Where to buy online at good price?

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frankqc
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Where to buy online at good price?

#1 Post by frankqc » Sat Sep 16, 2017 7:57 pm

Hi,

I want to buy a darkfield + either phase-contrast or fluorescent microscope.

I found this one which has just darkfield + phase-contrast but is it a good price?
https://www.nickssciencesupplies.co.uk/ ... icroscope/

But I wouldn't want to pay more.

Also I'm open to used equipment.

Thanks!
Francois

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Crater Eddie
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Re: Where to buy online at good price?

#2 Post by Crater Eddie » Sat Sep 16, 2017 8:51 pm

What is you intended application?
CE
Olympus BH-2 / BHTU
LOMO BIOLAM L-2-2
LOMO POLAM L-213 / BIOLAM L-211 hybrid
LOMO Multiscope (Biolam)
Cameras: Canon T3i, Olympus E-P1 MFT, Amscope 3mp USB

frankqc
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Re: Where to buy online at good price?

#3 Post by frankqc » Sat Sep 16, 2017 10:28 pm

Crater Eddie wrote:What is you intended application?
Blood smears. Maybe more applications later as I learn more.

apochronaut
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Re: Where to buy online at good price?

#4 Post by apochronaut » Sun Sep 17, 2017 8:54 pm

You should bear in mind that this is a Chinese made stencil brand microscope, close variants of which are marketed under various names. The mfg. is NOT in Italy, as claimed. They couldn't even make two of the objectives, for that price in Italy. The company is headquartered in Italy and has an office in China, where they contract for production.
Optika is comparable to Amscope in North America and they both sell very closely overlapping product lines.

china@optikamicroscopes.co

In China, microscope manufacturers are almost all actually, assembly plants where they contract for manufactured parts such as objectives, frames, illumination units etc. and make a final assembly to the customer's requirements.
One way that stencil brand retailers keep their uniqueness, is by arranging with the assembly plant to paint slightly differently, or use different looking objectives, knobs, or frame casting. Basically, within the broad world of Chinese biological microscopes there are many different batch runs of different looking microscopes that basically do the same thing. 99% of all of the Chinese biological microscopes are based on relatively few options: two tube formats, 4 objective types, about 3 stage sizes, 2 nosepieces, about 4 head types, a couple of choices of eyepiece types and f.o.v. etc.

Based on all that, your Optika microscope is not badly priced but you are paying somewhat for it's jazzy modern styling. T bases are modern and ergonomic looking but they aren't necessarily more ergonomic than a rectangular base microscope. The retailer can get more money for them because of the copied style of the biggy makers but the ergonomics are actually in the stage controls and their physical relationship to focusers, condenser adjustmets etc.. I think you can get a rectangular based microscope with the same features, for less money but you are in the U.K., where things might be different. Shipping would play a role.

You should also bear in mind that you will not be able to do DF at 100x with that microscope and it appears to have only 4 phase objectives. BF and DF quality will be compromised somewhat by the phase ring in those objectives and you can't use them for fluorescence at all.

To do what you want to do properly, you will need at least 8 objectives( including 4 strain free BF objectives for florescence) and if you can conjure up some way of getting enough illumination for 100x DF out of that instrument, you will also need an iris diaphragm equipped 100x objective. For fluorescence you will need a vertical fluorescence illuminator and power supply as well and that won't be cheap, not even from China

Why don't you contact the OEM http://www.yxopt.com/en/product.asp?par ... wAodQo8MpA and see how much they would want to ship a complete unit to your specs., directly? Model N800-F would be the complete fluor. model you are looking for but you would need to add in a phase condenser, 4 phase objectives and the oil DF condenser and 100x iris objective too.

apochronaut
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Re: Where to buy online at good price?

#5 Post by apochronaut » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:48 pm

I came across this listing out of Australia( 220v.), with £90.00 shipping to the U.K. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ernst-Leitz-W ... 0009.m1982

At £800.00, it seems a lot better option. It has fluorescence and you could get quite a few of the bits to get high resolution DF and phase, with the remaining £400.00 +, separating it's price from the Optika.

It is also fairly easily upgradeable to a higher resolution microscope, than the Optika, if your interests take you there and as well the possibility to do high resolution DF is assured due to the design of the illumination system, something unlikely with the Optika because it is committed to an in base illuminator..

frankqc
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Re: Where to buy online at good price?

#6 Post by frankqc » Wed Sep 20, 2017 4:52 pm

Thanks apochronaut.

I contacted yxopt.com (Novel optics) and they replied they only sell to distributor.
They forwarded me to MicroscopeNet which is one of their distributor (which sells OMAX from what I have seen).

This one seems good
http://www.microscopenet.com/omax-40x30 ... 12063.html

I think I could never get fluorescence with it however. And would need to add 800$US for the phase contrast kit ?

frankqc
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Re: Where to buy online at good price?

#7 Post by frankqc » Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:31 pm

This one seems a good overall choice for phase-contrast + darkfield.

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/produc ... 24011.html

billbillt
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Re: Where to buy online at good price?

#8 Post by billbillt » Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:38 pm

Hi,

Omax is a very good stand.. Bill Porter on this forum uses Omax, I believe.. He presents superlative work..I think some of his posts include phase with it...

BillT

apochronaut
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Re: Where to buy online at good price?

#9 Post by apochronaut » Thu Sep 21, 2017 1:47 am

You might be better off buying a microscope with dedicated objectives. There is an inclusion in phase contrast objectives, called a phase ring or phase annulus, which optically interferes with the light path when they are used for other applications. You can use them for bright field and dark field but the results are less than encouraging. Typically, there is a loss of contrast and a loss of resolution, when compared with the same sample viewed through non-phase objectives. Most basic Chinese achromats or planachromats, whether corrected for 160mm or infinity have relatively poor contrast and less than stellar resolution anyway, so complicating the issue by having phase rings in the objectives, when they are not being used for phase, is just going to be frustrating.

The marketing for that microscope is very deceptive. There is no mention of there being a DF condenser or a DF stop, yet it says "observing field ; Brigh field, darkfield, phase contrast" . Well, of course it can do bright field and darkfield if the correct equipment was installed but nowhere does it say , that equipment is included in the package.

That is strictly a microscope with 10x, 40x and 100x objectives for phase contrast, a decent 4x objective for BF, mediocre 10x, 40x and 100 x objectives for BF and the possibility to do decent 4x DF and 10x DF( maybe). There doesn't seem to be the facility to do DF at 40x and 100x but at 4x and 10x( likely) there is the facility to use the larger 100x phase annulus as a DF stop. I think the phase annuli, have to be installed one by one to be used, so perhaps there is a DF stop too but there is no information regarding that. It is being sold like a flashlight or something like that with almost zero information.
OMAX is not a manufacturer, it is a marketing name and the microscopes and or components in them are mix and match. Some have been Korean and most have been Chinese. They seem to just assemble systems and keep them going in the marketplace to sell out. If overly successful, they might repeat an assembly run, if not, they rework the concept for another go. This is not like a microscope company that actually manufactures the instruments, and where the designs are purpose built for a relatively sophisticated clientele. Chinese microscopes are designed like chocolate bars or chips, where the latest concoction out of a pandoras box of possibilities is fashioned in such a way to confuse and woo, a naive clientele.

This microscope is being sold by many companies and is distributed out of China by many "factories". Here is another.http://xmphio.com/html_products/N-300M- ... pe-43.html

or out of Germanyhttp://www.axiom-solutions.de/images/manuals/l ... _front.pdf

There are much cheaper Chinese microscopes that come with several sets of objectives, so that both phase and BF are accounted for.
i.e. http://omaxmicroscope.com/review/product/list/id/286/.
China has unfortunately gravitated to selling style over substance, so the clones of what look to be modern hi-tech ergonomic instruments are being sold with hollow promises, or just on the basis of their look, with no promises at all.

frankqc
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Re: Where to buy online at good price?

#10 Post by frankqc » Thu Sep 21, 2017 5:27 pm

I decided to go with
http://omaxmicroscope.com/omax-40x-2000 ... t-led.html
That I will purchase through eBay to save a few money.

I always have an upgrade path for true 100X darkfield with the future upgrade with the compatible A191BOIL kit (http://omaxmicroscope.com/a191boil-brig ... ctive.html)

I have to leave fluorescence for now :shock:

JimT
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Re: Where to buy online at good price?

#11 Post by JimT » Thu Sep 21, 2017 11:04 pm

Frankqc, good luck with your purchase and share some experiences and photos.

frankqc
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Re: Where to buy online at good price?

#12 Post by frankqc » Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:45 pm

JimT wrote:Frankqc, good luck with your purchase and share some experiences and photos.
Yes I will. One thing I found missing during shopping was lack of reviews and sample videos.

ajmckay
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Re: Where to buy online at good price?

#13 Post by ajmckay » Tue Dec 12, 2017 7:26 pm

Frankqc, assuming you've received the scope by now what are your actual impressions?

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