Olympus trans-illuminator : Rectangular Filters

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MichaelG.
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Olympus trans-illuminator : Rectangular Filters

#1 Post by MichaelG. » Wed Apr 03, 2019 5:19 am

I recently purchased a nice example of the PM-LSD trans-illuminator
http://www.alanwood.net/photography/oly ... nator.html
http://alanwood.net/downloads/olympus-p ... iagram.pdf

This came, as standard, with one rectangular B-76 filter, 60mm x 45mm with cropped corners:
[ see bottom of the descriptive page ]

This size and shape of filter seems an unusual choice for a cylindrical lamphouse, and it is only a 'rattling fit' in the filter-holder ... so I have two questions:

1. Why did they do it ?
2. Is this filter shape common to any other Olympus equipment ?

I would be grateful for any explanation or hypothesis ...

MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'

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75RR
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Re: Olympus trans-illuminator : Rectangular Filters

#2 Post by 75RR » Wed Apr 03, 2019 7:12 am

If you scroll down to the bottom of the page it says this:
Attachments
Circular filters!.png
Circular filters!.png (32.52 KiB) Viewed 3033 times
Zeiss Standard WL (somewhat fashion challenged) & Wild M8
Olympus E-P2 (Micro Four Thirds Camera)

MichaelG.
Posts: 3980
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2017 8:24 am
Location: North Wales

Re: Olympus trans-illuminator : Rectangular Filters

#3 Post by MichaelG. » Wed Apr 03, 2019 7:51 am

75RR wrote:If you scroll down to the bottom of the page it says this:
Thanks for replying ... but that wasn't the mystery

I realise that the circular filters can be used, and that doing so risks some unfiltered-light-spill ...
What I am trying to understand is why Olympus chose to work around this problem by using a 'modified rectangular' shape that doesn't fit the holder very well.
The blue filter has safe edges, and was presumably relatively expensive to produce, but it just loks and feels like a bodge ... which hints at convenient repurposing of an off-the-shelf item.

MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'

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