Microscope Upgrade

Everything relating to microscopy hardware: Objectives, eyepieces, lamps and more.
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Dave S
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Microscope Upgrade

#1 Post by Dave S » Mon Aug 26, 2019 3:58 pm

Having given microscopy a try, for a couple of months, and deciding that it is something that I would like to pursue further, I am looking to upgrade my microscope to one with Plan objectives.

I bought new, a Bresser Researcher Trino, which for the price has shown itself to be a very usable microscope. The only limitation, if it is considered such, is the achromatic objectives, which typically provide sharp focus over 50% of the field of view. Whereas semi plan objectives give something like 65%, and Plan objectives, better than 85%, or so I am led to believe.

Given the excellent customer service I have received from Bresser (Germany), my preference was to stay with Bresser, and I found what I considered to be a worthwhile upgrade, in the form of the TRM 301 microscope.

Plan objectives, and Kohler illumination.

However, in communicating with Bresser, I discovered what for me is a big negative, old fashioned Halogen illumination. Currently only 20W, but Bresser tell me that they are looking to increase this to 30W. The two big negatives for me, are the heat produced, and the UV radiation given off by Halogen bulbs, not the best thing for the eyes.

So, I am now looking at other options, but having experienced the Chinese made Bresser Researcher Trino, I have no hesitation in buying another Chinese made microscope.

Of course I will need to find a home for the 2 month old Bresser Trino.
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MicroBob
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#2 Post by MicroBob » Mon Aug 26, 2019 7:36 pm

"Plan" is used very differntly: Zeiss 160mm Plan was calculated for a flat field of 25mm. Leitz Plan was 28mm, NPL was 24mm. Your Bresser eyepieces have probably 18mm field diameter and a chinese "Plan" might not fully cover it.

The halogen lamp should have a filter in front that blocks the UV light. My old Phomi 1 from the 1960s has a 15W tungsten bicycle lamp that is much too weak for high power dark field, but half way acceptable for high power DIC. So the 20W halogen bulb will struggle with high power dark field too, but is there a cardioid condenser available from Bresser?

Bob

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Roldorf
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#3 Post by Roldorf » Mon Aug 26, 2019 7:47 pm

Bresser have a darkfied condenser for the Science Infinity (with plan infinity objectives) and the TFM301 .
Available as dry or oil condenser. You could always buy them both of course :D

https://www.bresser.de/Mikroskopie/BRES ... y-TFM.html

Online catalog http://catalog.bresser.de/books/yonw/mo ... .html#p=32
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Dave S
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#4 Post by Dave S » Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:12 pm

Yeah, thanks for that Alan. :lol:

The TFM301 would be ideal Alan, as it is the same body as the TRM301, but with semi-plan objectives.

Unlike it more expensive brother, the TFM301 has LED lighting.

Now if Bresser could supply the TFM301 with Plan objectives, that would be the ideal solution.
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#5 Post by Dave S » Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:21 pm

I would hope that a Bresser microscope with Plan objectives, would have suitably matching eyepieces to go with it Bob.

I wasn't thinking about changing the achromat objectives on my existing scope for Plan ones, but a whole new microscope.
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#6 Post by Dave S » Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:41 pm

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Roldorf
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#7 Post by Roldorf » Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:49 pm

Hi Dave

Bresser do supply the TFM with plan infinity objectives, but its called the Science Infinity (that's the one I bought). They look the same but with infinity optics.

https://www.bresser.de/en/Microscopes-M ... scope.html

Hope that helps. The darkfield condenser is also less expensive on the Science Infinity.
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#8 Post by Dave S » Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:59 pm

I have looked at that one Alan, but am trying to justify the cost, given that for me, microscopy is more of a fascinating pass time, than a serious hobby.

As you know, photography is my main interest, and I have spent mega money on that. Shoosh!!, don't tell Mrs S ;)

Brunel do enjoy a very good reputation in the UK, but whether or not their customer support is a good as Bresser's, I don't know.
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#9 Post by Roldorf » Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:40 pm

Hi Dave thought you might be interested in this.

https://www.amscope.com/compound-micros ... ope-3.html

Shipping is $137 to the UK.

It is from the same Chinese manufacturer as Bresser uses and in fact is the same as the one I have except it has a 5 objective turret.
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#10 Post by Dave S » Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:58 pm

Hi Alan

I have sold the Bresser, and have pretty much made up my mind, subject to getting the right answers back to the questions I have submitted to the supplier.

Unfortunately, it won't be from Bresser, as their customer support has been excellent, but the model I wanted, the TRM301, is only available with Halogen illumination.

As such, I have looked at both Brunel , and GT Vision here in the UK, and have at the moment settled on the Brunel option. That is on the proviso that they will supply it with the standard 100x oil immersion lens, substituted with a more useful 60x Plan objective.

It will have Plan objectives, and Kohler illumination using LED. In terms of fine focus, it will have a stage movement of 200 microns, for one complete rotation of the fine focus control. It will also be directly suitable for use with an APS-C DSLR.

I have purposely not gone down the infinity corrected route, as I have no interest in fluorescent, or reflected light microscopy, and it leaves me the freedom use any 160mm objective, as opposed to having to stick with those of the manufacturer of the microscope.

UPDATE: satisfactory answers to my questions answered received, and the 100x oil will be replaced with a 60x objective, so the order has been placed.
Last edited by Dave S on Mon Sep 02, 2019 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#11 Post by Scarodactyl » Mon Sep 02, 2019 6:36 pm

Good luck. Hope to see some images from it in the nearish future.

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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#12 Post by Dave S » Mon Sep 02, 2019 7:03 pm

Thanks, and I hope that will be the case.
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#13 Post by Roldorf » Mon Sep 02, 2019 7:16 pm

Glad you got sorted looking forward to some Pics. :)
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#14 Post by david_b » Mon Sep 02, 2019 9:53 pm

Dave S wrote:
Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:58 pm
...As such, I have looked at both Brunel , and GT Vision here in the UK, and have at the moment settled on the Brunel option. That is on the proviso that they will supply it with the standard 100x oil immersion lens, substituted with a more useful 60x Plan objective.

It will have Plan objectives, and Kohler illumination using LED. In terms of fine focus, it will have a stage movement of 200 microns, for one complete rotation of the fine focus control. It will also be directly suitable for use with an APS-C DSLR.

I have purposely not gone down the infinity corrected route, as I have no interest in fluorescent, or reflected light microscopy, and it leaves me the freedom use any 160mm objective, as opposed to having to stick with those of the manufacturer of the microscope.

UPDATE: satisfactory answers to my questions answered received, and the 100x oil will be replaced with a 60x objective, so the order has been placed.


I have the same microscope, with the same 60x objective choice, though mine are semi-plan.
Unfortunately I'm looking to sell mine as I'm disappointed with the permanent 50/50 split of the trinocular head. I now understand this is standard for the cheaper Chinese scopes. I wish I had known that! I would have gone for the SP150 - a bit more expensive for a lot more microscope. But that has infinity optics so not for you it seems.
Looking forward to hearing your experience - I do hope it's better than mine!

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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#15 Post by mrsonchus » Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:39 am

Dave S wrote:
Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:58 pm
Hi Alan

I have sold the Bresser, and have pretty much made up my mind, subject to getting the right answers back to the questions I have submitted to the supplier.

Unfortunately, it won't be from Bresser, as their customer support has been excellent, but the model I wanted, the TRM301, is only available with Halogen illumination.

As such, I have looked at both Brunel , and GT Vision here in the UK, and have at the moment settled on the Brunel option. That is on the proviso that they will supply it with the standard 100x oil immersion lens, substituted with a more useful 60x Plan objective.

It will have Plan objectives, and Kohler illumination using LED. In terms of fine focus, it will have a stage movement of 200 microns, for one complete rotation of the fine focus control. It will also be directly suitable for use with an APS-C DSLR.

I have purposely not gone down the infinity corrected route, as I have no interest in fluorescent, or reflected light microscopy, and it leaves me the freedom use any 160mm objective, as opposed to having to stick with those of the manufacturer of the microscope.

UPDATE: satisfactory answers to my questions answered received, and the 100x oil will be replaced with a 60x objective, so the order has been placed.

Hi Dave, is it the SP100 you have on it's way? When I bought my SP200 from them I too chose to have the 60x objective instead of the 100x. A very useful objective indeed I still to this day I find, having moved through a superb Orthoplan to my current Olympus.
I'm looking forward to seeing how you go, keep us updated! :D :D
John B

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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#16 Post by Dave S » Tue Sep 03, 2019 10:48 am

Hi John, yes it is the SP100.

I thought about the SP150, and SP200, but as I won't be doing any of the more specialised stuff, such as Fluorescence etc, I decided that I didn't need to go to the extra expense of infinity corrected optics, and that 160mm Plan optics would be adequate for my needs.

Having Kohler illumination should hopefully be beneficial to my imaging.

I have to say that while I was very impressed with Bresser's customer support, my communications with Helen Murray, Brunel's technical Guru, and Sales Director, have been most pleasant, and helpful.

I should have the SP100 by Friday.

Dave
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#17 Post by Dave S » Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:15 pm

The Brunel SP100 arrived today, my initial impressions are, well engineered, and solidly built.

The focus control is very positive, and very smooth, with a very comfortable to use fine focus control.

The Stage and Condenser controls, are equally positive an smooth.

The Plan objectives produce visually sharp image, and the field of view is definitely flatter than my previous microscope with its achromatic objectives.

The real bonus is that I can go straight in with the APS-C DSLR on the photo tube, without the need to include a relay lens, as unlike the previous scope, which was engineered for use with a Micro Cam, this one has been engineered for use with DSLR. The image scale is pretty close to that seen visually through the 10x oculars.

The only negative is that the camera focus point is some distance, in terms of the focus setting, from the visual setting, and there is no adjustment on the focus tube. Not a problem really, as its easy enough the re-focus for the camera. I will however have a 'play' with this, and if the the camera needs to be further away, that will be easy to sort, albeit not if it needs it be nearer.

I need check that the condenser is correctly aligned, and the Kohler illumination set up, if it isn't already done.

Overall, it is certainly a step up from my previous microscope, but then it was significantly more expensive.

All in all, at this stage, I am happy with my purchase.
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#18 Post by mrsonchus » Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:12 pm

Congratulations! Looking forward to some images of and from the new 'scope!

You're in for a great time my friend! :D :D
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#19 Post by Dave S » Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:34 pm

Thanks John, I look forward 'putting it through it's paces' :)
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Re: Microscope Upgrade

#20 Post by MicroBob » Fri Sep 06, 2019 6:37 pm

Hi Dave,
congratulations to your new microscope! It is nice to see that you have found a lasting enthusiasm for this hobby.
To get eyepieces and camera parfocal you can change either camera tube or eyepiece position.
If everything is perfectly made the objectives will be parfocal (less than a half turn fine focus off) at 160mm tube length.
You could add little spacers under the eyepieces if this helps parfocality with the camera and check whether parfocality among the objectives is still ok.

Bob

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