Which Nikon Microscopes for Photo-microscopy? Considering Labophot options

[Quarterbore]

I am new here and I have much to learn but I have spent many hours trying to read a lot of the forum and many good reviews and articles on the web. I have a thread in the Introductions Forum.

I have quickly figured out my choice of a hobby Microscope may be quite adequate for what I had planned but I have quickly grown to appreciate the photography and video aspects and I am trying to evaluate if this is something I can work into a limited budget.

To begin, I spent some time looking at options and opinions on the Nikon Labophot Microscope as it is one I have used for years in my own past. I have decided that I would like to be able to use my Canon DSLR along with a CCD type video camera as I already have these and I can use them for multiple duty as I have telescopes as well. To this extent I have decided I want to focus on a trinocular type setup and I was pleased to see I can buy surplus Labophot microscopes with the phototube for reasonable prices (I would like to get started in about a $500 budget (possibly stretched to $1,000) for the base microscope).

One article that gave me hope that this scope is quite adaptable is this one and it seemed to imply that newer Nikon accessories can be fitted later: [url]http://www.prc68.com/I/Labophot.html[\url]

My purpose will be as a biology scope and I would like to be able to work with both water slides (water immersion lenses perhaps) as well as traditional fixed slides with oil immersion. I am interested in everything from bacteria, mold, Protozoa, plants to potentially histology:pathology.

I think phase contrast scopes and certainly fluorescing scopes are out of my budget unless I can return to work. I also looked at some of the inverted scopes as I have experience with them for tissue culture work and I bet they would work great for pond samples but likely not so well for the other samples so I eliminated that option.

Finally, I decided on Nikon simply because of the huge variety of used and surplus scopes, parts, and accessories that cross models. I am sure other options would work but this is where I decided to start.

Just before I make another mistake that I may regret - not that my Bristoline Microscope I have doesn't work, am I missing something I should be considering?

As for use, this microscope will get setup in a study and likely will not be moved. In my other thread I shared I am a Scout Leader with the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts and I will use my Bristoline scope for any scout activities for obvious reasons. My plan is that I can supplement with photos or video from this new scope. Finally, I am not in a rush as I will shape carefully for a good used scope but I need to decide on what model(s) I need to watch for!

Thanks for helping as I try to catch up!

[zzffnn]

Surplus Nikon Labophots or Optiphots can be had for cheap, sometimes locally.

I had Labophot 2 but upgraded it to Optiphot 1, because I want quickly removable nosepieces (that allows you to swap sets of objectives in seconds, so one scope cna work as two or more) and adjustable stage height (for epi- DIC- regular transmission light).

If you are very patient and lucky, an Optiphot may not cost more than a Labophot. And of course, most of their parts (heads, stages, objectives, eyepieces and condensers) are interchangeable. The parts that are different (the bare main frame/arm and nosepieces) do not cost much by themselves.

You can actually use inverted objectives on an upright scope. Just trade 1mm cover glass with 1.14 mm water. For example, if an inverted objective is corrected for 1.2 mm glass bottom on an inverted scope, then leave 1.37 mm of water above your subjects. I am selling my 20x inverted objective (45mm parfocal Bausch & Lomb phase contrast Ph3) for $52 shipped, if you are interested.

[Quarterbore]

I talked with a friend that does a lot of photography with his microscopes in tha accademic area and got some feedback that he strongly suggested going with the trinocular head and a DSLR for the best photos over some of the small camera options. I called a local Microscope shop to see what they had in stock in regards to used or refurbished Labophot scopes with the trinocular and explained my plan to use a DSLR body and leave it attached to shoot photos or video. My camera does have a live view option.

What has me confused though is the guy I talked to, and they are a very reputable place, said that I am not likely to be happy using a DSLR and that it would be cost prohibitive for a hobbiest. It was implied to buy a quality camera adapter to fit on the trinocular would cost around $900 and then it may need additional work to get everything aligned. They also emphasized the cost of the trinocular head, etc.

I am working to see if I can get a retired microscope from my former University as I understand they have some they may be liquidating. Problem is it's a blind lot kind of deal so could get lucky or could end up with a project! I also see quite a few trinocular Labophot on eBay but again it is a roll of the dice unless you can physically sit at one with a slide and look at it and check the adjustments.

I also need to study more as my accademic friend suggested looking at options to be able to use dark field with the scope I buy as with living cells it provides very good contrast. The same microscope expert as the shop indicated that this is very complicated and is used for very tiny structures inside a cell and requires very specific tools that ave very expensive

.

So, I checked online and well doesn't seem like this is limited to very tiny details:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-field_microscopy

Perhaps I need another expert opinion? Thanks for any advice as the more I think I understand the less I seem to understand!

[zzffnn]

Your academic friend knows his stuff and I agree with all his advice.

The shop guy is not an expert, not even close. Up to and including 40x NA 0.65 objective, excellent to decent darkfield can be DIY'ed for no cost at all. Just block direct transmission light before it enters condenser, with an opaque circle (filter) that is large enough.

See table 1 of this article for darkfield filter sizes to start with: http://www.olympusmicro.com/primer/tech ... field.html
Try it on your current scope and see how wrong the shop guy is. He probably just want to sell you expensive gears.

Mounting a DSLR on trino is the way to go. But you need to reduce/eliminate mirror vibration (lock up mirror) and shutter vibrations (using electronic, not mechanical shutter or flash).

There are many expert articles on mounting camera on microscope here: http://www.krebsmicro.com

[Quarterbore]

Thanks for confirmation! I was looking at this more last night and I bought a microscope. Instead of a Nikon I was researching I bought an Olympus CHT model as it was a fresh refurbish and a polarized scope that has a condenser with brightfield, darkfield, 10X annuli and 40x annuli with correct A4. A10PL, and A40PL lenses (no 100mm lens). I know this is more of a student grade microscope but there are tons of BH and CH parts out there that I can use and as a hobbiest I won't be using this hard.

The only wish this scope didn't tick off was the trinocular head but I can get one of them fairly easily (Any CH trinocular head should fit from what I read) and I need to decide how soon I want a A100 oil lens or if I go with something else. The scope stretched my budget a little ($550) but all considered it should be versatile without crushing my finances too badly. I may need to barter the Bristoline as I don't know that I have space to store both!

As for the inverted scope lens above, I need to try the scope before I invest anything else as this is coming from across the country from a microscope refurbisher.