New Stereo - Nikon SMZ800
Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 11:42 pm
Hi all, well, having attempted an upgrade a while back now of my Amscope stereo-zoom 7.5X->45X in an attempt primarily to be able to use the photo-port at the same time as BOTH eyepieces and failing, I've tried again and yes, spent yet more money... The first 'scope had a pull-push rod to divert the LH eyepiece image to the camera port - a common arrangement, but stereo use is lost which makes it impossible to dissect and document at the same time.
The 1st attempt was the purchase of basically the same Amscope, but the 'simulfocal' version, which indeed does allow the use of all-three image ports...
The relative lowering of brightness caused (seems obvious now to consider that the light is 'shared' 3 ways rather than formerly 2...) and the overall inability to achieve satisfying images either video or stills through the stereo 'scope soon caused frustration and regrets....
Anyway I decided after a lot of reading about the Greenough system vs the CMO system, to save up a bit and go for a 'scope of the CMO design and the ability to use all three ports at once - selectably - the 1st replacement 'simulfocal' 'scope above was not selectable, but permanently 'on' as it were, no selector rod or similar...
The rationale being that the CMO system with it's parallel optical paths may give better camera results, although the optical paths pass through the edges of the CMO - which is very large to enable this I suppose. This causes it's own set of limitations as the optical axis is never actually used (unless the excellently laterally-slideable head of the 'S' series M3 Wild 'scopes is used - still no simul.focus there, but theoretically excellent or at least optimal photomicroscopy images..). These limitations have proved to be mere 'ghosts in the machine' as the performance is superb - thank goodness!
Anyway I'm going on-and-on - sorry
I bought a very clean and well-maintained Nikon SM800 locally (50 miles away from my home) that has a phototube included and a plan 1x CMO objective. First trials after setup are very promising indeed. For sheer image quality in just about all terms it surpasses the Amscopes' enormously, but then considering the Nikon reputation not to mention price-factor of about 10-times new (which mine is of course not) it should do!
I love this 'scope so-far, beautifully clear, detailed and above-all BRIGHT optics - selectably simulfocal across both eyepieces AND the camera-port. I've also ordered an iris-pair for it to hopefully complement the excellent optics with more control and maybe even an ability to influence depth of field somewhat - when they arrive I'll let you know how they perform....
Here are some images at last....
I cobbled-together an old 38mm diameter Leitz photo-port to eyepiece adapter to put into the Nikon's photo-port until I can find an appropriately-sized reduction-optic adapter to C-mount or Canon EOS. This strange arrangement actually works very well, apart from the rather poor optics of the reducing and focusable adapter that the camera is attached to at the moment - still, concept is proven and parfocal - a good start in that direction. Meanwhile the 'scope is a beautiful performer in use, regardless of the camera-port at this time...
The photo-port selectable between 3-way simulfocus and eyepiece stereo without photo-port..
I particularly like the stand's column design, which has a continuous-rack. This allows a very large focus range rather than the shorter racks of the round pole-type where the range of height is far smaller before moving the mount's clamp up or down the pole wholesale...
The plan 1x objective is a really nice performer indeed.
This is the LED disc I fitted to my Amscopes a couple of years ago, which works perfectly as a very inexpensive to make transmitted light source, when used with a cheap dimmer and power supply (I think it's 12-volt - now sure now without checking, it's either 12 or 6V). These are made I think for cars hence the yellow outer-ring of LEDs that may also be connected and seperately controlled from the white disc if desired! Perhaps a basic for oblique or darkfield - but they're yellow so maybe not.
I actually bought 2 at the time in case I blew one up - they were about £4 each I think!
I also placed a piece of frosted plastic over the disc as an extra diffuesr - cut to round with strong scissors at the time - works perfectly.
I have also (came with the 'scope) the usual black one side white the other discs for incident lighting. What I don't have is a frosted glass disc yet - the Amscope ones I have are a little larger diameter - but should be easy and cheap enough to find... For now and in these images I simply placed the oversized one over the hole for the transmitted images...
At 1X (10X with eyepiece) zoomed-out as it were, apologies but this is a simple shot through an eyepiece for now...
Zoomed in to 6.3X max-zoom (63X including eyepiece of course),
More info and images soon - so far I'm really pleased with the Nikom SMZ800's performance, soon have the irises and lighting set-up properly too!
The 1st attempt was the purchase of basically the same Amscope, but the 'simulfocal' version, which indeed does allow the use of all-three image ports...
The relative lowering of brightness caused (seems obvious now to consider that the light is 'shared' 3 ways rather than formerly 2...) and the overall inability to achieve satisfying images either video or stills through the stereo 'scope soon caused frustration and regrets....
Anyway I decided after a lot of reading about the Greenough system vs the CMO system, to save up a bit and go for a 'scope of the CMO design and the ability to use all three ports at once - selectably - the 1st replacement 'simulfocal' 'scope above was not selectable, but permanently 'on' as it were, no selector rod or similar...
The rationale being that the CMO system with it's parallel optical paths may give better camera results, although the optical paths pass through the edges of the CMO - which is very large to enable this I suppose. This causes it's own set of limitations as the optical axis is never actually used (unless the excellently laterally-slideable head of the 'S' series M3 Wild 'scopes is used - still no simul.focus there, but theoretically excellent or at least optimal photomicroscopy images..). These limitations have proved to be mere 'ghosts in the machine' as the performance is superb - thank goodness!
Anyway I'm going on-and-on - sorry
I bought a very clean and well-maintained Nikon SM800 locally (50 miles away from my home) that has a phototube included and a plan 1x CMO objective. First trials after setup are very promising indeed. For sheer image quality in just about all terms it surpasses the Amscopes' enormously, but then considering the Nikon reputation not to mention price-factor of about 10-times new (which mine is of course not) it should do!
I love this 'scope so-far, beautifully clear, detailed and above-all BRIGHT optics - selectably simulfocal across both eyepieces AND the camera-port. I've also ordered an iris-pair for it to hopefully complement the excellent optics with more control and maybe even an ability to influence depth of field somewhat - when they arrive I'll let you know how they perform....
Here are some images at last....
I cobbled-together an old 38mm diameter Leitz photo-port to eyepiece adapter to put into the Nikon's photo-port until I can find an appropriately-sized reduction-optic adapter to C-mount or Canon EOS. This strange arrangement actually works very well, apart from the rather poor optics of the reducing and focusable adapter that the camera is attached to at the moment - still, concept is proven and parfocal - a good start in that direction. Meanwhile the 'scope is a beautiful performer in use, regardless of the camera-port at this time...
The photo-port selectable between 3-way simulfocus and eyepiece stereo without photo-port..
I particularly like the stand's column design, which has a continuous-rack. This allows a very large focus range rather than the shorter racks of the round pole-type where the range of height is far smaller before moving the mount's clamp up or down the pole wholesale...
The plan 1x objective is a really nice performer indeed.
This is the LED disc I fitted to my Amscopes a couple of years ago, which works perfectly as a very inexpensive to make transmitted light source, when used with a cheap dimmer and power supply (I think it's 12-volt - now sure now without checking, it's either 12 or 6V). These are made I think for cars hence the yellow outer-ring of LEDs that may also be connected and seperately controlled from the white disc if desired! Perhaps a basic for oblique or darkfield - but they're yellow so maybe not.
I actually bought 2 at the time in case I blew one up - they were about £4 each I think!
I also placed a piece of frosted plastic over the disc as an extra diffuesr - cut to round with strong scissors at the time - works perfectly.
I have also (came with the 'scope) the usual black one side white the other discs for incident lighting. What I don't have is a frosted glass disc yet - the Amscope ones I have are a little larger diameter - but should be easy and cheap enough to find... For now and in these images I simply placed the oversized one over the hole for the transmitted images...
At 1X (10X with eyepiece) zoomed-out as it were, apologies but this is a simple shot through an eyepiece for now...
Zoomed in to 6.3X max-zoom (63X including eyepiece of course),
More info and images soon - so far I'm really pleased with the Nikom SMZ800's performance, soon have the irises and lighting set-up properly too!