#12
Post
by apochronaut » Wed Jul 08, 2015 3:26 pm
When the brand American Optical was sold off by the amalgamated Leica Microsystems, most of the infinity designs of AO and Reichert had served their purpose. Leica , no doubt utilized this wealth of technology and built on it but companies often sell old designs to countries like China, India and formerly Romania and Bulgaria. Your microscope has Chinese made optics, almost for sure based on AO designs.
AO was unique, in that for about 100 years, they calculated an N.A. of .66 for their basic 4mm( 40-45x) objectives. That N.A. also shows up briefly on Reichert infinity microscopes, because they were using AO objective designs in certain models.
That range of Chinese made objectives( which also can be found on ebay) have corrections identical to AO and Reichert. I have tested them on an AO made Diastar and they are virtually identical to the 25 year old AO objectives in performance. They are perfectly corrected for the system , with only slightly inferior correction for lateral chromatic aberration.
The dovetail , sounds to be either the same or close enough that it would receive any AO or Reichert accessory made for the Series10/20,100/120, Microstar IV, Diastar and likely the Reichert Diavar II and the Leica 2000. Optics from series 10/20 and 100/120( the short ones) would be directly compatible with a short adapter to lengthen them to D.I.N., or any Reichert or Microstar or Leica 2000, D.I.N. optics will be compatible. Modern Leica objectives with RMS threads will be compatible, as well as others with suitable adapters.
So, if you want to upgrade your microscope in future with any accessories; used AO, Reichert or Leica conponents will likely do the trick.
