My beast

[Radazz]

I just wanted to share a couple of images of my primary photographic microscope.
Olympus IX70 inverted with Hoffman Modulation Contrast





Sure does use a lot of desk space.
Radazz

[75RR]

Impressive and as you say very large! Always nice to see what one is using.

[wstenberg]

Very Nice!

[billbillt]

LARGE BUT LOVELY!...

[Glycolyse]

Impressive ! What are you main subjects on this inverted microscope ?

[KurtM]

Yes, very interesting to see ... especially for me, who notes remarkable similarities between the IX-70 and my Nikon Diaphot TMD. Is the IX-70 a finite or infinite system? Does the viewing turret under the eyepieces have a built-in Bertrand lens and magnifier? Does your scope have the second photo port on the other side? What wattage lamp?

It appears of similar mass, and yes, that means it's large! But that's okay by me, as my inverted gets 90% of the compound microscope use in my lab since it came along, and the primary reason is extreme convenience of use in practically every regard. Pipetting up, observing, and returning sample using a glass bottom dish is so much faster than slides and cover slips it has revolutionized entire lab procedures for me. My old Touptec MU300 camera was collecting dust on a shelf until the TMD, now it lives in the second photo port serving as a wonderfully versatile means of measurement, a "space age filar micrometer" with which I may snap a pic in an instant and measure at leisure.

Maybe I ought not gush about my microscope on your thread, but the two are similar enough that I hope it only increases admiration for your beautiful Olympus. I'm actually an Olympus fan from way back myself, but the gods of microscopy hath ordained that I have Nikon instead. Life can be tough that way.

[Crater Eddie]

Impressive instrument!
CE

[MicroBob]

Hi Radazz,

impressive instrument!
I have an ancestor of it:The Olympus CK. Compared to your microscope it is a very basic instrument, like a wheel barrow compared to a car!
I haven't really used it so far, so I have no practical experience with it.

What objects do you observe and how do you place them? Petri dish, culture bottle? Do you have some tips towards usage?

The free access to the object from above should allow some nice lighting and manipulating tricks.

Bob

[Radazz]

Yes, very interesting to see ... especially for me, who notes remarkable similarities between the IX-70 and my Nikon Diaphot TMD. Is the IX-70 a finite or infinite system? Does the viewing turret under the eyepieces have a built-in Bertrand lens and magnifier? Does your scope have the second photo port on the other side? What wattage lamp?

It appears of similar mass, and yes, that means it's large! But that's okay by me, as my inverted gets 90% of the compound microscope use in my lab since it came along, and the primary reason is extreme convenience of use in practically every regard. Pipetting up, observing, and returning sample using a glass bottom dish is so much faster than slides and cover slips it has revolutionized entire lab procedures for me. My old Touptec MU300 camera was collecting dust on a shelf until the TMD, now it lives in the second photo port serving as a wonderfully versatile means of measurement, a "space age filar micrometer" with which I may snap a pic in an instant and measure at leisure.

Maybe I ought not gush about my microscope on your thread, but the two are similar enough that I hope it only increases admiration for your beautiful Olympus. I'm actually an Olympus fan from way back myself, but the gods of microscopy hath ordained that I have Nikon instead. Life can be tough that way.

Gush away!
The scope is indeed infinite
It has a built in Bertrand lens under the binocular eyepiece assembly.
It also has a Barlow slider of 1.5 power
I don’t have the fluorescent equipment
I find it’s great for hunting amoeba. Also it’s the only scope I can watch crystals forming on without gassing my objectives.
Hoffman Modulation Contrast doesn’t have the glowing edges that phase contrast gets, and still makes the invisible visible but with brilliant textures.
Internally, it is much like the Nikon, but aren’t they all.
It’s got the camera port for an SLR camera, and a video camera port on the left side as viewed by the operator. The scope weighs over 50 lbs, which damps out mirror movement vibrations.
I’ve found I can use darkfield by laying a large stop right on the polarizer.
I also added a polar analyzer slide for the slot in the nosepiece for pure polar microscopy.
A nice effect of only one polarizor for HMC let’s me use a plastic dish without bifringent interferance, tho I prefer glass bottom Petri dishes, since they have a .17 mm bottom, but I have used a pyrex Petri dish tho I need to constantly refocus because of the wavy bottom.

I will still drag out one of the antiques now and then, just for fun, but I haven’t done any serious photography on any other microscope since I landed this one. My BX40 sits crying under it’s dust cover now.

I have three upright Nikons I will probably sell, but they are 160mm.
An optiphot with phase Contrast and florescent equipment, an emaculate labophot 2 with phase Contrast and pol, and a bright field labophot 2.

Radazz

[einman]

Glad to see another aficionado of the inverteds! I have an older Olympus, the IMT, that I enjoy immensely as well as a Biostar. Neither are as sophisticated as your beautiful scope but get the job done. I also notice you are using the smaller petri dishes. Are they 35 x 10mm or larger? I had a special holder machined for my IMT so i could manipulate that size specifically.

[Radazz]

I’ve just stumbled upon another advantage of the inverted scope. I have some antique ‘Continental’ size slides, and I can just plop them upside down on the stage without using some kind of jig to fit them into a slide clip.
This stage moves both directions.

And while none of us would do so , you can never crush a slide.

Radazz