Nikon optiphot

[Rylander]

Since I do not have much experience with Nikon microscopes, I have Leitz, Reichert, Olympus and Wild. Do I hear there are some who know Optiphot, one of my friends on the net found a such, with phase contrast.

http://www.dba.dk/lap-mikroskop-nikon/id-1026015325/

The price is 4000 kr = £ 450 or $ 600.

Is this a good buy, or should he buy this here instead:

http://www.frederiksen.eu/shop/product/fasesaet-primox

Rylander

[lorez]

The Nikon is a much better deal. There are some problems with this model which include failing fine focus and faulty filter carriers. Regardless of those issues it is still a much better deal. Get the Nikon.

lorez

[Rylander]

Thanks for your reply, Lorez, I have the same opinion.
I forgot to ask about the quality of the lenses, since it's hard to find anything about those who sit on the microscope.

Rylander

[lorez]

The objectives are all of good quality. The E40X, with the black barrel, is a lower grade objective than the others, but still yields a very good phase contrast image. It is a much better microscope than the best of those shown on the other page you listed.

lorez

[gekko]

I agree with lorez regarding the Optiphot (I use one and I'm happy with it, but I have no experience with the other brand). Make sure the fine focus gear is not cracked and that the coarse focus knob is not excessively stiff. As lorez mentioned, the filter carriers (filter cassette) seems to be a weakness. The silver objectives appear to be either achromats of planacrhomats (I could not tell), but they are not Plan N achromats (which have a somewhat higher NA). From the objective list, there does not appear to be a 10x phase contrast objective. The price looks to be extremely good (my impression is that on Ebay, the phase condenser by itself usually sells between US$200 and $300).

[Rylander]

Thank Lorenz and Gekko, for your comments about Nikon Optiphot, but what is the problem with the filter carriers (filter cassette), the fine focus gear and the coarse focus knob is easy to figure out, if it works.

Rylander

[gekko]

... what is the problem with the filter carriers (filter cassette)
Rylander

It is all-plastic, including the "indexing springs" that make a given filter stay up (out of the light path) or down (in the light path). These springs break, so the filters won't stay out of the light path without some sort of assistance (I don't think this is a big deal if the microscope is otherwise in good shape.) In some, the voltmeter in the front of the base may not work (not that it matters operationally, but it may be important if you insist on everything working). One rather surprising design shortcut is the absence of a mirror in the lamphouse, which means that modern replacement bulbs with narrow filaments do not fill the aperture of large NA objectives completely (one may then resort to the use of the ground glass diffusing filter, which is one of the filters in the filter cassette). A nice feature is the quickly interchangeable objective turret (so one can have more than one turret, each "populated" with different objectives