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Nikon Apophot
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 2:51 pm
by Francisco
Some time ago I got a Nikon Apophot microscope.
After cleaning and adjustment, the microscope is ready for use.
The Apopphot is a magnificent, but little known, microscope.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:11 pm
by BramHuntingNematodes
It's really nice I assume you got all those short barrel apos. They had a lower na on the 40x maybe to not bother with the collar but I recall it still looks very good and good contrast.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:19 pm
by Francisco
Thank you BramHuntingNematodos.
Unfortunately the objectives I had are not Apo, only Plan
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:38 pm
by viktor j nilsson
Magnificent microscope! Definitely a close cousin - or perhaps nemesis! - of my Olympus Vanox AH.
The short-barrel apochromats from this era can be quite affordable and are definitely worth chasing down. My Vanox also came with simple plan achromats that I didn't like, but I have since tracked down every single short-barrel apo, planapo and fluorites Olympus made during this era. They are all pretty great, and all cost between $40-$150 each (most ~$100). Okay one I paid $175 for, but that was a mistake. They compare quite favorably to my much later Nikon CF Fluor's and PlanApos, although they are not quite as good. But differences are much smaller than you might expect. I would think that the Nikon short-barrel Apos would perform similarly. I have indeed seen some very nice images taken with them.
I think a microscope like that deserves some contemporary high quality glass. That's how I felt with mine.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:39 pm
by dtsh
That looks like a very nice beast of an instrument!
What is the large, black, circular part on the lower right of your last image?
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:43 pm
by viktor j nilsson
dtsh wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:39 pm
That looks like a very nice beast of an instrument!
What is the large, black, circular part on the lower right of your last image?
Magnification changer maybe?
What condenser is it? Looks like an achromat aplanat (nice!), but does this microscope come with any special illumination techniques?
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:52 pm
by Francisco
viktor j nilsson wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:38 pm
Magnificent microscope! Definitely a close cousin - or perhaps nemesis! - of my Olympus Vanox AH.
The short-barrel apochromats from this era can be quite affordable and are definitely worth chasing down. My Vanox also came with simple plan achromats that I didn't like, but I have since tracked down every single short-barrel apo, planapo and fluorites Olympus made during this era. They are all pretty great, and all cost between $40-$150 each (most ~$100). Okay one I paid $175 for, but that was a mistake. They compare quite favorably to my much later Nikon CF Fluor's and PlanApos, although they are not quite as good. But differences are much smaller than you might expect. I would think that the Nikon short-barrel Apos would perform similarly. I have indeed seen some very nice images taken with them.
I think a microscope like that deserves some contemporary high quality glass. That's how I felt with mine.
Thank you.
My intention is to "improve" it with Apo targets.
As you indicate it seems that short barrel lenses are quite cheap.
I have done some tests with the Plan you have and the quality is quite good (for those kind of old targets)
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:53 pm
by Francisco
dtsh wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:39 pm
That looks like a very nice beast of an instrument!
What is the large, black, circular part on the lower right of your last image?
Thanks.
Yes, it's the magnification changer.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:58 pm
by Francisco
viktor j nilsson wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:43 pm
dtsh wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:39 pm
That looks like a very nice beast of an instrument!
What is the large, black, circular part on the lower right of your last image?
Magnification changer maybe?
What condenser is it? Looks like an achromat aplanat (nice!), but does this microscope come with any special illumination techniques?
It is a 1.25 achromatic aplanat condenser. It is decenterable for oblique lighting. It can work with transmitted, reflected and mixed lighting.
It is feasible to add all kinds of accessories (except DIC).
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:08 pm
by PeteM
Wonderful appearing scope - and the first Apophot I've seen. Thanks for posting it.
It looks as if there is room to move the stage down and use 45mm parfocal objectives as well?
Do the nosepiece and magnification changer use the same circular dovetails as later Nikon nosepieces? If so, it might be possible to easily swap a Nikon DIC unit for the mag changer??
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:40 pm
by viktor j nilsson
PeteM wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:08 pm
Wonderful appearing scope - and the first Apophot I've seen. Thanks for posting it.
It looks as if there is room to move the stage down and use 45mm parfocal objectives as well?
Do the nosepiece and magnification changer use the same circular dovetails as later Nikon nosepieces? If so, it might be possible to easily swap a Nikon DIC unit for the mag changer??
I think an even better approach if you want to use long-barrel objectives is to move the head up on its dovetail and lock it in place a little further up. This should ensure that the condenser will accept its light at the same height as it was designed to do, and maintain Kohler.
I find that this makes a difference on my Vanox - although I'm often lazy and rack down the stage anyway when testing LB objectives.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:42 pm
by BramHuntingNematodes
I have a Tiyoda 40x apo on my old Nippon Kogaku stand and while I thought it would require a lighter compensation as with Olympus it seems to work very well with the Nikon HK eyepieces and is parfocal with the Nikon short barrel lenses. I paid $20 for mine, so might also be something to look out for.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 12:33 am
by KurtM
Francisco, beautiful microscope, thanks for showing it to us! I'm with Pete, I've never seen one before so that makes your post doubly interesting.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 1:49 pm
by photomicro
Francisco wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 2:51 pm
Some time ago I got a Nikon Apophot microscope.
After cleaning and adjustment, the microscope is ready for use.
The Apopphot is a magnificent, but little known, microscope.
Really nice looking instrument.
I have a 32 page brochure for it, that shows a 'system chart' if you have things still not identified yet.
It contains a price list from the time...not dated, but the phone number suggests some time ago ! (Scottish distributor, phone number of four digits).
Late 1960s ?
Anyway, the price of the stand, without illuminators or optics was over 800 UK pounds.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 1:52 pm
by viktor j nilsson
£800 in 1969? that is equivalent to £11000 today.
...according to:
https://www.inflationtool.com/british-p ... amount=800
Always fun, rarely useful!
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:36 pm
by Francisco
PeteM wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:08 pm
Wonderful appearing scope - and the first Apophot I've seen. Thanks for posting it.
It looks as if there is room to move the stage down and use 45mm parfocal objectives as well?
Do the nosepiece and magnification changer use the same circular dovetails as later Nikon nosepieces? If so, it might be possible to easily swap a Nikon DIC unit for the mag changer??
Thank you.
The head can be moved up so it is possible to use 45mm lenses.
I think the size of the dovetail is different from the more modern Nikon.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:38 pm
by Francisco
viktor j nilsson wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:40 pm
PeteM wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:08 pm
Wonderful appearing scope - and the first Apophot I've seen. Thanks for posting it.
It looks as if there is room to move the stage down and use 45mm parfocal objectives as well?
Do the nosepiece and magnification changer use the same circular dovetails as later Nikon nosepieces? If so, it might be possible to easily swap a Nikon DIC unit for the mag changer??
I think an even better approach if you want to use long-barrel objectives is to move the head up on its dovetail and lock it in place a little further up. This should ensure that the condenser will accept its light at the same height as it was designed to do, and maintain Kohler.
I find that this makes a difference on my Vanox - although I'm often lazy and rack down the stage anyway when testing LB objectives.
The zoom illumination system guarantees good Kohler illumination with different objectives.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:40 pm
by Francisco
BramHuntingNematodes wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:42 pm
I have a Tiyoda 40x apo on my old Nippon Kogaku stand and while I thought it would require a lighter compensation as with Olympus it seems to work very well with the Nikon HK eyepieces and is parfocal with the Nikon short barrel lenses. I paid $20 for mine, so might also be something to look out for.
Thanks for the info.
I also want to test Lomo Apo objectives.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:41 pm
by Francisco
KurtM wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 12:33 am
Francisco, beautiful microscope, thanks for showing it to us! I'm with Pete, I've never seen one before so that makes your post doubly interesting.
Thank you.
It is a "little" known microscope
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:42 pm
by Francisco
photomicro wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 1:49 pm
Francisco wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 2:51 pm
Some time ago I got a Nikon Apophot microscope.
After cleaning and adjustment, the microscope is ready for use.
The Apopphot is a magnificent, but little known, microscope.
Really nice looking instrument.
I have a 32 page brochure for it, that shows a 'system chart' if you have things still not identified yet.
It contains a price list from the time...not dated, but the phone number suggests some time ago ! (Scottish distributor, phone number of four digits).
Late 1960s ?
Anyway, the price of the stand, without illuminators or optics was over 800 UK pounds.
Thank you.
That brochure would be interesting.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:43 pm
by Francisco
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2022 12:08 pm
by Javier
Awesome scope, Francisco!
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2022 2:48 pm
by Francisco
Thanks Javier
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2022 4:38 pm
by fdupre
Hello,
I am agree with Javier, awesome scope, Francisco!
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2022 9:23 pm
by Scarodactyl
I saw one of these many years back at a surplus sale. It is a really beautiful bit of industrial design.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2022 12:51 pm
by Francisco
Thanks fdupre
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2022 12:53 pm
by Francisco
Thanks Scarodáctilo.
It is a little known model
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2022 9:56 pm
by MichaelG.
I’ve just found this :
https://www.microscopyu.com/museum/niko ... microscope
Your magnificent microscope in its natural habitat.
MichaelG.
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2022 11:14 pm
by Scarodactyl
Re: Nikon Apophot
Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2022 9:58 am
by Hobbyst46
So I guessed right... the Holy Grrrail !!!
