An interesting gadget

[billporter1456]

This looks interesting:

http://www.paedia.com/Diabloc.html

[billbillt]

Hi Bill P,

I had seen that also... It does look useful.. I wonder what it costs?.. I could not find a price on their web page..

BillT

[gekko]

Interesting gadget. I looked at the link and the brochure as well as the instruction manual, but I couldn't figure out how it worked, and whether it is really suitable for the Nikon/Olympus condenser where the aperture is buried deep inside the condenser body (they say that it is used with the Nikon microscope). Perhaps someone else will throw some light on this. I think mrsonchus (John B) employs a gadget that I think does something similar; I believe it basically consists of a stack of filters/stops that can be used selectively (at least that is my understanding). That I think would not work very well with the Nikon/Olympus condensers with "buried" diaphragms.

[billbillt]

Hi Gekko,

Read the patent description and it will shed more light on the operation of this device.. It appears to electronically vary a light pattern that it displays on an LCD screen to present to the condenser... It would be curious to see exactly how it is done..

The Best,
BillT

[gekko]

Thank you, BillT. Very interesting. It would be interesting also to see how well it works.

[zzffnn]

It would only work as well as precision mask stops and is very expensive.

It cannot be placed inside condenser to be close to the "burried diaphragm", since LCD is not small. I asked the company before and cost is $500 for a demo unit of previous model version from them. $1699 for a new unit.

For darkfield and oblique, a few dozen of precision masks will achieve the exat same effect. But they won't work well for high magnification and tiny low contrast subjects. One would need more light that is concentrated to a precision ring. At 40x objective or higher, one would need dedicated darkfield condenser or an internal refecting ring light condenser (Leitz Heine or Zeiss and Reichert equivalents).

It may be commercially viable, if they add phase contrast to it. Still not cheap, even at $500.

For pro users, that product has limited features. For hobbyists, it is too expensive.

[billbillt]

Hi ZZ,

Yes, that is much overpriced and not needed for me... What little I do here, what I have is fine.. I was just interested in how it worked, though..

BillT

[billporter1456]

zzffnn, thanks for giving us the details on the device. As you say, not for pros and too expensive for a hobby person to play with.

[apochronaut]

I think the original description of "gadget" is all that needed to be said.

[mrsonchus]

Hmmm brings to mind electronic condensers - although this clearly isn't in that category! $500 is a hideously high price-tag too!
Interesting to see the 'concept' as it were though.
A definite 'gadget' as said!