My first Microscopes

[RudiV]

Here are a few photos of my first 2 microscopes. Soon there will be more.

First the Amscope T690C-PL. I am getting good result with it at the moment. I am waiting for a different camera adapter as the one I have now has a Nikon mount and I prefer Canon. I have BF (Abbe), DF (dry) and DF (oil) condensers for this one. It came with 5x, 10x, 40x and 100x Plan infinity objectives. I have added 20x and 60x to the collection. The integrated 30W halogen light source seems ample for what I am doing, it is seldom used at more than 50%



Next we have a Olympus CX41. This is equipped with an external 150W halogen light source that feeds the scope via a fiber optic link, lots of light! It came with 2x, 5x, 10x and 40x objectives, I have ordered 20x, 60x and 100x Olympus infinity Plan objectives for it. It is equipped with a turrent condenser that supports DF, BF and phase modes. I managed to find a camera adapter for it that fits Canon DSLR's



I have also just acquired Olympus CH-2 and Olympus BH-2 scopes, they are still "in transit", will add photos as soon as they arrive.

Thanks for looking,
Rudi

[charlie g]

Rudi...your collection is growing to a family of microscopes already!! Thanks for these images...I hope you have simple dust covers for all these nice optical units? I hope you enjoy microscopy ..you have cameras and the microscopes!

charlie guevara

[Crater Eddie]

You are building quite a stable there. Nice.
CE

[RudiV]

Rudi...your collection is growing to a family of microscopes already!! Thanks for these images...I hope you have simple dust covers for all these nice optical units? I hope you enjoy microscopy ..you have cameras and the microscopes!

charlie guevara

Hi Charlie.

Yes, the collection is growing!And yes, they all have dust covers.

The photography side is what started all of this.

Rudi

[RudiV]

You are building quite a stable there. Nice.
CE

This addiction is bad.....

Rudi

[CaptainKirk]

You are building quite a stable there. Nice.
CE

This addiction is bad.....

Rudi

How do the two scopes compare in image quality? How much difference do the Olympus objectives make? Just curious, thanks!

[RudiV]

You are building quite a stable there. Nice.
CE

This addiction is bad.....

Rudi

How do the two scopes compare in image quality? How much difference do the Olympus objectives make? Just curious, thanks!

That is a very good question, and one that I wanted to check for myself after many people told me that "Chinese microscopes are junk"! Well, I only have the one Chinese scope as a reference and it is supposedly one of the more top end models (as reflected in the price of around $675 without extras.)

As far as the frame is concerned there is little to choose, if anything the Amscope's focus and stage is a bit smoother. The finish seems fine on both and the objectives look and "feel" the same, take the labels off and you would struggle to know them apart.

But image quality is the main thing, I have only been able to do direct comparisons with 4x, 10x and 40x Plan infinity objectives as I am still waiting for my 100x Olympus objective.

I have compared the scopes using the same slide, first with their own objectives, then objectives swapped around and finally with the same size objectives on the same scope so I could compare with the swing of a turret. I also took high resolution (51MP) to compare.

The results are interesting, to be honest I cannot see any difference, neither can the camera even when "pixel peeping".

In conclusion I would say I would be happy with either, they cost around the same with the Olympus being a bit more expensive even though it was local so no shipping costs (New Amscope vs second hand CX41). For the money the Amscope was better configured (extra objective and 3 condensers) but the Olympus came with the 150W illumination system.

I now have a third scope, a Olympus CH30RF that I will also compare with the others but since it is a finite scope I won't be able to do the objective swap bit.

I now do not believe that all Chinese scopes can be classified as "entry level or junk" and a newcomer might be safer buying a new top end Chinese scope rather than a second hand "brand name" that might have issues. The cheaper (lets say below $500) Chinese scopes might be a different story as I tried a friend's Omax (can't remember the model number but it was a cheaper model) and it was nowhere in the same class.

Just my opinion....
Rudi

[zzffnn]

Thank you, Rudi, for your honest and detailed answer.

I wonder what test slides (targets) you used? Have you tried a Klaus Kemp 8 form (diatom) slide?

Camera pixel peeping should be sensitive enough, when used with a good test target.

[RudiV]

Thank you, Rudi, for your honest and detailed answer.

I wonder what test slides (targets) you used? Have you tried a Klaus Kemp 8 form (diatom) slide?

Camera pixel peeping should be sensitive enough, when used with a good test target.

Hi zzffnn.

I have used a few different slides, looking for subjects with sharp edges and fine detail but no, I have not tried a diatom slide, must try to get my hands on one!

The most consistent test result I found are those using a simple test slide (calibration slide) Like when testing cameras (I have extensive experience doing that using resolution charts) I found the important bit is to look at edge definition/sharpness and contrast (the basic definition of resolution is the ability to differentiate between distinct boundaries).

It is a repeatable test as long as you ensure you use correct/similar lighting and focus, easy if you have 2 objectives on the same frame but also easy using live-view on a camera and histograms. The actual size/resolution of the calibration on the slide does not matter much, how sharp the edge between black/white is at pixel level on the camera is what shows the difference. That is assuming the edges on the slide are sharp! You also need a camera with a high enough resolution (not just MP size but actual pixel size) and preferably one without an AA filter. The Canon 5DsR that I use is perfect for this.

But I agree, since I have only done comparisons up to 40x I think something with very fine detail like diatoms would be useful once I get around to testing a few 100x objectives. With a 40x objective I can see the imperfections on my test slide. Should have about 5 different 100x objectives in a week or two's time depending on (slow)USPS.

Shipping can be frustrating when you are in dark Africa! I have had 2 scopes on the way from the USA, bought more than 2 weeks ago (via USPS at $161 to $256 shipping). I also bought a scope from Singapore, the shipping was free and I had it in my hands in less than 36 hours after paying! But the best deals are in the USA....

Thanks for looking,
Rudi

[RudiV]

After long delays I had 2 more microscopes arrive this week!

The first is an Olympus CH2, this one I bought mostly for the trinocular head, the complete scope was cheaper than any trinocular head I could find on eBay! It was describe as "In good working condition" but it arrived in a less the working condition. The trinocular head was fine, if a bit dirty, but the focusing mechanism is completely jammed. I had a look and there are stripped plastic as well as brass gears and the fine focus shaft is bent. The objectives are also in a less than great condition. It is a good thing I only wanted the trinocular head! The scope was not well packed and might have picked up some of the damage during transit, but the gears have not been stripped recently.... It will become a spares unit, the seller did promise to ship me a new focus mechanism, will see.

The second scope, an Olympus BH-2, arrived well packed and in a nice clean condition. Unfortunately it also had focus issues. A plastic gear was broken on the fine focus side and the rack gear attached to the bit the stage fits on is also stripped! Fortunately I could turn the brass rack gear around as only the one side was in use. The plastic gear I replaced with one I printed and then machined a bit. It was obvious that someone had worked on the focus mechanism of the scope before, he did not even bother to tighten all the screws again! So much for "Perfect working condition"!

I am glad I bought my first scope new, if I received something like either of these as my first scope after a long wait I would have been seriously discouraged

The focus on the BH-2 is now working perfectly. The stage also had an issue with interaction between the 2 axis of movement, if you moved the one the other moved as well. A complete strip down showed old oil and grease, a clean, regrease and careful attention to adjusting tensions had the stage working like new again.

The BH-2 is quite nice, everything else seems like new, it came with a 5 piece quick change objective turret with 5 nice FL SPlan objectives including 2x 100's, one with an iris. The turret condenser (BF/DF and 3 x PL settings) is also nice.

While working on the BH-2 I noticed that the condenser is fitted using a dove-tail that looks a lot like the one on my Amscope T690C. A quick test proved that the condensers are perfectly interchangeable! I tried swapping them both ways and it works. The Amscope DF/dry and DF/oil I have actually give better results that the Olympus unit. The build quality on the Amscope condensers are also better, they seem to be machined from solid metal.

My Canon DSLR with 2x adapter also fitted right into the trinocular head and produced perfect images without any adjustment.

So now I have a nice BH-2 on the bench. I think I will mostly use is for phase work but time will tell. The optics seem really good.

The next delivery should be an Olympus BHMJL, I am looking forward to trying some reflected light work!

Rudi

[zzffnn]

Rudi,

Sorry to hear the trouble and congratulations for your successful rescue.

I was under the impression that BH2 has all metal focus mechanisms. Nikon Labophots/Optiphots are know to have plastic gears that break, and forum members at photomacrography. net mostly recommend BH2 over the Nikons. Could some previous owner switch your metal gear to a plastic one?

If you really want that CH2 focus mechanism, you may want to file a Paypal complaint within 45 days of initial purchase. Paypal won't press the sellers, if things go beyond that 45 days mark. Two international shipping could take that much time.

[RudiV]

Rudi,

Sorry to hear the trouble and congratulations for your successful rescue.

I was under the impression that BH2 has all metal focus mechanisms. Nikon Labophots/Optiphots are know to have plastic gears that break, and forum members at photomacrography. net mostly recommend BH2 over the Nikons. Could some previous owner switch your metal gear to a plastic one?

If you really want that CH2 focus mechanism, you may want to file a Paypal complaint within 45 days of initial purchase. Paypal won't press the sellers, if things go beyond that 45 days mark. Two international shipping could take that much time.

Thanks.

Yes, I suppose it is possible that the gears were switched. It is the little gear that is directly attached to the fine-focus shaft inside the focus knob, it carries very little load due to the gearing so I am sure a decent plastic would be fine, but some plastics do not age well and that could be a problem. If it ever breaks again I will machine one from brass. I have another BH-2 frame coming so will have a look once it is here.

The positive outcome of all of this is that I now feel confident I can fix at least BH-2/CH2 scopes, there is just about nothing in there that I cannot fix/make if I really want to, that is other than the optics. While I had it open I also converted it from 120V to 240V

I got a note that the CH2 spares were shipped with tracking number so it seems all will be fine thanks! I suppose if I really want to I can make the parts to fix it anyway but do not really have plans to use it.

Thanks for the tip on Paypal, will keep that in mind.
Rudi

[carlh6902]

The BH-2 contains a small plastic gear inside the right-hand fine focus knob, as well as one in the right coarse focus knob, that the small gear meshes with. But don't worry. They are not like the Nikons. If not mistreated, these parts are plenty durable. They don't shrink and crack like some of the Nikons do. If the grease in the focus mechanism gets too dried and "waxy", the plastic gear could be in danger, since the stresses on it would be much higher. That can be easily fixed by cleaning and re-lubing the mechanism. I'll be releasing a document describing this shortly.

Edit 4/14/2019: Replaced outdated link with a link to the master index, which always contains the most recent versions:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7ckZ ... nFYVDJSRW8

Having said that, MANY BH-2 scopes get damaged during shipping. The small plastic gear gets pulverized, and the rack on the back of the focus slide can get damaged as well. Rudi has experienced a classic case of this, and as he found out, you can frequently turn the rack around and still use it. The gear is another matter. They are not available from Olympus.

I know an old microscope repairman (now retired) who claims that about 20% of BH-2 scopes shipped (without proper precautions) will be damaged in this way. He said he made a ton of money just fixing these. I can attest that this happens, I've had a few arrive from eBay sellers like this, that were functional when they were shipped. To address this on future scopes I buy, I am writing up a document describing the proper way to ship BH-2 scopes, to prevent this sort of damage. I'll post it as soon as I can.

Edit 4/14/2019: Replaced outdated link with a link to the master index, which always contains the most recent versions:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7ckZ ... nFYVDJSRW8

Carl

[carlh6902]

After long delays I had 2 more microscopes arrive this week!

The first is an Olympus CH2, this one I bought mostly for the trinocular head, the complete scope was cheaper than any trinocular head I could find on eBay! It was describe as "In good working condition" but it arrived in a less the working condition. The trinocular head was fine, if a bit dirty, but the focusing mechanism is completely jammed. I had a look and there are stripped plastic as well as brass gears and the fine focus shaft is bent. The objectives are also in a less than great condition. It is a good thing I only wanted the trinocular head! The scope was not well packed and might have picked up some of the damage during transit, but the gears have not been stripped recently.... It will become a spares unit, the seller did promise to ship me a new focus mechanism, will see.

The second scope, an Olympus BH-2, arrived well packed and in a nice clean condition. Unfortunately it also had focus issues. A plastic gear was broken on the fine focus side and the rack gear attached to the bit the stage fits on is also stripped! Fortunately I could turn the brass rack gear around as only the one side was in use. The plastic gear I replaced with one I printed and then machined a bit. It was obvious that someone had worked on the focus mechanism of the scope before, he did not even bother to tighten all the screws again! So much for "Perfect working condition"!

I am glad I bought my first scope new, if I received something like either of these as my first scope after a long wait I would have been seriously discouraged

The focus on the BH-2 is now working perfectly. The stage also had an issue with interaction between the 2 axis of movement, if you moved the one the other moved as well. A complete strip down showed old oil and grease, a clean, regrease and careful attention to adjusting tensions had the stage working like new again.

The BH-2 is quite nice, everything else seems like new, it came with a 5 piece quick change objective turret with 5 nice FL SPlan objectives including 2x 100's, one with an iris. The turret condenser (BF/DF and 3 x PL settings) is also nice.

While working on the BH-2 I noticed that the condenser is fitted using a dove-tail that looks a lot like the one on my Amscope T690C. A quick test proved that the condensers are perfectly interchangeable! I tried swapping them both ways and it works. The Amscope DF/dry and DF/oil I have actually give better results that the Olympus unit. The build quality on the Amscope condensers are also better, they seem to be machined from solid metal.

My Canon DSLR with 2x adapter also fitted right into the trinocular head and produced perfect images without any adjustment.

So now I have a nice BH-2 on the bench. I think I will mostly use is for phase work but time will tell. The optics seem really good.

The next delivery should be an Olympus BHMJL, I am looking forward to trying some reflected light work!

Rudi

Rudi,

Could you please post a few images of the BH-2 scope with the Amscope condensers?

Carl

[RudiV]

After long delays I had 2 more microscopes arrive this week!

The first is an Olympus CH2, this one I bought mostly for the trinocular head, the complete scope was cheaper than any trinocular head I could find on eBay! It was describe as "In good working condition" but it arrived in a less the working condition. The trinocular head was fine, if a bit dirty, but the focusing mechanism is completely jammed. I had a look and there are stripped plastic as well as brass gears and the fine focus shaft is bent. The objectives are also in a less than great condition. It is a good thing I only wanted the trinocular head! The scope was not well packed and might have picked up some of the damage during transit, but the gears have not been stripped recently.... It will become a spares unit, the seller did promise to ship me a new focus mechanism, will see.

The second scope, an Olympus BH-2, arrived well packed and in a nice clean condition. Unfortunately it also had focus issues. A plastic gear was broken on the fine focus side and the rack gear attached to the bit the stage fits on is also stripped! Fortunately I could turn the brass rack gear around as only the one side was in use. The plastic gear I replaced with one I printed and then machined a bit. It was obvious that someone had worked on the focus mechanism of the scope before, he did not even bother to tighten all the screws again! So much for "Perfect working condition"!

I am glad I bought my first scope new, if I received something like either of these as my first scope after a long wait I would have been seriously discouraged

The focus on the BH-2 is now working perfectly. The stage also had an issue with interaction between the 2 axis of movement, if you moved the one the other moved as well. A complete strip down showed old oil and grease, a clean, regrease and careful attention to adjusting tensions had the stage working like new again.

The BH-2 is quite nice, everything else seems like new, it came with a 5 piece quick change objective turret with 5 nice FL SPlan objectives including 2x 100's, one with an iris. The turret condenser (BF/DF and 3 x PL settings) is also nice.

While working on the BH-2 I noticed that the condenser is fitted using a dove-tail that looks a lot like the one on my Amscope T690C. A quick test proved that the condensers are perfectly interchangeable! I tried swapping them both ways and it works. The Amscope DF/dry and DF/oil I have actually give better results that the Olympus unit. The build quality on the Amscope condensers are also better, they seem to be machined from solid metal.

My Canon DSLR with 2x adapter also fitted right into the trinocular head and produced perfect images without any adjustment.

So now I have a nice BH-2 on the bench. I think I will mostly use is for phase work but time will tell. The optics seem really good.

The next delivery should be an Olympus BHMJL, I am looking forward to trying some reflected light work!

Rudi

Rudi,

Could you please post a few images of the BH-2 scope with the Amscope condensers?

Carl

Hi Carl.

Sure. I am traveling this week but will be home by the weekend then I will take some photos and post.

Rudi

[dvdrwsor]

T690C-PL is supposedly one of the top end models (as reflected in the price of around $675 without extras.)

For the love of God, please open up the Amscope to see the internals. Let's settle this once and for all.

[RudiV]

T690C-PL is supposedly one of the top end models (as reflected in the price of around $675 without extras.)

For the love of God, please open up the Amscope to see the internals. Let's settle this once and for all.

I have! And it has all metal gears, unlike Olympus and Nikon (don't know about the rest) that has small plastic gears used in the fine focus mechanism.

I do not know the other models but the T690C-PL does not have to stand back for anyone on the construction side....

[RudiV]

Rudi,

Could you please post a few images of the BH-2 scope with the Amscope condensers?

Carl

Hi Carl.

Sorry for the delay, had a hectic week traveling but here are a few images.

First the 2 Amscope condensers (Dry and oil dark field) that I have been using on the Olympus BH-2. It shows the dovetail mount that is exactly the same as on the Olympus units. The fit is perfect. You can also see they are solid and the quality is great.



Below you can see the Amscope DF oil condenser mounted on the BH-2 in the lowered position.



And in the raised position to the point of almost touching the slide. There is more than enough movement to get it as close as you like!



And from the top.



And lastly the BH-2 with the stock turret condenser. It works well but the Amscope DF condensers give better results for DF.



The Olympus condensers also work on the Amscope T680C-PL

Rudi

[RudiV]

Here is one of the two Olympus BH-2's that I recently acquired. It needed a bit of work but is not working well. The setup with the Canon DSLR is working well and I have not seen any evidence of vibration induced softness or shake on the images right up to using the 100x oil objective.



Next delivery should be one of the Olympus BHMJL metallurgical scopes I bought, looking forward to playing with that!

Thanks for looking,
Rudi

[zzffnn]

Rudi,

Have you gotten down to most small gears / parts inside the Amscope, for a fair comparison? I believe you, if you have done so.

Nikon and Olympus have some plastic parts that require deep digging (disassembly) to find, as you and I already found. Have you stripped down the Amscope to the same level?

It may not be fair to compare your Olympus' stock turret darkfield mode (which has a simple mask), to a dedicated darkfield oil cardioid or parabolic condenser. The later should win, even in theory, every time. It would be more fair, if you compare the same type of DF condenser from Olympus to Amscope.

[RudiV]

Rudi,

Have you gotten down to most small gears / parts inside the Amscope, for a fair comparison? I believe you, if you have done so.

Nikon and Olympus have some plastic parts that require deep digging (disassembly) to find, as you and I already found. Have you stripped down the Amscope to the same level?

It may not be fair to compare your Olympus' stock turret darkfield mode (which has a simple mask), to a dedicated darkfield oil cardioid or parabolic condenser. The later should win, even in theory, every time. It would be more fair, if you compare the same type of DF condenser from Olympus to Amscope.

Hi!

Yes, I have stripped the T690 right down. The focus mechanism is almost identical to the Olympus but there are no plastic gears, even the fine focus mechanism is all metal. I did the same with the CX-41 and it is also all metal so I would rate them the same build wise, better than the CH-2/BH-2. I have not done the same on the CH-30 yet, will sometime just for fun.

Another place where I have noticed plastic bits on the Olympus is in the stage movement mechanism, some of the rack gears are plastic on 3 of my stages and yes, same were stripped/damaged and needed repair. On the Amscope and the CX-41 it is all metal.

It seems the Amscope, being a lot more modern than a BH-2 for example, is more comparable to the CX-41 build quality wise. I think there is huge quality variation in the Amscope range, if you look at the wide price range I am sure you won't find the same quality in the +-$200-300 models as you find in the +-$700-800 models. The +-$300 Omax that I looked it was quite disgusting so I am sure the equivalent Amscope would be no better.

Yes, I agree on the DF condenser. I do not have a dedicated Olympus DF condenser to compare. I did do a direct comparison between the standard Amscope and Olympus BF condensers. The Amscope win hands down both in build quality, iris movement and it has far less aberration. But then the optic design is 20-30 years newer and optics have progressed a lot in recent years as witnessed in the camera world.

I still need to do some phase condenser comparisons between the systems as I have both but I have not really experimented with phase yet. Too little time for this fascinating hobby!

Thanks for your thoughtful comments!
Rudi

[carlh6902]

Rudi,

Thanks for the photos. I never knew these would fit the BH-2. I asked Amscope for physical details of the mounting on these parts a few years ago, and that went nowhere. They couldn't even tell me if their finite objectives rely on ocular compensation for chromatic aberration or not. Just that "they will work on all microscopes."

As far as the plastic stage racks, plastic is arguably better in this application than metal. It's critical that there be no backlash in this mechanism AT ALL, or there will be hysteresis visible when changing the direction of the slide. The plastic allows the rack to be flexed during installation to minimize backlash throughout its range of travel, and also has a bit of "compliance" in the teeth that keeps the mechanism from developing backlash over time, due to mechanical wear. There are in fact metal replacement for the BH-2 racks frequently available on eBay, but these do not work as well for the reasons stated above.

Carl

[carlh6902]

Rudi,

Did you happen to take any pictures of the gear you made for the BH-2?

Carl

[carlh6902]

For anyone who is interested in what exactly is inside the BH-2 coaxial focus mechanism:

Edit 4/14/2019: Replaced outdated link with a link to the master index, which always contains the most recent versions:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7ckZ ... nFYVDJSRW8


Carl

[zzffnn]

For anyone who is interested in what exactly is inside the BH-2 coaxial focus mechanism:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7ckZ ... 002eWJhMGs

Carl

Great work, thank you for doing that.
Nikon Labophot/Optiphot's focus mechanism is a bit different.

[RudiV]

For anyone who is interested in what exactly is inside the BH-2 coaxial focus mechanism:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7ckZ ... 002eWJhMGs

Carl

Wow, a fantastic document with lots of detail very professionally compiled Carl.

Thanks for sharing it with us!

Rudi

[RudiV]

After being out of town for a few days I got home yesterday to a nice surprise. The spares for the focus mechanism of the CH2 sent to me by the seller arrived so I can now sort out that scope.

More importantly 2 new (to me) metallurgical scopes also arrived, a BH2 BHM from the USA and a BH BHM from the UK. They both seemed fine with no obvious shipping damage. The BH2 BHM did have a dead lamp, I think vibration got to it as both sides of the coil was broken, not a major problem as I have spares on order.

More seriously was the scratch and chip on the front element of the MSPLAN 10x objective. The advert said all optics fine and clear! A photo of the damage was sent to the seller and he offered a replacement at once, as well as a spare lamp. So problem sorted, as I have a different 10x objective it is not that bad.

The EPI equipped scopes open up a new world to me as I have never worked with one before, lots of fun!

I will post photos when I get a chance.

This brings the collection (and yes, I am collecting, would be nice to have all the Olympus "classic" scopes) up to a total of 8 with 3 more on the way.

Rudi