has anyone used Leica S-APO 10x objective?

[osterport]

Hi, all

There is a Leica HCX PL S-APO 10x0.30 on the market, ID 506289. However I tried to search in Leica website and google, there is no such record, only a paper.
https://bio-protocol.org/exchange/minid ... 42&type=30

I guess this S-APO is not really the APO, maybe specially designed for integrated analysis system.

Is there anyone has ever seen such objective?

Thanks

[Scarodactyl]

For a bit there they were branding fluorites as s-apo (semi apo). Given the lack of full internal correction on top of that I wouldn't consider it a very appealing target.
Edit: I got mixed up on which forum I was on.

[osterport]

Thanks, I'll skip this one then. It's around $240 though.

[Scarodactyl]

Edit: post was meant for a different forum context, whoops.

[apochronaut]

Hi, all

There is a Leica HCX PL S-APO 10x0.30 on the market, ID 506289. However I tried to search in Leica website and google, there is no such record, only a paper.
https://bio-protocol.org/exchange/minid ... 42&type=30

I guess this S-APO is not really the APO, maybe specially designed for integrated analysis system.

Is there anyone has ever seen such objective?

Thanks

The Leica S-APO objectives are derivatives of the Reichert Planfuor/Planfluor-Apo objectives. The former was the designation for the U.S. market and the latter branding was out of Austria. I have used and use quite regularly the 10X .30 Planfluor as well as 2.5X 0.13 Planfluor-Apo, 40X .70 Planfluor and 40X .70 Planfluor-Apo, 100X 1.30 Planfluor and 100X 1.30 Planfluor-Apo and numerous Reichert branded Planapo objectives against which I can compare them.
The planfluor and planfluor apo types perform similarly, so much so that they appear to be indistinguishable, just different names for the same objective designs, although there is a slight difference in the residual peripheral ca installed in the two objective families. The Reichert Austria objectives I use interchangeably with Nikon and NIS objectives in the same stand and with the same eyepieces. Presumably , the Leica derivatives would require compatible eyepieces if used in a non Leica stand.
In optical performance the Planfluor/Planfluor-Apo objectives sit somewhere between a fluorite and an apochromat. You might call them advanced fluorites. Residual ca is at a minimum, only slightly higher than the apos in the same family. They are as good as some other apochromats, I have used.
Apochromat correction has advanced over the years. It used to be that an apochromat was corrected for ca at three wavelengths but some are now at 4, with spherical correction at 3. The designs of fluorite type objectives have advanced as well and what qualifies as a fluorite type today could easily achieve the performance of an older apo.
Fluorite is a weird name anyway and semi-apochromat more appropriate. Achromat and apochromat are designations of a performance level, wheras fluorite is a type of glass. In fact , higher n.a. achromats usually have fluorite glass in them too , as well as apochromats ; that's what makes their performance . Today, fluorite glass has been largely supplanted by other types of synthetic low dispersion glass and the term fluorite is a bit of a misnomer. They really should be called semi-apos.

A bigger problem in the selection of that objective is the thread size and parfocal distance once an adapter has been added. It would be an impossible addition to a Motic stand.

[wabutter]

The 506289 objective was never a derivative of the Reichert Plan Fluor objective family. They came from two different factories, had different reference focal lengths and did not share optical design .
The PL S Apo 10x objective has a 11mm working distance as compared to other Apo 10x. This is why the na is 0.30 vs the other listed 10x Apos from the DM objective range, It did not carry the HC nomenclature so it was suitable on both HC and Delta optics stands. It was an objective that was designed for biological applications, that required working distance, yeast genetics etc.

Objective type Magnification Cover-glass Upright [S 1 - cond./ or 11)] S 1 -Cond. S 23/28 -Cond. S 70 -Cond. Obj. ICR Objective thread Free working distance (mm) Article No

PL S-APO 10x/0.30 - K2+D1 K11 K3(K11) K6(K3) D1(D) D1/D M25 11.1 11506289
HCX APO L U-V-I 12) 10x/0.30 W 2) - K2+D1 - - - - - M25 3.6 11506142
HC PL APO 10x/0.40 / 0.17 K2+A K11 K3 K6 A - M25 2.2 11506284
HC PL APO CS 10x/0.40 14) 0.17 K2+A K11 K3 K6 A - M25 2.2 11506285
HC PL APO CS 10x/0.40 IMM 14) - K2+A K11 K3 K6 A - M25 0.36 11506293

[wabutter]

sorry the table did not line up with the header description

[apochronaut]

The 506289 objective was never a derivative of the Reichert Plan Fluor objective family. They came from two different factories, had different reference focal lengths and did not share optical design .
The PL S Apo 10x objective has a 11mm working distance as compared to other Apo 10x. This is why the na is 0.30 vs the other listed 10x Apos from the DM objective range, It did not carry the HC nomenclature so it was suitable on both HC and Delta optics stands. It was an objective that was designed for biological applications, that required working distance, yeast genetics etc.

Objective type Magnification Cover-glass Upright [S 1 - cond./ or 11)] S 1 -Cond. S 23/28 -Cond. S 70 -Cond. Obj. ICR Objective thread Free working distance (mm) Article No

PL S-APO 10x/0.30 - K2+D1 K11 K3(K11) K6(K3) D1(D) D1/D M25 11.1 11506289
HCX APO L U-V-I 12) 10x/0.30 W 2) - K2+D1 - - - - - M25 3.6 11506142
HC PL APO 10x/0.40 / 0.17 K2+A K11 K3 K6 A - M25 2.2 11506284
HC PL APO CS 10x/0.40 14) 0.17 K2+A K11 K3 K6 A - M25 2.2 11506285
HC PL APO CS 10x/0.40 IMM 14) - K2+A K11 K3 K6 A - M25 0.36 11506293

Maybe not directly but so too did the Delta optics have a 200mm reference length and they were directly derivative and made in Wetzlar. The factory has nothing to do with it. AO made the same objectives in Buffalo and Austria and Leica made the same microscope in Buffalo and then India and transferred the production of Bausch & Lomb components from Rochester to Buffalo. Production can be anywhere.
It's pretty clear that Leica's infinity corrected program emerged directly out of AO's and Reichert's. Leica still maintains patent rights to a bunch of AO patents and god knows what is in their design and prototype archives.
It's kind of like saying that a 1980 Jeep isn't derivative of a 1945 Willys Jeep.

[osterport]

The 506289 objective was never a derivative of the Reichert Plan Fluor objective family. They came from two different factories, had different reference focal lengths and did not share optical design .
The PL S Apo 10x objective has a 11mm working distance as compared to other Apo 10x. This is why the na is 0.30 vs the other listed 10x Apos from the DM objective range, It did not carry the HC nomenclature so it was suitable on both HC and Delta optics stands. It was an objective that was designed for biological applications, that required working distance, yeast genetics etc.

Objective type Magnification Cover-glass Upright [S 1 - cond./ or 11)] S 1 -Cond. S 23/28 -Cond. S 70 -Cond. Obj. ICR Objective thread Free working distance (mm) Article No

PL S-APO 10x/0.30 - K2+D1 K11 K3(K11) K6(K3) D1(D) D1/D M25 11.1 11506289
HCX APO L U-V-I 12) 10x/0.30 W 2) - K2+D1 - - - - - M25 3.6 11506142
HC PL APO 10x/0.40 / 0.17 K2+A K11 K3 K6 A - M25 2.2 11506284
HC PL APO CS 10x/0.40 14) 0.17 K2+A K11 K3 K6 A - M25 2.2 11506285
HC PL APO CS 10x/0.40 IMM 14) - K2+A K11 K3 K6 A - M25 0.36 11506293

Looks like the working distance is quite ok, if we screw it with a M25 adaptor, it should be possible to fit into a Motic stand, right? What is the parfocal distance?

[wabutter]

Parfocal distance is 45mm.