MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Evening All,

I have just taken delivery of my new microscope!

I looked at the various Brunell and AmScope devices and decided that I really wanted a trinocular microscope. I went back to one that I had looked at before the Realux BK5000T which has a list price of about €1500. I paid rather a lot less for a used one in fantastic condition.

Specs as follows:

Trinocular head : 360 ° rotation, Dist. Inter pupillary 50-75mm
Turret with 5 Plan Achromatic objectives;
IOS 4X / 0.10
IOS 10X / 0.25 ,
IOS 40X / 0.65 (S )
IOS 100X / 1.25 (Oil) (S )
XY stage : 50x70 mm Displacement
Field diaphragm
Lighting: LED 3Watts

This has a 10p coin (about the size of a dollar?) for scale.



Side view



The turret:


It is as smooth as silk compared to my old Lomo and the optics are beautifully clear.
Cheers
Steve

Looks brand new! Congratulations
A 5 objective turret is a very nice thing to have. (It is on my wish list)
You mention 4x, 10x, 40x and 100x Plan Achromats, is the fifth a 20x?

Ah yes you are right there is a 20x there too!
Cheers
Steve

Very nice! And Plan Apos too. Looking forward to seeing some nice images.
CE

Turret with 5 Plan Apo objectives;

The objectives are plan achromats. There are no apochromats available for this scope.

It is a nice scope.

lorez

How embarrassing! Lorenz is correct and the plan achromatic is what I thought I was buying in the first place.


My only excuse was that I'd been up since before 04:30 (and again today!) and my brain wasn't fully caffeinated

I now need to sort out camera mountings etc.

Cheers
Steve

Congratulations! Looks like a beautifully made, excellent instrument that should provide you with many years of enjoyment.

I'm curious what the N.A.'s of the 4X and 20X are? I can see the 10 ,40 and 100 N.A.'s

Link to manual in french:
https://www.google.co.ve/url?sa=t&rct=j ... 2980,d.eXY

I guess Leica sold off some older designs they weren't going to be using to the Chinese, or let a factory they are involved with , use them. The 40X objective is actually a 40X .66, not a .65 as mentioned in the original post. Does it have a 24mm correcting lens in the bottom of the head and a 50mm dovetail?

Yes Apochronaut,

You are also correct in that the 40x is marked as .66

The head does have a 48-50mm dovetail and a 24mm lens - what does that tell you about it?

Cheers,
Steve

When the brand American Optical was sold off by the amalgamated Leica Microsystems, most of the infinity designs of AO and Reichert had served their purpose. Leica , no doubt utilized this wealth of technology and built on it but companies often sell old designs to countries like China, India and formerly Romania and Bulgaria. Your microscope has Chinese made optics, almost for sure based on AO designs.
AO was unique, in that for about 100 years, they calculated an N.A. of .66 for their basic 4mm( 40-45x) objectives. That N.A. also shows up briefly on Reichert infinity microscopes, because they were using AO objective designs in certain models.
That range of Chinese made objectives( which also can be found on ebay) have corrections identical to AO and Reichert. I have tested them on an AO made Diastar and they are virtually identical to the 25 year old AO objectives in performance. They are perfectly corrected for the system , with only slightly inferior correction for lateral chromatic aberration.
The dovetail , sounds to be either the same or close enough that it would receive any AO or Reichert accessory made for the Series10/20,100/120, Microstar IV, Diastar and likely the Reichert Diavar II and the Leica 2000. Optics from series 10/20 and 100/120( the short ones) would be directly compatible with a short adapter to lengthen them to D.I.N., or any Reichert or Microstar or Leica 2000, D.I.N. optics will be compatible. Modern Leica objectives with RMS threads will be compatible, as well as others with suitable adapters.
So, if you want to upgrade your microscope in future with any accessories; used AO, Reichert or Leica conponents will likely do the trick.

Most interesting.

The dovetail , sounds to be either the same or close enough that it would receive any AO or Reichert accessory made for the Series10/20,100/120, Microstar IV, Diastar and likely the Reichert Diavar II and the Leica 2000

I have enough of this stuff to give it a try.

lorez

Thank you Appchronaut!

That is really interesting info and the sort of detail that I just wouldn't have found outside of a forum such as this.

Cheers
Steve

apochronaut wrote:When the brand American Optical was sold off by the amalgamated Leica Microsystems, most of the infinity designs of AO and Reichert had served their purpose. Leica , no doubt utilized this wealth of technology and built on it but companies often sell old designs to countries like China, India and formerly Romania and Bulgaria. Your microscope has Chinese made optics, almost for sure based on AO designs.
AO was unique, in that for about 100 years, they calculated an N.A. of .66 for their basic 4mm( 40-45x) objectives. That N.A. also shows up briefly on Reichert infinity microscopes, because they were using AO objective designs in certain models.
That range of Chinese made objectives( which also can be found on ebay) have corrections identical to AO and Reichert. I have tested them on an AO made Diastar and they are virtually identical to the 25 year old AO objectives in performance. They are perfectly corrected for the system , with only slightly inferior correction for lateral chromatic aberration.
The dovetail , sounds to be either the same or close enough that it would receive any AO or Reichert accessory made for the Series10/20,100/120, Microstar IV, Diastar and likely the Reichert Diavar II and the Leica 2000. Optics from series 10/20 and 100/120( the short ones) would be directly compatible with a short adapter to lengthen them to D.I.N., or any Reichert or Microstar or Leica 2000, D.I.N. optics will be compatible. Modern Leica objectives with RMS threads will be compatible, as well as others with suitable adapters.
So, if you want to upgrade your microscope in future with any accessories; used AO, Reichert or Leica conponents will likely do the trick.

Hmm... sounds like an "old friend" has joined this forum.

Gentlmen-

Given he will not ring his own bell I would like to introduce you to Apochronaut. He is perhaps the best resource for information on AO and Reichert you could ever need. And not to shabby on B&L either. Trust me..you want to know anything about AO ask him.

Fabulous piece of kit. Not jealous at all