out of position to change the size of the image will have an effect on the image....

As in, degrade the image / add aberrations?

... I read somewhere in the forums that even the Nikon SMZ 10 (older, not the new 10A) and SMZ 2T/2B models have some doming at low magnifications.... I believe I can confirm just how domed, if you are interested, as I now have my father's SMZ-2T. The only issue is that instead of sliding onto a st...

The LM2596 is a classic. If you do not mind the design, another possibility might be a linear, constant current LED driver with a PWM input, of the sort some automotive makers favor, for example a TLE4242G . I have a few small boards using them that I salvaged from junked tail lights. I have not che...

MichaelG. wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 30, 2021 2:10 pm

Buck converters like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353674625191 are widely available at various prices

But note that the tiny preset ‘pot’ is inconvenient for use as a dimmer....

Not to mention that it will probably start wearing out within a few hundred adjustment cycles.

.... LED brightness is roughly proportional the the current that passes through the LED. Hence controlling the current is the proper brightness control.... That is often an acceptable to the better approach near an LED's "binning" or "grouping" current, the current at which it is tested and sorted....

... No idea why some of my text has appeared in Italics :? It appears to be from putting "I think" inside square brackets, [ ], where the open-bracket plus I excites the forum software. To test the camera+0.5X adapter, you could try holding it inside an eyepiece tube to see what it makes of the int...

Ohhhh, I should have started my reply that I am thinking positive waves, that the four days could be a pregnant pause.

It would be fun to play with a simul-focal Amscope to fully realize what it is about.

Think positive waves. The OP has only been away for four days, perhaps for a long weekend or a few experiments?

If high quality photos are the main objective (flat fields, lacking aberration), and the budget is under $500, you might want to consider something else (macro rig, macroscope, something like a Wild 3c with a movable camera port, etc.) beside a conventional stereo zoom microscope.... Or perhaps a G...

Here too, I've never understood what this "simul-focal" actually mean. ? I think simul-focal is Amscope-speak for: the camera "can be used simultaneously with both eyepieces" [by design] the camera and the eyepieces both stay in focus as you zoom in and out [in practice]. The first implies the micr...

JohnSmith wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 19, 2021 12:29 pm

... the colours are really washed out....

Are you using a ring light? That could explain some loss of contrast. If my microscopes were not presently works in progress, I would take some images of a one euro coin illuminated with a ring light vs. dual, gooseneck spots – to show the difference.

I was also going to suggest that: getting a Zarges case and having a foam shop make some custom inserts to organize the microscope and accessories.

Hi Riku! Also, some CMO models will have the possibility to slide the objective to coincide with just one of the two optical paths - clear benefits for photography. I don't think this possibility exists with Greenough stereos.... Since a (competent) Greenough always coincides, the standard trick is ...

I bet this would be a tolerably rigid microscope stand, but perhaps too much for the ceiling:

That shipping cost is very reasonable and a lot less that I usually see quoted on e-bay but I'd have to find a suitable head first and that won't be as easy as it should be. I offer it up as another possibility as there are decades worth of parts you can interchange among the Wild/Leica M-series st...

If you can find a Leica/Wild binocular head, like this one and some adjustable eyepieces, for example, from China, I have the other, lower half, that I am not using from a three-step (6.4, 16, 40X) Wild M3 ... Hi I really need to buy a single instrument from a single source. The cost of shipping wo...

A Greenough would be OK for my application but I would prefer CMO if it gives a brighter image. A CMO microscope very well should: its objective has much more area. If you can find a Leica/Wild binocular head, like this one and some adjustable eyepieces, for example, from China, I have the other, l...

What are your requirements with regards to: magnification range? zoom vs. stepped magnification? CMO vs Greenough? I ask because I use two CMO microscopes, one zoom and one stepped, that I know were originally used for electronics work over 5–31X magnification and at 12.8, 32 and 80X, respectively.

[Sorry about the spurious post. I will follow the same thread already in progress over at photomacrography.net.]

... I very much prefer handling the M3C, M3Z and M8. The vertically mounted zoom knob is just nicer to use than the horizontal wheel on the M5s.... I kind of like rolling the large, horizontal zoom wheel between both hands on the M7 models. I could imagine the wheel, however, could get old if it lu...

Just think of what you could do with 60 000 lumens. Sneeze while you are setting the brightness and your solutions may turn various colors (fourth product image).

I’ll be sure to contact you so I cease see what you’re doing. I will capture and measure the image from the M7S out of its photo tube, in case that might suggest what you have to work with. I should have done this some time ago, but my first camera adaption went so quickly and well that I did not b...

... My only problem is figuring out a way to attach my Nikon cameras to the phototubes. I have some ideas, but may come back to this forum if they don't work. Anyway - here is the M7s with phototube attached and transmitted light base with pol stage.... That is a very nice set of microscopes you ha...

... Ill search for smz2b in EU first of all but maybe have to order from US. Trinocular seems rare so might skip it, too bad. Trinocular microscopes are not that rare. I searched ebay.com for sold Nikon microscopes and got six SMZ-2Bs and six SMZ-2Ts. I think the issue is more that Nikon sold many ...

This thread has an old version of a list of used microscopes to buy and avoid, written by a company that services and sells them. The SMZ-10 is on the buy list. The SMZ-10 is a Common Main Objective microscope, the other popular design that has just that, rather than the two, smaller objectives you...

I bet it is pretty neat if it is like the ones I tried. If only my eyes were just slightly less off spec....

What works for me is a simple, flip down 2.5X stereo magnifier that places a simple, single-element lens before each eyeglass lens.

I wear glasses and had no luck with the Galilean loupes from Eschenbach. My eyes proved too close together for their clip-ons and my right eye's significant, but by no means enormous, cylinder correction was too much for their adjustable, prescription model. I bet Zeiss's Keplerians would be the bus...

This was a very good link and got some useful info on other stuffs also, thank you. :) You are welcome. I know very little about watchmaking, but the fellow who created that site seems like a man of helpful, practical wisdom. I will look more into smz-2t. Is it possible to mount a c-mount usb camer...

DonSchaeffer wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 07, 2021 3:02 pm

By the way, what are typical working distances for stereo microscopes?

The microscope I am looking at has a 91mm W.D. over 6~32X which is on the low end. The W.D. is somewhat less than twice that if you add an auxiliary objective that halves the magnification.

Have you seen this page? Its author is in the U.S. and so recommends microscopes that are plentiful there. My father, a retired geologist/materials scientist, has been quite happy with his Nikon SMZ-2T, the trinocular version of the -2B the watchmaker suggests.