Hello

[johan]

Hi,

I joined up here to find out more about microscopy with no fear of asking some basic questions. I have just bought a Labophot with trinoc from eBay, and I'll be adding more exotic bits to this over time in order to be able to do photomicrography. I know that this for me will be a 5-10 year escapade so I'm not in a massive hurry, and I very much appreciate that there's a lot of learning to be done first. I'm reasonably knowledgable about macro photography and have done focus stacking in the past, both Zerene and Helicon.

I'm in the UK just south of London and would be interested to hear other people's experiences of reputable UK used equipment dealers and so on. Even if people have reasonable Labophot equipment for salem, please do let me know. I'd like to get set up for some basics BF/DF/PC/pol first for biologics and then in time might like to have a go at fluorescence imaging. But this looks quite expensive . I come at this much more from the photography side than from the biology side - for me it's about the final picture rather than a biology lesson.

Thank you,

-Johan

[charlie g]

Welcome to forum,johan! I have a circa 1980's Labophot with the: F trinoc head..and my stand must have been configued ( I purchased it from a wonderful NY /US microscope buisness) from a Labophot -POL stand as it has that black disc with POL logo on it's base where the arm of the stand meets the base..and so my trinoc F-head lifts off to insert a dedicated pol slider Nikon component.

My Labophot head swings to a full left position to have light train 100% enter the vertical image capture port.

Not knowing what sort of image captures you will enjoy with your Labophot...I'll tell that Plan 2X, and Plan 4X ,Plan 20X, are used for live wetmount microscopy as much as the 40X, 60X, and rarely butoftem dry 100X, and oil-100X objectives.

I have the NA1.25 turrent condenser:BF with iris, DF,Ph1,Ph2,Ph3,Ph4 dl-phase stops.

The field lens below condenser has a field iris..I have the casset ND filter pack permitting: ND2, ND4, ND16, no filter, or any combo.

I put in a 30 halogen bulb (like the Nikon Optiphot has) for crossed-POL illumination and DF at higher magnifications.

A very experienced and kind forum member who has great work experience with Nikon Labophots strongly advised me not to up to 30 watt halogen for fear of 'melt down'..but it works fine for hours of use at my bench with the Labophot.

I'm con-US so I doubt Nikon objectives and occulars I have no use for would assist your Nikon stand...shipping/vat (what ever it is in brexit-UK!). Brunell's in UK will be an resource for you.

Please visit online webplatforms of: Charles Krebs...as an image capture microscopist Charles is a must visit for tutorials and all sorts of content...yes Charles Krebs is a "Nikon Small World" award winner.

welcome to forum, charlie guevara, finger lakes/US

[johan]

Thanks Charlie, it sounds like we have a fair bit in common although your scope sounds very fancy

Charlie (Krebs) has been helping me with this purchase.

Regards,

-Johan

[zzffnn]

Welcome to the forum, Johan.

I have a Labophot 2 and like it.

Its good stage height and centering dovetail allows some DIY condenser mounts (other brands of condensers, glued on with Lego pieces and dovetail adapters). Good Nikon condensers are not cheap, but brands like AO Spencer in US can offer qualities that are close enough at much less cost.

What fluorescence imaging do you want to do? Those of chlorophyll? Do you think it is worth the cost?

I came here as a biologist. To me, regular fluorescence imaging costs too much, while offering little aesthetic values or biology lessons, for a hobbyist.

You can DIY fluorescence, using a high NA darkfield condenser and high power light filtered to provide the right excitation/emission wavelengths. High quality filters would probably costs less than $400 USD in total, say for chlorophyll fluorescence. This may be a cheaper route, if you are going to get darkfield condenser for DF anyway. That way, you don't have to buy the epi attachment for Labophot, which cna be expensive.

Do check out your local university surplus sales. You may find epi fluorescence attachments for Labophot there, for a more reasonable price than eBay. Labophots and parts can also be found there.

[johan]

Thank you zzffnn, that makes me feel better

In truth, there was probably an element of predictability about buying something that's a little bit useless (ie limited), that's the danger of rushing in without knowledge. I hope though, that I can turn it into an advantage (that I have to use no coverglass) as there are many objects that might be interesting and which don't take coverglass easily. I hope...! I do have to say that the sound of having apparatus that has room for DIY is very very encouraging. I like making photography contraptions and experimenting.

The only reason I like the idea of fluo is because images shot with UVIFL (uv induced visible luminescence) have always appealed to me, as "photographically" interesting. Colourful and a little bit bonkers, which is a recipe for fun in my book!