Hi to all,
I'm a passionated astrophotographer, cause of my degree in physics , and after a long relocation during these winter's days I resume my 13 years old microscope, it's a trincoular head lomo with Kohler illuminator and a bright field condenser (0,9) picture attached, I would like to upgrade to phase contrast and I discover that the KF4 kit (condenser + ocular) should be the right one. I found some used stuff on ebay coming from russia. I would like to know from the user of the group if the KF4 kit it's enough to obtain some good starting picture using this tecnique or I have to consider to buy other stuff and, if is possible, to have an idea of the quality of this microscope (at the time it was a gift from my family).
Thanks to all.
Filippo.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/filippoastro
My old lomo
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- Posts: 5
- Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:45 am
My old lomo
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- My Lomo microscope
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Re: My old lomo
Hi Filippo,
you've got a very nice microscope there! These later and bigger LOMOs are not very plenty on the used market, but are nice microcopes. Does your trino head have a magnification changer wheel?
I don't know what you need to get phase contrast, but maybe you can find the needed information here: http://www.mikroskopfreunde-nordhessen.de/lomo.php
Bob
you've got a very nice microscope there! These later and bigger LOMOs are not very plenty on the used market, but are nice microcopes. Does your trino head have a magnification changer wheel?
I don't know what you need to get phase contrast, but maybe you can find the needed information here: http://www.mikroskopfreunde-nordhessen.de/lomo.php
Bob
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- Posts: 5
- Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:45 am
Re: My old lomo
Hi Bob,
thank you so much for your reply.
You are right, the trinocular head embedding a magnification changer wheel (1.1, 1.6, 2.5, B).
Taking some ideas and techniques from the forum, I will try oblique illumination since I have a swingable filter holder, in which I will put a cut light filter, swiping progressively the filter holder I expect to find the right adjustement. I will also try double polarization, I just buy some simple stuff trying to make a non intrusive modding. For the meantime, I will drop the contrast phase addon as you suggested.
I'm thinking to use my Panasonic Lumix GX80 as camera, it could make 4K at 100Mbit/s, we will see what happen.
As you can imagine this is the most creative part of the journey, cause of my quite total ignorance about microscopy .
Of course, I will put my experimentation on the forum to have some feedback.
Have a nice day.
Filippo.
thank you so much for your reply.
You are right, the trinocular head embedding a magnification changer wheel (1.1, 1.6, 2.5, B).
Taking some ideas and techniques from the forum, I will try oblique illumination since I have a swingable filter holder, in which I will put a cut light filter, swiping progressively the filter holder I expect to find the right adjustement. I will also try double polarization, I just buy some simple stuff trying to make a non intrusive modding. For the meantime, I will drop the contrast phase addon as you suggested.
I'm thinking to use my Panasonic Lumix GX80 as camera, it could make 4K at 100Mbit/s, we will see what happen.
As you can imagine this is the most creative part of the journey, cause of my quite total ignorance about microscopy .
Of course, I will put my experimentation on the forum to have some feedback.
Have a nice day.
Filippo.
Re: My old lomo
I also have this LOMO microscope, known as Mikmed-2 or Laboroscope in the US. It is a nice microscope. You can find some info in the old LOMO US webpage stored in the web archive (wayback link here). I was lucky enough to find a new and complete phase contrast kit for it, C-PHM or KF-4M, here in the US. Phase contrast it is a really good addition to this microscope. Listings for LOMO phase condensers appear from time to time in ebay, with prices around $100 to $200 depending on the condition of the kits. You'll also find camera attachment tubes for the trinocular head on ebay, and other parts if you are patient enough; I've seen a fairly complete reflected light illuminator kit for it going for $140.
But back to the condensers, its also possible to adapt other condensers to this stand if you want to go the DIY way. Here is an example of a support for the older KF-4 phase condenser (for the BIOLAM models) that someone machined from aluminum: If you have access to a 3D printer, then you can try this version that I made (PM me if you want the STL files):
But back to the condensers, its also possible to adapt other condensers to this stand if you want to go the DIY way. Here is an example of a support for the older KF-4 phase condenser (for the BIOLAM models) that someone machined from aluminum: If you have access to a 3D printer, then you can try this version that I made (PM me if you want the STL files):
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- Posts: 5
- Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:45 am
Re: My old lomo
Hi Jmp,
thank you so much for the useful info, in the meantime I'm trying some experiments with oblique illumination and some circular polarizer filter.
Hope to publish some pictures soon.
Filippo
thank you so much for the useful info, in the meantime I'm trying some experiments with oblique illumination and some circular polarizer filter.
Hope to publish some pictures soon.
Filippo
- Crater Eddie
- Posts: 1858
- Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2014 4:39 pm
- Location: Illinois USA
Re: My old lomo
Nice looking Laboroscope. I always wanted one of these.
CE
CE
Olympus BH-2 / BHTU
LOMO BIOLAM L-2-2
LOMO POLAM L-213 / BIOLAM L-211 hybrid
LOMO Multiscope (Biolam)
Cameras: Canon T3i, Olympus E-P1 MFT, Amscope 3mp USB
LOMO BIOLAM L-2-2
LOMO POLAM L-213 / BIOLAM L-211 hybrid
LOMO Multiscope (Biolam)
Cameras: Canon T3i, Olympus E-P1 MFT, Amscope 3mp USB