MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hi! I am trying to set up a trinocular Olympus CX43 for DSLR photography and have stalked the forums and read the Alan Wood site to help determine what adapters I need.

So far, I have been able to source the U-SPT, PE 2.5x and a camera adapter. However, I cannot find an Olympus Photomicro Adapter L anywhere. The closest I've come is the Spach Optics website, but they don't seem to be interested in either answering their phones or replying to emails / webforms.

My questions:
I don't suppose anyone reading might be willing to part with their Olympus Photomicro Adapter L?
Has anyone heard of / used Spach Optics? What did they think? (Interestingly, their prices for other used items are far higher than Olympus quoted me for brand new parts)
Are there other options? I have heard about the Diagnostic Instruments PA1-10A, but can't find one of these either.

Thankyou for any help you can provide

Hi, here's one in the U.K. for a good price....

Are you sure you need the Photomicro Adapter L? I was under the impression that this was only for the finite era (i.e. BH and BH2) stands, not for the infinity scopes (CX/BX)? I may be wrong, though. I am only familiar with the finite microscopes.

viktor j nilsson wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:14 pm

Are you sure you need the Photomicro Adapter L? I was under the impression that this was only for the finite era (i.e. BH and BH2) stands, not for the infinity scopes (CX/BX)? I may be wrong, though. I am only familiar with the finite microscopes.

The PE eyepieces have the same sensor distance, and at least some of the adapters have the same 38mm dovetail as the finite era.

I'd suggest doing this instead of buying an expensive photomicro L: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9093
The photomicro is beautiful, surely the most stylish miroscope camera adapter ever made by a long shot, but imo it's better to save some dough and spend it on optics instead.

mrsonchus wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:07 pm

Hi, here's one in the U.K. for a good price....

Oh thanks for that. Didn’t come up in my EBay searches, perhaps because the seller doesn’t list Australia as a shipping destination. I’ve now asked them if they’d consider this.

viktor j nilsson wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:14 pm

Are you sure you need the Photomicro Adapter L? I was under the impression that this was only for the finite era

Honestly I’m not sure at all. Would anyone be able to shed more light on this? I suppose it would be necessary to use the adapter if using a photo eyepiece as Scarodactyl suggested. Without the photo eyepiece, I’d imagine that connecting a camera on the end of the trinocular port would mean the light beam would be wider than the camera sensor. Not sure. I don’t even have the microscope yet. I was deferring to the Alan Wood CX microscope adapter article, but didn’t contemplate that some CX models may not have used infinity objectives.

Scarodactyl wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 5:53 pm

I'd suggest doing this instead of buying an expensive photomicro L: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9093

That’s an interesting adapter variation! I’ll look into alternatives like that if I’m unable to buy the UK adapter.

Thankyou for your help! If anyone could shed further light on alternatives for infinity focus objectives that would be great.

Just to be clear, at least earlier model olympus infinity microscopes use exactly the same mounting hardware as the BH2 series. It's a wonderful bit of backwards/forwards compatibility. They may have changed it at some later point, but it worked that way on the BX40 I had for a bit.

Argghhh Just realised I've been cracking-on about the U-SPT adapter which sits below the L adapter - apologies folks...

Scarodactyl wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:13 pm

Just to be clear, at least earlier model olympus infinity microscopes use exactly the same mounting hardware as the BH2 series. It's a wonderful bit of backwards/forwards compatibility. They may have changed it at some later point, but it worked that way on the BX40 I had for a bit.

Wonderful compatibility for sure! But very strange that they never made a white version for the CX/BX line, but instead discontinued the adapter L in 2003. I just looked through a BX51 brochure to try to figure out how what you would use to hook up a full frame camera using more recent accessories, but I found the flow chart to be 100% confusing. Is there really no modern equivalent to the Photomicro Adapter L? I find that strange.

viktor j nilsson wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:45 pm

Is there really no modern equivalent to the Photomicro Adapter L? I find that strange.

Yes I think it’s really strange too.

I don’t quite understand the setup because none of it is in front of me. I’m assuming the light coming out of the trinocular port is still collimated / infinity corrected. Why does the U-SPT need to be so long? I then assume the photo eyepiece PE 2.5x is acting as the trinocular port’s “tube lens”, is this correct? The PE 2.5x then focuses the real image onto the camera’s image sensor at a predetermined distance of 125mm, so it makes sense that the Photomicro Adapter L is fairly long.

In other news, the seller has agreed to ship to me so I’ve managed to snag myself that silver Photomicro Adapter L mrsonchus pointed me to.

Thanks!

This isn't really relevant to this discussion, but I'll add this little tidbit here, just so that any future searchers have a chance to see it. The Photomicro L Adapter has the proper bore to accept the NFK projection optics, but the U-SPT (UIS version) does not. The bore is bigger in the UIS one, and the NFK 2.5x will drop all the way in! The opposite of course is therefore true. The UIS version will not fit into the Photomicro L Adapter.

Carl

Vortimoeba wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 28, 2020 10:13 pm

. I’m assuming the light coming out of the trinocular port is still collimated / infinity corrected. Why does the U-SPT need to be so long? I then assume the photo eyepiece PE 2.5x is acting as the trinocular port’s “tube lens”, is this correct?

No, all the light first passes through the tube lens in thr base of the head in an Olympus system, so from the neck up it is finite. There are some stereo systems that work like you are thinking but it isn't something I've seen in a compound scope.

Vortimoeba wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:06 pm

viktor j nilsson wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:14 pm

Are you sure you need the Photomicro Adapter L? I was under the impression that this was only for the finite era

Honestly I’m not sure at all. Would anyone be able to shed more light on this? I suppose it would be necessary to use the adapter if using a photo eyepiece as Scarodactyl suggested. Without the photo eyepiece, I’d imagine that connecting a camera on the end of the trinocular port would mean the light beam would be wider than the camera sensor. Not sure. I don’t even have the microscope yet. I was deferring to the Alan Wood CX microscope adapter article, but didn’t contemplate that some CX models may not have used infinity objectives.

I have the Olympus Photomicro L adapter (the late "creamy"-colored model) and it works fine on the U-SPT. The L adapter has an Olympus OM mount, and from that end you need an adapter for your camera. OM adapters are available for virtually all mirrorless camera systems, but there are a few DSLR lens mounts that cannot be adapted to OM because their flange distance is too high.

This is presumably the modern equivalent
https://www.ebay.com/itm/193755266703

Hey mate,
I have an Olympus photoadapter L in box for sale in Sydney. Are you still looking?

Edit it's the photo micro adapter L.

I use these Diagnostic Instruments PA1-10A adapters. They work really well on either BH2 or BX series microscopes in place of the Photomicro Adapter L:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-F-Mount- ... SwTvNdkLqF

The only reason it is listed as a Nikon adapter is the T-ring. The adapter itself has T mount threads on the upper end and will take any T-ring so whether you have a mirrorless camera or a DSLR you can get parfocality simply by using the appropriate T-ring for your camera. The lower end has two set screws so it will fit the dovetail perfectly.

They're actually more commonly available than the L, and tend to be cheaper, but I haven't seen too many lately.

Aidan wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 02, 2020 7:42 am

Hey mate,
I have an Olympus photoadapter L in box for sale in Sydney. Are you still looking?

Edit it's the photo micro adapter L.

Hi Aidan.

Yes I did end up buying the adapter off eBay UK. I think I'm all set up now with the PE 2.5x, U-SPT and Adapter L. Thanks though!

Just waiting on the actual microscope now...

Instead of the expensive Photomicro Adapter L, all you need to do is purchase a PM10A, AD, or PM6 and remove the electronics. Cost is ~ $30 on ebay. Length is the same as the PMA-L. Exactly the same...

It isn't the same length but can be adapted with readily available parts.

I forgot to mention that you also will need a 67mm-42mm adapter.

A spacer is also necessary for parrocality (at least with a canon dslr) but fortunately a standard Chinese one works well--I linked my thread about it above.