Yeah!!!! I STOLE a Nikon scope yesterday!

What equipment do you use? Post pictures and descriptions of your microscope(s) here!
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MultiHack3D
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2019 7:45 pm

Yeah!!!! I STOLE a Nikon scope yesterday!

#1 Post by MultiHack3D » Sun Aug 25, 2019 9:10 pm

Well... Um... not really an outright five finger discount deal but... :roll:
It was for what I think was a REAL good price. I think its a old Nikon Optiphot? with
BD Plan DIC objectives. One was missing, the 100x DIC, its stated as (dry) is safe to say its
a oil less objective?


It was a Kijiji deal, the guy was a real jerk from the very beginning to the last min, maybe he got wise to his low price and as I was in the car at 9am on a Saturday driving there when we decided a time to meet he text me this beauty...

"I dont know whats wrong with it! its not working! im not going to sell it like this... let me figure out whats wrong with it and Ill get back to you later on in the week."

Needless to say, I was gonna snap.... less then 2 min away from the meet location thats what Im reading, You know that saying, I seen red? Oh yeah.... anyway, I had to calm down if I had any chance to get this thing.

I had to be careful and not play too strong and give him an easy excuse to not sell..cuz Id piss him off. SO... I had to play on the sympathy side and broke him down... I gave him BS galore.... DUDE I drove here from over 2 hrs away!... I took the day off today and LOST double time Hrs to finnish our deal.... What am I gonna tell my Son that im buying this for now???

Anyway, shorter story...no blood was shed on that day and after about 10 min of a tactful guilt session LOL!!!....... Finally here it is! Image

Im very happy with it so far and have viewed some things with it as is... just getting used of it. But I have a few questions: Since the 100x was not there AND that small part that slides in the front of the scope i THINK its called an Analyzer.... is that polarized glass that is used there, or something else?
Is it the DIC objectives that need the Analyzer to work or is it the little things you can slide in and out of the objectives? Forgive me I dont know what they are called.

I just want to make sure I know what I got/need to make DIC work properly with this setup. And I havent found much info on that particular Analyzer and the little slide thingys above the objectives, Im not quite sure I even know 100% the scopes actual name lol so sad!

Thanks a bunch for any Info in advance!

PeteM
Posts: 2983
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 6:22 am
Location: N. California

Re: Yeah!!!! I STOLE a Nikon scope yesterday!

#2 Post by PeteM » Sun Aug 25, 2019 11:30 pm

Looks to be a reflected light Optiphot of the type commonly used for silicon wafer inspection, metallurgy, etc.. Are you located in an area where that was common?

Are these all 210mm tube length objectives?

Some of these had no lamp in the base, others included a lamp and condenser but only the DIC components (the prisms above the objectives) for reflected (epi) illumination.

For reflected DIC you'll need two polarizers. One in the horizontal pathway of the light (looks to be something there) that gets turned 45 degrees on to the stage. Another in the pathway back through the head. Can't see if you have that - it would slot in towards the front. The polarizer in the light pathway) needs to rotate.

Still likely a very good deal, even if missing the transmitted DIC bits. Just not likely the scope for viewing cells under cover slips from 400x to 1000x.

MultiHack3D
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2019 7:45 pm

Re: Yeah!!!! I STOLE a Nikon scope yesterday!

#3 Post by MultiHack3D » Mon Aug 26, 2019 12:21 am

PeteM wrote:Looks to be a reflected light Optiphot of the type commonly used for silicon wafer inspection, metallurgy, etc.. Are you located in an area where that was common?

Are these all 210mm tube length objectives?

For reflected DIC you'll need two polarizers. One in the horizontal pathway of the light (looks to be something there) that gets turned 45 degrees on to the stage. Another in the pathway back through the head. Can't see if you have that - it would slot in towards the front. The polarizer in the light pathway) needs to rotate.
Thanks Pete!

I would not doubt there was/is from some place around there.

The objectives are all 210mm, is that a limitation?

The polarizer in the front was missing, is there a chance a static polarizing sheet or something could be slid into the front to get the effect (working somewhat)? Thats something I need to research, I hope I can jerry rig something.

Also about the DIC objectives.. I had no idea what was on it till I seen it (not that I knew/know definitively how DIC works anyway). All i noticed was the missing 100x and that they looked very clean, no scratches or wear marks. And these little things that slide out on the top of each objective.

My hopes aside of having fun is mycology. I want to be able to view spores and mainly check liquid cultures for bacterial contamination. I hope in the end this scope will be usable for this.

Should I not bother looking for the matching 100X dry for it considering what im doing?

and thanks!

PeteM
Posts: 2983
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 6:22 am
Location: N. California

Re: Yeah!!!! I STOLE a Nikon scope yesterday!

#4 Post by PeteM » Mon Aug 26, 2019 3:11 am

You could get by with a piece of polarizing sheet. I believe there is an Ebay seller who also makes somewhat better replacements with a slider to fit the Nikon. Ebay will also have used ones, but are often pricey. You do want to get the orientation of the polarization right. Reflected DIC is easier to set up than transmitted, but you still have to have the orientations of the prisms and polarizers right.

I wouldn't get the 100x reflected light objective until you can confirm that reflected light is the way to identify spores.

What kind of viewing methods do mycologists use?

I don't know the best methods of identifying spores and the like - but I would suspect that you need 400x to 1000x?? At that magnification the depth of field is very small, so I'd also guess mycologists would stick them under a cover slip, maybe with a stain? If so, your objectives won't be very good for that - they expect to see a flat surface with no cover slip on top (such as a piece of polished metal or a silicon wafer). They also won't be good for seeing bacterial contamination in water. For bacteria you pretty much always want to use a cover slip, 1000x, and oil immersion.

I also don't know if plain brightfield is all you need (light shining through a thin specimen) or if techniques like polarization, darkfield, phase, and DIC are especially helpful in identification.

Another guess is that whatever method the spore guide books use is the one you want to use. I suspect it's not reflected DIC? Maybe not even transmitted DIC??

Does your microscope have a bottom light source and condenser? Pictures would help.

If you also have transmitted illumination and a condenser (can't see from your photo), it's pretty easy to swap nosepieces and objectives -- giving you objectives for both transmitted and relfected illumination.

If not, could be your best bet would be to sell what you have -- it's a specialized scope but still valuable -- and get a similar Nikon, Olympus, etc. microscope set up with 160mm objectives?

If you happen to be located in the Bay Area, we have a bunch of microscopes at the Children's Museum and could consider a swap for an Optiphot with something like plan objectives and phase and/or polarization. We use your type of microscope to look at silicon wafers and talk about circuits, computers, crystals, etc. You could also offer it up on Ebay if reflected light DIC isn't suitable for spores etc. -- and use the proceeds to buy something better suited.

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