MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

This thread has gone way off course; but to get it back on track, and to satisfy both antagonistic parties (older used big-four vs new Chinese), here's my suggestion: satisfied users of a good-to-excellent Chinese microscope should write a review, or at least a short note, about how great it is. We ...

How about something like this, if you can easily remove the IR block:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Leitz-Microsco ... SwuMFUhs45

I think we're spoiled! We expect to fasten our fancy new DSLR up to the scope and get instant gratification, just like taking an image of a field of flowers. Plus, 1) the old in-the-lens leaf shutters had very little vibration, compared to modern SLRs with mirror-slap and focal-plane shutters; 2) no...

Pete, not a lousy solution at all, in fact, my first thought, too. The Carousels had a heat-absorbing glass disk about 1/4" (6mm) thick, and 2.5" (60mm) diameter, greenish-tinged (that are sold all over ebay as replacements) that can be easily removed: presto, instant IR.

I agree with apochronaut. Kohler is a compensatory arrangement for use with 'point' sources of illumination. These days, with COB LEDs, properly placed diffusers, and sufficient LED brightness, Kohler is not necessary for many microscopes; it is still useful in high-powered lab scopes that may use a...

My take on the two lenses in the photo attachment is that they are duplicates of the two lenses that occur in the head of the viewing body, in order to provide the appropriate magnification and corrections to match those that occur in the viewing body, prior to the eyepiece providing the finishing ...

Beautiful and astounding video; well done! The ring-shaped formations may be an artifact of the squished environment under the coverglass and the presence of predators inside the bacterial formation: since they (the bacteria) can't move in the Z direction, but only in X and Y, they can't move the gl...

The unit will be parfocal with an eyepiece in it, but only visually. This is why I shortened mine,and dispensed with the eyepiece altogether. The lens just below the aluminum tube riser serves as a decent projection lens for my camera, and the camera image sensor is now parfocal with the view throug...

Don't neglect Craigslist, if you have nothing against used microscopes. The advantage here is that you get to inspect the microscope before you buy. Here is an example listing around the San Diego area. Note that there is a B&L stereozoom for only $75 (no, it's not mine). Some of these microscopes a...

Pete, to continue the thread a bit, here are two DIC sliders, the first on a Polyvar 2 (trans, and epi I think), the second on a Polyvar Met (no transmitted light capability):

Glad I could help, Pete. Keep us posted with your DIC experiments. Neat stuff! Phil: A photo spread of the Univar, eh? I haven't done that because it might be misinterpreted as materialism, or bragging, or some other pathology. I try to keep it low-key, because my feeling is that equipment is (above...

I don't know if the objective-to-prism distance is pertinent on the Univar/Polyvar family, since the prism is in infinity space. Plus the prism can move up and down about 0.8 cm by turning the small inner knob. But, as near as I can measure it, it is about 1.5 cm from the top of the objective to the...

Looking over my old post ( http://www.microbehunter.com/microscopy-forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6074&p=54790&hilit=cycloptic#p54790 , in the next to the last post, I see that my resolution tests were done without an eyepiece after the camera adapter; that is, there was nothing between the top lens of t...

Pete, Here are some images of the DIC slider I use, and the front end of the Univar. Pretty self-explanatory. As you can see, the slider is only very slightly different from the one you linked to above. Don't know what difference it would make. The inside is filled with two dovetails, working the pr...

Pete, Yes, I think that the compensator that you have would fit the Univar slot where I put the DIC slider (upper prism). I think the later Univars and the Polyvars used the same DIC slider I (and you) have. The simpler (earlier?) slider design is illustrated in the manual I translated, on page B10:...

does it just need an eyepiece in the top of the photo tube, and a camera held the appropriate distance above? Yes, that is the design mode for the photo adapter. With a projection or regular eyepiece inserted into the shiny tube, and the camera clamped above it (without any camera lens on the camer...

PeteM, it's almost exactly similar to the one I use on my Reichert Univar. I say "almost" because the concave cutout on the thin end has a bit different radius than mine, and some of the screws holding it together are different. I've seen the same slider on a Reichert Polyvar Met, so you're right ab...

I have now given up my own plans for a new design of inverted microscope. No way I can compete with this. Yours doesn't require an inverted operator like mine did (I wonder if it's too late to return the Barcalounger...)

Well done.

BTW, I suggest the Model number is 0401.

Nice looking dog, Charlie, built for the Great Frozen North. Is that a keg of brandy that I see around its neck?

From (sorta) warm SoCal,

Bill

Hi Charlie, I think it's best to bring the cold packaged object inside, but not to unwrap it while it warms up (might take a few hours). This way, you don't directly expose the cold metal to new moist air, which will tend to condense water out onto the cold metal. But even if it does get covered wit...

Possibly a centering telescope for phase work? Does the black part of the barrel rotate relative to the chrome barrel? If so, that would be the focus mechanism for a CT. If it doesn't turn there, you might drip a (very) tiny bit of solvent into the relieved area and let it sit, see if it loosens up....

Thank you, MichaelG. I was heading out the door (being yanked, more like) and didn't take the time to examine it. Good to know ebay is tracking my movements.

If you're still at the conceptual stage, and wonder if indeed 405nm would work, you may want to get one of these, and do some experimentation. The price is right, and you would also not have to worry about collimation, power supply, hardware, ad nauseum, while you get some data. I would also wear re...

No, the hole in the body, that normally takes the 2nd relay lens (at 22.17mm), is significantly too small for the usual 23mm eyepiece, without machining.

Kurt, From the metal bottom of the stage to its top surface is 14.5mm or 0.57". From the bottom of the rubber feet to the top surface is 21.9mm or 0.863". The whole stage measures about 4.1" or 105mm square. Pretty small! But big enough... The clips are nice. They have a tab at the back that you can...

Just as an addendum to the above posts, I thought a clarification about adding "drops" of oil or solvent to microscope optical parts, such as objectives, might help neophytes get a better picture of exactly how much they might want to add, so as not to overdo it. Words can sometimes get us into trou...

This is a product review of the following self-contained stage for stereo microscopes, or microscopes that have no provision for the usual type of stage. There are several different types of this kind of stage out there, but since I bought one of these (one of the reasons being it was cheaper than s...

Your existing hole (where what I call the second relay lens goes) is about 0.873" or 22.17mm I.D.

You can indeed get an image without the second relay lens and an eyepiece. I can't vouch for the quality, but holding my camera sensor up near the hole, it definitely shows a vignetted image.

The rig as pictured is missing two components that you may need to adapt a camera, usb or otherwise: the second relay lens, and the tube. See the thread: http://www.microbehunter.com/microscopy-forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6074&p=54790&hilit=cycloptic#p54790 Go down the post to my images #1 & #2 to see...

Nice.

I had to save it and scale it down to 56% to match my eye spacing before I could get the 3D.