Ordered BX53...

[Johann]

Just placed an order for new Olympus BX53.
Sold a kidney, re-bonded the house and spent the kids inheritance money... but think it may be worth it

Deliver only in 6 weeks though...

[Crater Eddie]

Wow! Congratulations! Of course we will want pictures as soon as it arrives.
CE

[75RR]

Do your kids good to work for a living ;) Congratulations. Do post plenty of photos of it.

[rnabholz]

I was not familiar with the scope, so I googled up a picture.... Holy Smokes!! That thing looks like a space ship!!

Congratulations, like CE says, pics are a must.

Enjoy your scope.

Rod

[zzffnn]

Congratulations! Ergonomics of BX53 looks very nice.

I heard that Olympus part for that scope (such as darkfield condenser) is not cheap though, and its under stage space is not very generous for DIY.

[KurtM]

Wow ... very impressive magnifying machine alright! As others have requested, please do post all particulars and pictures, I think many of us are nearly as excited for you as you must be yourself!

In the meantime, I own an Olympus BX45; it's a seriously large and heavy stand so be prepared for that. Has exquisite optics. I lucked into it, but now that it's mine I cannot afford accessories for it. A microscope that's essentially limited to bright field only is limited indeed, in my world, no matter how good the optics. Have the same problem with a Nikon Eclipse 600. Neither gets used much, if at all, as a result.

[einman]

WOW!!

[gekko]

... at least you didn't sell your kids Congratuations: a beauty!

[einman]

Why is selling your kids not an option? Hmm...I guess I am going to have to cancel mine..

[rnabholz]

Why is selling your kids not an option? Hmm...I guess I am going to have to cancel mine..

My wife and I decided that we didn't want children. The kids are taking it kind of hard.....

[Oktagon]

Wow ... very impressive magnifying machine alright! As others have requested, please do post all particulars and pictures, I think many of us are nearly as excited for you as you must be yourself!

In the meantime, I own an Olympus BX45; it's a seriously large and heavy stand so be prepared for that. Has exquisite optics. I lucked into it, but now that it's mine I cannot afford accessories for it. A microscope that's essentially limited to bright field only is limited indeed, in my world, no matter how good the optics. Have the same problem with a Nikon Eclipse 600. Neither gets used much, if at all, as a result.

I actually tend to disagree. Bright field is most universal technique, when examining stained specimens, and even can be used with low contrast unstinted slides with addition of green and red filters. Phase contrast can easily be added, and with most phase condensers you can improvise DF by positioning the phase ring in between phase annuli. Having said that I believe, that when funds are limited, it is more cost-effective to use older 160mm tube optics from "the big three", as the image quality is not going to be worse then modern infinity machines and accessories are far less expensive.

[JimT]

Johann, you know for all that you could have bought a nice boat

[KurtM]

...when funds are limited, it is more cost-effective to use older 160mm tube optics from "the big three", as the image quality is not going to be worse then modern infinity machines and accessories are far less expensive.

Funds is the key word. To put what I meant to say more plainly, a trinoc head for the OLY or Nikon starts at $1k if you find a really super good deal, while $50 does the trick with good old AO infinity scopes. Phase contrast can be had for as little as $100 for a complete stand, although ~$300 is more typical, in AO. I was getting over $2K to put phase contrast in the E600, as the low end.

Some people are perfectly happy with bright field only. I ain't one of them. I want as many options as I can get because it's just plain more fun for me that way. And being a hobby, the whole point of all this is to have fun.

Rod:

[hkv]

Congratulations! The Olympus high end BX-seriers are wonderful devices. I have several BX51s and VERY satisfied. I agree with your comments on pricing though... I have DIC (both for my UPlanFLuorites and my UplanSAPOs), Phase, Brightfield and Dakfield. It was a small fortune, but you don't have to buy everything at once.

I have two brand new BX51 stands in their boxes that I can sell for a good price if someone want to go the same path. The BX51 and 53 are more or less the same device. The stands are relatively cheap, but then you need to add the accessories...

[Oktagon]

...when funds are limited, it is more cost-effective to use older 160mm tube optics from "the big three", as the image quality is not going to be worse then modern infinity machines and accessories are far less expensive.

Funds is the key word. To put what I meant to say more plainly, a trinoc head for the OLY or Nikon starts at $1k if you find a really super good deal, while $50 does the trick with good old AO infinity scopes. Phase contrast can be had for as little as $100 for a complete stand, although ~$300 is more typical, in AO. I was getting over $2K to put phase contrast in the E600, as the low end.

Some people are perfectly happy with bright field only. I ain't one of them. I want as many options as I can get because it's just plain more fun for me that way. And being a hobby, the whole point of all this is to have fun.

Rod:

I personally have Bf, DF, FC, FL, DIC in both ligh passages, but it would cost me a fortune to have that on modern Zeiss, which is why I stick yo 160mm gray line

[Johann]

Thanks guys, needless to say I am super excited and the weeks ahead are going to drag by...
Will post lots of pics when it arrives. And hopefully get some nice pics to send of how it performs.
The 20x and 40x are setup for DIC - so to start of I'll have B/F, D/F and DIC

My wife and I decided that we didn't want children. The kids are taking it kind of hard.....

Hahahahahahaha

PS: Luckily I don't like boats...

[hb2sbdb]

That is an AWESOME machine! Congratulation!

When it arrives, you should do an "unboxing video"
with us as live audience (and...drooling )

You may also be able to get some sponsored ad money from the video to fund for the stand :
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/13/tech/web/ ... ng-videos/