High END PlanAPO Objectives$$$

[rs6000]

Hello I am reposting this topic here as it may have more suitable audience and be more appropriate then where I had originally placed it
Well where to begin My puzzlement
I understand some PlanAPO Objectives I've seen can have prices in the stratosphere
Well over on EvelBay I found something curious that I cant quite put my finger on, a preponderance of very LOW cost Nikon 20x Plan APO VC N2 Blah Blah $$$$ MSRP sub 200.00 avg sell price!! Whats going on!!
According to a Nikon Rep I spoke to that particular objective had a msrp of over 4k its the predecessor of the current Lambda series a very exclusive set of optics
only the 20x is at this price, all other planapo VCs the 10, 40 and 100x are all north of 1200 USD I cant explain it
I have attached a screenshot of a quick example of what I am referring to.

Cheers guys

[wporter]

Looking up the specs on the Nikon website,

https://www.nikoninstruments.com/Produc ... ifications

I see that the objectives have a lot of labeling on them. Not so on the discounted ebay Nikons.

What's that all about?

[75RR]

This is from the item description:

Description: Overstock from my lab. Working distance=1mm. This is Nikon 20x research confocal air inmersion apochromatic objective good for brightfield, darkfield, DIC, polarizing and NUV techniques. Optics are PERFECT. Seems to have very little use.
It has no "Nikon" brand on it but they are manufactured by them and they have exactly same specs as the "Nikon" engraved ones.
It is the same as this one and you can see more info here: https://www.nikoninstruments.com/en_EU/ ... tems)/i120

I have bought from him before, he is an ok seller. Not sure what the story is but I do think he is on the level.

https://www.ebay.es/itm/Like-new-NIKON- ... SwezVWvhw4

[apochronaut]

Some manufacturers do custom runs of objectives for other manufacturers systems, usually automated. Sometimes they are truly custom designs but sometimes they are off the shelf designs but the system is engineered to use off the shelf, rather than the other way around, which would be more costly. Sometimes the objectives are produced with a blank brand, presumably so there isn't confusion with the branding of the system but also sometimes the objectives are buried under a shroud, so markings other than a part # are unnecessary.

AO/Reichert did this with CAS systems at one point( Cell Analysis Systems) as well as Leitz and Leica, currently. Most companies have a custom optics branch.

As medical systems become more automated, more of the optics are buried and electronically activated. No real point in branding them.

That seller is on the level. He just knows what the specs are of the unbranded optics he is pulling.

Sometimes, the optics in some of the systems use uncovered smears, so occasionally you will see no cover optics but that isn't declared on the barrel--just a part # or sometimes just an anodized colour coded barrel. I'm pretty sure that this seller is completely savvy about these and knows exactly what is what.

[MichaelG.]

For those of an inquisitive nature:
http://blogs.swarthmore.edu/Illumina+GA ... /?m=201411

MichaelG.

N.B. he does not confirm the details of the objective, merely quotes ebay sources, but it all looks rather promising.

[rs6000]

I was not questioning the particular seller I just took a screenshot sampling of one MANY different listings for the aforementioned objective.
maybe as another seller did post a reply to my question "its supply and demand" unfortunately I do not own the Eclipse 90i for which this objective is designed for I have better things invest my funds on a then a new research microscope costing upwards 60K.

But anyhow thanks you for your input and if any of you are lucky enough to own a modern infinity corrected nikon scope maybe this can benefit you in getting a smashing deal on a obviously very Highly corrected optic 60% transmission at 345 Nm is very good in my book.

Cheers All

[abednego1995]

yup, as Michael has pointed out, those cheap non-inscribed "VC" Plan apo 20x's are from Nikon, and were intended for genome sequencers from illumina( formerly Solexa)
They probably are optically identical to normal Plan Apo 20s (Not sure of the VC correction, though because those sequencers didn't use excitation in the 365nm range, nulling the advantage over normal PAs)
However, they come with a huge caveat. The sequencer slides use a coverslip(or rather, window) of 0.3mm, and the objective is corrected for that. Thus, unless you are using very very thick coverslips, this
will show massive spherical abberation, rendering the image useless.

Don't ask why I know, I've had my own share of mistakes

If you are looking for cheap Nikon CFI60 PA20s, go after the MRY10054. It's not VC, but you wouldn't even notice unless you are doing serious fluorescent work.
It has 0.17mm coverslip correction written on the barrel and it is true.

John

[MichaelG.]

Thanks for filling-in the details, John

... Very useful

MichaelG.