Opinions On Olympus UPlanFL N 60x Objective?

[nboyer]

Hello folks. Any Olympus microscope users here who uses the UPlanFL N 60x? I would be using it on a CX22 microscope. Any comments on how it compares to the Standard PLAN would be greatly appreciated. Cheers. -Norm

[PeteM]

Is that the one with the iris? Mine is just marked UPlanFL and 60x. It's a fine objective and one I was very lucky to find affordably.

However, where it shines is with something like polarization, fluorescence, or DIC and flat field photography. Just viewing brightfield or darkfield images, it's not a night and day difference. Since your microscope doesn't have a trinocular head or capabilities for DIC or fluorescence -- or even a wide field head and eyepieces -- you might be just as happy with either a 50x or 100x Olympus achromat with an iris for darkfield use? Whole lot less expensive unless you're very lucky. With the money saved, might even find a proper high NA darkfield condenser?

[nboyer]

Hello Pete, thank you for the reply. Yes, this one has an adjustable iris. I have the 100X PLAN, but was wondering how a 60X dry would be, I'm mainly looking for better resolution/contrast than my 100X. I'm willing to give up some magnification for better resolution. I did not know that there was a dedicated high NA darkfield condenser for the CX22. Would you happen to have a part number or link? How would this be better than the standard condenser? There is a darkfield stop that goes into a filter adapter, which then attaches to the bottom of the condenser on mine. Cheers! -Norm

[PeteM]

Hi Norm,

My 60x UPlanFL iris uses oil and has a numerical aperture of 1.25.

Your resolution is going to depend mainly on numerical aperture (NA). An affordable Olympus 100x oil iris can have a NA of 1.3 - even better than that 60x plan oil (and even better than the dry) fluorite. It won't have the wide field of view, the strain-free optics for DIC and polarization, or the fluorite glass to help transmit UV. But in terms of resolution, it's near as good as it gets.

A dry 60x or 100x will likely be 1.0 or less NA. There's some improvement with a 60x dry objective if you really really don't want to mess with oil -- but oil immersion isn't especially difficult.

I just assumed the darkfield condensers for the BX will work with the CX. Is yours the same dovetail mount?? Finding some combination of darkfield, oblique, pseudo-DIC (using prisms and polarizers) may give you the better detail you want. It may well be that contrast and some sense of relief will be more important than absolute resolution (which will drop from, say, 1.30 to something lower with a darkfield setup).

[nboyer]

Thanks, Pete, for taking the time to shed some light. I'm not sure what you mean by dovetail mount, but here is a picture of it. Cheers. -Norm

[PeteM]

Norm, I'm guessing that one inserts into some sort of holder from the top or back?? I've never had, nor used, a CX microscope; just the BX series. Others may know if there is a dedicated darkfield condenser for it.

The BH, BH2, and BX models all have a condenser carrier that "grabs" a circular dovetail fitting located at the bottom of the condenser. So, I'm not sure how easy it would be to adapt a darkfield condenser to your microscope. A photo of the condenser carrier might help.

[MichaelG.]

Apparently the CX uses an 'integrated' Abbe condenser

Here is the instruction booklet for the CX21 [presumably similar to the CX22]
http://www.frankshospitalworkshop.com/e ... Manual.pdf

See booklet page 2 ... which is page 5 of the PDF

MichaelG.

[nboyer]

Hi Pete - The condenser attaches to the microscope via rails and gets locked down. The condenser is then able to be adjusted up and down. Looks like a specific setup, perhaps, less capable of being upgraded. Cheers! -Norm

Norm, I'm guessing that one inserts into some sort of holder from the top or back?? I've never had, nor used, a CX microscope; just the BX series. Others may know if there is a dedicated darkfield condenser for it.

The BH, BH2, and BX models all have a condenser carrier that "grabs" a circular dovetail fitting located at the bottom of the condenser. So, I'm not sure how easy it would be to adapt a darkfield condenser to your microscope. A photo of the condenser carrier might help.

[nboyer]

Thanks Michael. You are correct, the two models are nearly, if not, identical with the exception of the CX22 LED having an LED illumination vs. halogen. Cheers. -Norm

Apparently the CX uses an 'integrated' Abbe condenser

Here is the instruction booklet for the CX21 [presumably similar to the CX22]
http://www.frankshospitalworkshop.com/e ... Manual.pdf

See booklet page 2 ... which is page 5 of the PDF

MichaelG.