#24
Post
by BramHuntingNematodes » Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:11 am
I finally bought a 410 for my son's schooling as my Dynazoom is usually in some complicated setup and nobody better touch my Dynoptic. It's the blue-top, square hatch kind came with a 10, 40 and 100 NeoPlan. I hear the plan achros take a slight edge over the Neos around the periphery but they looked really good anyways! Smashing looks, almost as good as my Dynazoom with the Balplan planachros. I love the Dynazoom and definitely prefer it, but after all the work I put into it I would never recommend it over the 410 to someone asking for a variety of reasons. The Dyna seems like it plain well ahs a lot more pieces to keep track of, it's quite a bit bigger and heavier, and it's often more expensive anyway. This 410 cost me $85 and it appears complete and in good fettle (the blue filter arm is broken, but even an oaf like me can fix that). It's really a better deal by such a large margin it doesn't make a lot of sense. Anyway, maybe they are less common now than they once were?
I have a 4x Leica C PLAN along with a 25mm to RMS adapter had for very little that I expect may work OK on the 410 (also looking out for a 20x plan achro). The objectives for the FF Dynazoom are by comparison p. exclusive and difficult to come by. Often more expensive also. The 410s halogen bulb, too, works better than those funny little tungsten bulbs so many B&Ls used. This is not a concern with the Balplan, though.
Last thing, searching around I have seen some complaints about the focus system on the 410. Some really were broken, with a cracked cam or worn spring washers. On the other hand, I thought mine might be broken as well until I read the manual and followed the directions for the Autofocus system. After that it was fine-- the slipping I had noticed earlier was not a flaw but how the system is intended to work.
Also, it should be a good scope for a kid! With the autofocus engaged it is difficult to crash the objectives and there's only one set of focus knobs to worry about. The head adjusts so quickly we all can take a look in turn easily. I set the condenser in the right place, and it looks like that doesn't need adjusting. Of course, I am a doofus that needs to overcomplicate things so I balanced a Zeiss dry darkfield condenser on the forks, and it worked a charm too.
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination