Leitz Diavert, modernization (kind of)
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2024 8:12 am
Hi people,
I was recently looking for info on the Wild M40 inverted microscope, one of which my university unit still has for field course teaching purposes. That scope has not been maintained very well and is obviously very long in the teeth.
Anyway, on that googling trip, I bumped into this article, and a couple others from the same author: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... ldm40.html Seems very encouraging that one can take a mechanically superior old microscope (no plastic gears etc.!) and pimp it up by adding much more modern optics on it. Definitely gave some food for thought on that poorly maintained relic scope.
I also started to think that perhaps also a little newer (by a decade or two) inverted scope classic that is also known for very high mechanical quality, the Leitz Diavert, could be significantly upgraded. What would immediately come to mind is using Labovert 160mm tube length objectives on the 170mm tube length Diavert (both use 45mm barrel length objectives, unlike the venerable Wild M40). Among those objectives, there should be options that are optically far superior to the old Diavert objectives. What makes these choices even more appealing is the fact that the Diavert is very compatible with Ortholux II and Metallux II parts, including condensers and nosepieces etc.
I suppose the 'high-end' option would be to put Olympus IMT-2 objectives on the Diavert, Splans or even the Plan Apos that were available for that scope. However, no idea which eyepieces would then work with that Frankenscope. Has anyone tried?
There are also several quality LED conversions available for the Diavert, further improving it's case.
As a side note, I know that Diavert came out in mid-70ies but I don't know when they stopped producing DIaverts? And what was the successor, was it Labovert, which is very, very different in many ways. Labovert also apparently is an epitome of mechanical and optical complexity if one looks at the innards - the polar opposite of Diavert simplicity!
I was recently looking for info on the Wild M40 inverted microscope, one of which my university unit still has for field course teaching purposes. That scope has not been maintained very well and is obviously very long in the teeth.
Anyway, on that googling trip, I bumped into this article, and a couple others from the same author: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... ldm40.html Seems very encouraging that one can take a mechanically superior old microscope (no plastic gears etc.!) and pimp it up by adding much more modern optics on it. Definitely gave some food for thought on that poorly maintained relic scope.
I also started to think that perhaps also a little newer (by a decade or two) inverted scope classic that is also known for very high mechanical quality, the Leitz Diavert, could be significantly upgraded. What would immediately come to mind is using Labovert 160mm tube length objectives on the 170mm tube length Diavert (both use 45mm barrel length objectives, unlike the venerable Wild M40). Among those objectives, there should be options that are optically far superior to the old Diavert objectives. What makes these choices even more appealing is the fact that the Diavert is very compatible with Ortholux II and Metallux II parts, including condensers and nosepieces etc.
I suppose the 'high-end' option would be to put Olympus IMT-2 objectives on the Diavert, Splans or even the Plan Apos that were available for that scope. However, no idea which eyepieces would then work with that Frankenscope. Has anyone tried?
There are also several quality LED conversions available for the Diavert, further improving it's case.
As a side note, I know that Diavert came out in mid-70ies but I don't know when they stopped producing DIaverts? And what was the successor, was it Labovert, which is very, very different in many ways. Labovert also apparently is an epitome of mechanical and optical complexity if one looks at the innards - the polar opposite of Diavert simplicity!