"New" eyepiece technology to eliminate "floaters"

[PeteM]

Couldn't resist trying one of these: https://pdf.medicalexpo.com/pdf/vision- ... 51487.html

https://optimaxonline.com/pdf/Optimax-I ... 0guide.pdf

It is about 17 year old technology, but new to me, and perhaps of great interest to anyone whose enjoyment of microscopy has been compromised by "floaters" or who needs to wear eyeglasses for astigmatism etc.?

The unit basically replaces the eyepieces on most any microscope with a 30mm tube diameter. The fairly pricey optics give a huge apparent field of view and exceptional eye relief. But the main attraction is apparently a spinning disk inside that eliminates or perhaps greatly reduces the appearance of "floaters" in the visual field.

Just finished cobbling together a 12v power supply and testing mine. The pros:

- Huge field of view
- Exceptional eye relief - I normally take my eyeglasses off - not needed with this
- Possibly elimination of "floaters" -- I don't seem to have them visible and so didn't notice a difference

The cons:

- A somewhat softer image. The spinning lenticular disc pixelates the image when the disc isn't spinning. When spinning with 12 volts supplied, the image greatly improves but seems just a bit soft to me.
- You want a bright lamp. Whatever illumination you have is spread over a larger visual field and the lenticular disc itself probably takes a stop or two of light.

Not sure yet if this will be a user for me, having tried it on a scope with an already-large 25mm field of view. But thought I'd bring it to the attention of those whose visual challenges might benefit. These were $$$ thousands back in the day, but a quick look at Ebay shows at least one under $400. Vision Engineering's choice of registered name for this device -- "ISIS" '-- looks a bit unfortunate in hindsight. But they could maybe sue these new ISIS pretenders for trademark infringement?

[Hobbyst46]

Vision Engineering's choice of registered name for this device -- "ISIS" '-- looks a bit unfortunate in hindsight. But they could maybe sue these new ISIS pretenders for trademark infringement?

The original ISIS is the name of a kind, gracious Egyptian goddess... the modern "ISIS" nickname is just a Western abbreviation, not the true name of that group...

[MicroBob]

Hi Pete,
interesting product, thank you for pointing out!
Maybe Isis is going to hynotize you with the spinning discs!

There used to be a Zeiss West projection screen "boob" that included a spinning or oszillating frosted screen in the later models. Moving the screen reduced the gritty effect of the ground glass screen.

Today it could be an alternative to use a camera (e.g.Canon DSLR EOS 500D on), PC and monitor to observe over the screen, perhaps directly via HDMI cable.

Bob

[PeteM]

Good point about the vast improvement of screens, Bob. Could be "ISIS" is best used on a stereo microscope, where the 3D view can be retained.

And I do like the idea of considering her more like the original Egyptian goddess, than yet another name ground up over time.

[MichaelG.]

Very interesting, Pete ...

The ‘integrated’ spinning-disk microscopes from Vision Engineering are effective, but I wasn’t aware of this development.

Thanks for the links, and your notes

MichaelG.

[apochronaut]

I have a lot of floaters in my left eye due to a detached cornea about 4 years ago but already had enough of them in both eyes. My left visual field is a mat of webbing with a large dark splotch at 7. Despite there being many many more in my left eye, my right eye bothers me a bit more but by and large, they are a minor nuisance.
I began microscopy with a monocular microscope and used one exclusively until about 1990. It is possible to train the brain to not attend to things that the eye sees.
Old school microscopists trained their brain to block out the image in the unused eye. Both eyes are kept wide open but the image in the eye being used is attended to only. This allows for long hours of work at the microscope without the discomfort of squinting. I used my right eye mostly, learning to block the left eyes field. Apparently, I can block those floaters and form a kind of gestalt of the left field. I can't do it so much with the right eye.
That's why there was so much resistance to the introduction of binocular microscopes, with many of the early ones being an adaption of a monocular. Early microscopists appreciated the unencumbered view that a monocular gives and didn't squint.

[EYE C U]

i have to move my eyes around a bit but eventually i get a clear shot

[MickH]

I have a lot of floaters in my right eye. Not much of a problem during normal activities but boy do they show up when I use my microscope. I'm hoping I will be able to 'tune them out' over time.

[quantum]

That is an interesting use of that technology by Vision Engineering. The company is well-known in electrical engineering for having created the Dynascope back in the 1970s or 1980s, and its successor, the Manitis, and probably others, and is very well thought of. You can pick up an old Dynascope on eBay for a few hundred dollars, but they are heavy and cost a lot to ship.

Those are basically stereo microscopes that manage to omit the eyepieces altogether. It has one large spinning disk, and you look into the "display" in a totally heads-up position, and see a natural-looking image, and with stereo perception too. It is kind of magic. In electrical engineering, people use these to do hand soldering on small parts, sometimes extremely small parts. It is a lot more pleasant than looking through any conventional stereo scope for this kind of task.

The Mantis and its kin are very expensive and out of reach for the typical hobbyist. But the Dynascope can get the hobbyist into the game.

[PeteM]

I tried this out on a couple of stereo microscopes. Some more pros and cons observed.

Pro:

The "softness" I saw in the compound microscope images didn't show up at lower magnification (6x to 40x). Image quite clear, with good contrast.

Con:

You don't want a stereo microscope with widely divergent eyetubes. The ISIS adds enough length and bulk I couldn't get the interpupillary adjustment close enough. It worked on a CMO scope. I'm about 64mm pupil to pupil. There was a bit of room to spare if someone had closer-set eyes.

It's fussy enough in terms of setup this is something you'd probably want dedicated to a CMO stereo scope rather than move it around at whim from scope to scope. There's also a table missing in the manual posted earlier on the "parfocal shims" required for different scopes, so setup will likely involve either finding the full manual or some trial and error.

[LouiseScot]

I suffer from some dark web-like floaters which are a bit irritating but don't affect my use of the microscope. But I have something which resembles a lump of nucleated multicellular jelly which does badly affect my scope vision and seems to be fixed in place

Louise

[PeteM]

I suffer from . . .Louise

Shame you're not closer, I'd let you try this out. However, Vision Engineering is a UK company and I'd guess there must be some near by?

[LouiseScot]

I suffer from . . .Louise

Shame you're not closer, I'd let you try this out. However, Vision Engineering is a UK company and I'd guess there must be some near by?

Thanks but don't worry, I doubt I could afford such a gizmo and I tend to minimize time using oculars in favour of camera liveview. I don't think I could justify the extra cost for my Swift 380T. Am I right in thinking it uses similar technology to vr headsets?

Louise

[PeteM]

The technology is different - the links above have a bit more information. There's a sort of spinning disk with tiny lenses involved. Your digital screen likely makes more sense for a compound scope but maybe not a stereo microscope. Since this was introduced 17 or 18 years ago, could be you'd find one use for not much more than the price of a set of really good eyepieces?

[LouiseScot]

The technology is different - the links above have a bit more information. There's a sort of spinning disk with tiny lenses involved. Your digital screen likely makes more sense for a compound scope but maybe not a stereo microscope. Since this was introduced 17 or 18 years ago, could be you'd find one use for not much more than the price of a set of really good eyepieces?

Maybe just using eyepieces with long eye relief would do? Perhaps I could adapt an astronomy eyepiece - hmm...