MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

The big brown truck dropped off a big brown box today, and here's what was inside: a Reichert-Jung 1820 inverted microscope. It's basically an updated AO 1820, note the Leica and Reichert branded objectives and Seidentopf type trinoc head. I offer two slightly different pix of it to help differentiate background clutter in my crowded little lab from the subject. I include my faithful old AO 120 since the two scopes are of the same design era.

And a few sample images. It can do bright field, dark field, dark phase contrast, and soon, POL as well.

Very nice acquisition. Seems to work well too. What a versatile instrument.

I have a question about those that you might be able to answer, since you have one, as well as a 120.

Those only ever came out sporting the group of 34mm parfocal objectives, L.W.D. but they are correced the same as all the others. Originally, they used a head, the same as the one on your 120, only black, I think.. Then, as the 100 series disappeared and the manufacture of heads shifted to the Seidentopf type that they made for the 400 series, the 1820 started appearing with 400 series heads but the same objectives. The only problem is that the two heads are not interchangeable between the 100 series and 400 series. They fit but the telon lens is different for the two different objective series. Using 34mm objectives in a 400 series brings up quite a bit of ca, even at center field.

I have been trying to figure out how they solved that problem with the 1820. Did they put a second rectifying telon lens in there somewhere, or did they change the telon lens in the 400 series heads that were destined for the 1820s? One would think they would be marked or designated as such, so as not to confuse them with the same looking heads made for the 410 and 420, if that were so?

When you get a chance, could you try out the 120 head on the 1820 and see if any ca shows up?
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Kurt,

Your 1820 is in very nice shape and is virtually identical to my 1820. I can't speak highly enough of this model, it's the go-to pond-water scope.

I see you have the 1825 mechanical stage; this is relatively rare, considering how many I've ever seen on ebay. I painted mine flat black to match the stage, looks a little better. If you don't know already, it can be moved on the stage to the other side (or corner) easily. Also, keep in mind that the hole in the top (about 1" back from the front edge of the blue top) holds one of the expanding-mandrel types of AO illuminators, in case you get tired of those new-fangled LED lights I see.

You have a black Bertrand lens attachment, I have a grey one; another thing to paint, I guess.

One more thing: the stage holds the 6-well plastic culture plates nicely. I've had viable pond samples last for months in mine, topping off the H2O w/ more pond water every day (of course, the populations change somewhat!)

Great images, we look forward to more.

Thanks, Phil. I was aware of the basic question you ask, will check it out in the coming days, I'm curious too. Today was pleasantly spent going through the bits and bobs a piece at a time, cleaning, adjusting, exploring, inspecting, adapting/modifying. We got off to a bit of a rough start -- my most excellent UPS man had the bottom of the box begin to rip open just as he was about to set it down (it's heavy!), reflexively spun it end-for-end and quickly set it down to the tune of glass breaking! He was terribly concerned, but the broken glass turned out to be extra blank slides that were poorly packed and fallen out, and represented no loss but sure got your attention!! The packing really left a bit to be desired, but fortunately everything (else) came out with a clean bill of health.

wporter, thanks for your very interesting comments. I was originally out for a Nikon Diaphot TMD, but couldn't pass up this 1820 precisely because it's so complete ... mechanical stage, correcting collar objectives, it has all the bells and whistles. The seller had built it up from a total of three stands, very similar to the story behind a few of my own AO stands and I'm sure a few of y'all's too. Plus, it was half of what TMD's are priced at; I gave 5 BTUs for it (BTU = Basic Toy Unit: $100 bill) which may not be particularly cheap for AO stuff, but when it comes from a fellow enthusiast so you know everything's in working order besides being very complete, I am not one to quibble.

Great looking microscope. It must be nice to have gravity on your side!

wporter wrote:Kurt,

Your 1820 is in very nice shape and is virtually identical to my 1820. I can't speak highly enough of this model, it's the go-to pond-water scope.

I see you have the 1825 mechanical stage; this is relatively rare, considering how many I've ever seen on ebay. I painted mine flat black to match the stage, looks a little better. If you don't know already, it can be moved on the stage to the other side (or corner) easily. Also, keep in mind that the hole in the top (about 1" back from the front edge of the blue top) holds one of the expanding-mandrel types of AO illuminators, in case you get tired of those new-fangled LED lights I see.

You have a black Bertrand lens attachment, I have a grey one; another thing to paint, I guess.

One more thing: the stage holds the 6-well plastic culture plates nicely. I've had viable pond samples last for months in mine, topping off the H2O w/ more pond water every day (of course, the populations change somewhat!)

Great images, we look forward to more.

This probably isn't at present of that much interest to you, Kurt; maybe in the future but since you have an array of D.I.N. objectives, Bill. Did you ever investigate the possibilities of using those on the 1820? I'm not sure how high the stage can go? There are some inexpensive glass bottom confocal cell culture dishes available now( 25.00 instead of 350.00), with nominal .17 cover glass bottoms. Even if the stage can't raise the extra mm required, there are also those two 10X and 40X planapos they made with 34mm parfocal distance.
A cover glass bottom dish wouldn't be that hard to make anyway. just a thought.

I've got an 1820 -- but haven't started restoring it. My recollection is that the stage is not high enough for DIN 45 objectives, but could easily be raised on spacers. Still deciding whether to raise the stage (have a spare set of LWD 45mm parfocal lenses) or use it with the original 34mm AO objectives. Both the 20x and 45x American Optical objectives currently have sticky lens cover adjustments.

The LWD objective necessity, is due to the use of containers with thick bottoms or the need to see through the slide, rather than the coverslip.

My point was, if cover clip bottom containers are used, one no longer is limited to L.W.D. objectives, and as good as some of them are, higher N.A. planfluor or planapo objectives would enhance the possibilities for such an instrument. The cat.# 1728 40X .70 planfluorite for instance is a remarkable objective, easily comparable to many planapos in performance, despite it's rather pedestrian N.A. It also has a W.D. greater than many lower magnification objectives.

Beautiful acquisition, Kurt, and the desmid images seem quite crisp. I fancy sorting all sorts of subjects in a watch glass or petri dish with your new stand. Lots of room for DIY micromanipulator tools or hand held tools with that inverted-stand. congrats. Charlie guevara

PeteM is correct, either the stage platform or the removable stage plate needs to be raised in order to accomodate the 45mm objectives; no big deal. I think it would be easier to make a new stage plate that is higher, so one could switch back and forth between objective lengths a bit easier.

While I'm running some objective tests for Apo & all, I propose a group buy of some of the cover-slip-bottom miniature dishes that Apo mentioned. I would buy a sleeve of 20 of them from Ted Pella for $100, and divvy them up, at cost, to anyone who would want one or two. So the final cost would be determined after I got the total cost including shipping from Pella, and including postage to any of you that might want one. Probably be around $10 total, I would think, using a padded envelope & maybe an inner plastic box to protect against breakage to you.

I was thinking of the #14025-20 dishes here (see the specs on the page):

http://www.tedpella.com/section_html/pe ... clear_wall

Probably somewhat better than the plastic well plates that I have been using, & betterfor polarized light, too.

Anyone interested? Reply back here if you are.

Well, I just found out that one cannot just replace the 1820's circular stage plate with a higher one for 45mm objectives and retain complete functionality. The objective turret cannot be rotated with 45mm objectives in place, even with the turret lowered all the way (the scope focuses by raising/lowering the turret rather than raising/lowering the stage); the objectives run into some bosses that hold the stageplate adjusting screws.
But you could use the raised stageplate idea, if you settle for using one 45mm objective at a time, changing it out for another by unscrewing the objective through the 125mm hole that the stageplate fits into.

I'll participate in the group buy.

Seller had included a double-chamber culture plate with what I suppose to be a cover slip bottom, but the glass was shattered due to poor packing so I never got to try it.

Hi Kurt,
If you got this unit with everything you described for$500, you got a steal!....

BillT

wporter, PM sent.

Bill, thanks ... but no, not a steal, more like a good fair price. It's why many of us love AO stuff - which is essentially what this is - you get a real bang for your buck. That AO 120 in the background? Picked it up for a cool $100. Didn't have the bulb holder or power supply, but an LED rig quickly took care of that. In the meantime, it turned out to be almost pristine and super complete (all lenses, filters, etc.). After a few years with it as a real workhorse you couldn't get it away from me with a pry bar. I've added a few things to it (trinoc head, 100W lamp & transformer, original POL accessory), but still don't have anywhere near $500 in it.

Let me find my pry bar first

Congratulations, my friend.

How do you like images from the 20x and 40x inverted objectives?

I've purchased several of the glass-bottomed 50mm-wide culture dishes from Ted Pella. All except 2 are for sale on ebay at my cost. See my post regarding the details under stuff-for-sale.

Fan, those objectives are just like you always find on AO (close enough) scopes: startlingly crisp and contrasty, with lovely phase contrast effect.

Sounds like I'm trying to sell the scope now, and in fact I am, see: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=6335 . But I stick with what I just said, and have, in (another) fact, always said. If the eyepiece images are not world class, they're amazingly close to it. Which is why I bought it in the first place.

One thing that must be recognized, however: this scope sports a 6V 20W lamp. You may wish it were a bit more when using the 40x with phase. It's plenty for all the rest, though.

The 1820 is an awesome scope. I have owned probably about 8 examples both the Reichert and AO versions., currently own an AO version. Unfortunately it does not have the slide stage as I sold the one that did, like a fool, when leaning out my equipment. My thoughts were I had one on my Olympus IM, which I tend to use more often. Sometimes my thought processes when trying to make room are not very "thoughtful".