Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

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InstantMochiii
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Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

#1 Post by InstantMochiii » Fri Apr 02, 2021 5:03 pm

I'm trying to figure out what makes the 350T cheaper to see if I should get the cheaper one or the more expensive one... Is the quality of the image still the same? :/

LouiseScot
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Re: Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

#2 Post by LouiseScot » Sat Apr 03, 2021 9:04 am

InstantMochiii wrote:
Fri Apr 02, 2021 5:03 pm
I'm trying to figure out what makes the 350T cheaper to see if I should get the cheaper one or the more expensive one... Is the quality of the image still the same? :/
Hi

I don't know what the differences are but there must be some! I don't think Motic/Swift are marketing the 350 series anymore and any you see for sale are likely to be old stock. I have a 380T and I'm quite pleased with it - my thing is imaging, so the T for Trinocular was a must for me. Do bear in mind that the Swifts aren't intrinsically upgradeable and there aren't any specific accessories. It's open to some limited DIY though :) If you think you might want to add phase contrast or darkfield in the future maybe think about getting an AmScope or similar instead. You can, of course, upgrade the Swift objectives - they are standard finite RMS thread, 160mm. The ones that come with the 380T are basic achromats but seem high quality. I have put a couple of Nikon CF objectives on mine.

Louise
A Nikon CF plan 20x; A Swift 380T; A DIY infinity corrected focus rail system with a 40x/0.65 Olympus Plan, a 10x/0.30 Amscope Plan Fluor, and a 20x/0.75 Nikon Plan Apo

Greg Howald
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Re: Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

#3 Post by Greg Howald » Sat Apr 03, 2021 11:32 am

Should you decide to go with Amscope the highly favored scope is the 490. It is comparable to the Swift and is upgradeable to phase contrast and dark field condenser are available. People on the forum who have them give them lots of praise.
Greg

MikeB
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Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2021 12:29 pm

Re: Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

#4 Post by MikeB » Sat Apr 03, 2021 12:35 pm

I think the difference is the absence of a fine focus knob on the SW350T. I also have a 380T and would recommend it over the 350T if the spec meets your needs.

Mike

InstantMochiii
Posts: 40
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:59 pm

Re: Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

#5 Post by InstantMochiii » Sat Apr 03, 2021 1:13 pm

LouiseScot wrote:
Sat Apr 03, 2021 9:04 am
InstantMochiii wrote:
Fri Apr 02, 2021 5:03 pm
I'm trying to figure out what makes the 350T cheaper to see if I should get the cheaper one or the more expensive one... Is the quality of the image still the same? :/
Hi

I don't know what the differences are but there must be some! I don't think Motic/Swift are marketing the 350 series anymore and any you see for sale are likely to be old stock. I have a 380T and I'm quite pleased with it - my thing is imaging, so the T for Trinocular was a must for me. Do bear in mind that the Swifts aren't intrinsically upgradeable and there aren't any specific accessories. It's open to some limited DIY though :) If you think you might want to add phase contrast or darkfield in the future maybe think about getting an AmScope or similar instead. You can, of course, upgrade the Swift objectives - they are standard finite RMS thread, 160mm. The ones that come with the 380T are basic achromats but seem high quality. I have put a couple of Nikon CF objectives on mine.

Louise
Yeah, it's probably better to get a newer model! I do have a few questions though...

For the dark field imaging, I've heard of people getting filters for that... have you tried it? I don't know if it works, but it seems pretty legit-

Also, how does a trinocular tube thingy even work? I think that the magnification is (eyepiece magnification) x (objective magnification)? So then if a camera is inserted in the tube part, then it doesn't have the magnification of the eyepiece, ..right..?

Ack- sorry for the plethora of questions, haha, I'm pretty new to this! Thank you for your reply by the way! XD

InstantMochiii
Posts: 40
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:59 pm

Re: Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

#6 Post by InstantMochiii » Sat Apr 03, 2021 1:14 pm

MikeB wrote:
Sat Apr 03, 2021 12:35 pm
I think the difference is the absence of a fine focus knob on the SW350T. I also have a 380T and would recommend it over the 350T if the spec meets your needs.

Mike
Oh, really? Then the SW 380T is probably what I'll go for! Haha! XD Thank you for helping me outtt~

InstantMochiii
Posts: 40
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:59 pm

Re: Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

#7 Post by InstantMochiii » Sat Apr 03, 2021 1:16 pm

Greg Howald wrote:
Sat Apr 03, 2021 11:32 am
Should you decide to go with Amscope the highly favored scope is the 490. It is comparable to the Swift and is upgradeable to phase contrast and dark field condenser are available. People on the forum who have them give them lots of praise.
Greg
Yeah, I've thought about getting the Amscope T490B, but the only problem is it's a halogen light. I've heard that it can potentially heat up and kill some bacteria, so I'm still on the fence about it. I do think that the phase contrast and dark field condenser would be useful though! XD Thank you for the reply! It helps a newbie like me a lot! XD

LouiseScot
Posts: 1167
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 1:51 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

#8 Post by LouiseScot » Sat Apr 03, 2021 2:47 pm

InstantMochiii wrote:
Sat Apr 03, 2021 1:16 pm
Greg Howald wrote:
Sat Apr 03, 2021 11:32 am
Should you decide to go with Amscope the highly favored scope is the 490. It is comparable to the Swift and is upgradeable to phase contrast and dark field condenser are available. People on the forum who have them give them lots of praise.
Greg
Yeah, I've thought about getting the Amscope T490B, but the only problem is it's a halogen light. I've heard that it can potentially heat up and kill some bacteria, so I'm still on the fence about it. I do think that the phase contrast and dark field condenser would be useful though! XD Thank you for the reply! It helps a newbie like me a lot! XD

It's very easy to add a LED to most scopes. Having said that, trying to view living bacteria probably wouldn't be easy with any low cost brightfield microscope. I would suggest you do some research on that!

Louise
A Nikon CF plan 20x; A Swift 380T; A DIY infinity corrected focus rail system with a 40x/0.65 Olympus Plan, a 10x/0.30 Amscope Plan Fluor, and a 20x/0.75 Nikon Plan Apo

LouiseScot
Posts: 1167
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2020 1:51 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

#9 Post by LouiseScot » Sat Apr 03, 2021 3:03 pm

InstantMochiii wrote:
Sat Apr 03, 2021 1:13 pm
LouiseScot wrote:
Sat Apr 03, 2021 9:04 am
InstantMochiii wrote:
Fri Apr 02, 2021 5:03 pm
I'm trying to figure out what makes the 350T cheaper to see if I should get the cheaper one or the more expensive one... Is the quality of the image still the same? :/
Hi

I don't know what the differences are but there must be some! I don't think Motic/Swift are marketing the 350 series anymore and any you see for sale are likely to be old stock. I have a 380T and I'm quite pleased with it - my thing is imaging, so the T for Trinocular was a must for me. Do bear in mind that the Swifts aren't intrinsically upgradeable and there aren't any specific accessories. It's open to some limited DIY though :) If you think you might want to add phase contrast or darkfield in the future maybe think about getting an AmScope or similar instead. You can, of course, upgrade the Swift objectives - they are standard finite RMS thread, 160mm. The ones that come with the 380T are basic achromats but seem high quality. I have put a couple of Nikon CF objectives on mine.

Louise
Yeah, it's probably better to get a newer model! I do have a few questions though...

For the dark field imaging, I've heard of people getting filters for that... have you tried it? I don't know if it works, but it seems pretty legit-

Also, how does a trinocular tube thingy even work? I think that the magnification is (eyepiece magnification) x (objective magnification)? So then if a camera is inserted in the tube part, then it doesn't have the magnification of the eyepiece, ..right..?

Ack- sorry for the plethora of questions, haha, I'm pretty new to this! Thank you for your reply by the way! XD
FWIW I substituted an AmScope dry darkfield condenser for the Swift one. It required some 3D printing to make an adapter but it worked quite well at 40x.Higher magnifications really require a specialised objective and an oil darkfield condenser. If you look on the Amscope Global website you'll see both there.
There are a lot of factors which come into play when imaging. First, perhaps, is the type of camera you use. An eyepiece-type camera can slip into a trinocular tube (or into an eyepiece tube) and its small sensor and pixels will effectively give a magnified image. Other cameras may best be used 'afocally' - with an eyepiece in the trinocular port projecting into a camera lens although direct projection is also possible. There is much written about different approaches to photomicroscopy both on this forum and elsewhere online (Charles Krebs is a good source of info https://www.krebsmicro.com/. However, I would suggest you keep things simple to start.

Louise
A Nikon CF plan 20x; A Swift 380T; A DIY infinity corrected focus rail system with a 40x/0.65 Olympus Plan, a 10x/0.30 Amscope Plan Fluor, and a 20x/0.75 Nikon Plan Apo

Jimbo
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:04 am
Location: N. Central Illinois

Re: Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

#10 Post by Jimbo » Sat Apr 03, 2021 3:33 pm

The description on the 350T does show a fine focus knob. I’m also thinking about getting this scope. Any one know for certain? Also thinking about the Amscope T300b.
I did have a 400 dollar budget until my furnace went out! Now looking for more affordable scopes.

crb5
Posts: 101
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2020 11:55 pm

Re: Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

#11 Post by crb5 » Sat Apr 03, 2021 9:03 pm

I have a Swift 350T scope and happy with it. It does have fine focus. The specs look very similar to the Swift 380T, but the objective lenses are silvered rather than black and could be made in a different factory. I do not know how they compare optically. You may also want to kook at the Amscope 120T https://www.amscope.com/40x-2500x-led-l ... stage.html which looks like it is made in the same factory as the Swift 350T. I started with the Amscope 120B binocular scope, then after a year I realized a trinocular scope was much more convenient when projecting images over zoom to a class. The cheapest option then was to buy a complete Swift 350T. The heads are interchangeable between these mdoels and almost certainly originate from the same manufacturer. I prefer the Amscope as the condenser has centering screws and is easily removable - the height adjuster is a rack and pinion rather then the helical mount of the Swift. On the Swift I find the filter holder sometimes (depending on the stage position) cannot be swung out without colliding with the frame and this requires rotating the condenser on its helical mount to get sufficient clearance. Now I use the Amscope with the Swift 350T trinocular head and keep the Swift with the Amscope 120B head in reserve.

Darkfield filters (patch stops) work well with both models for the 4x and 10x objectives, and just about possible with the 40x. While these scopes are not formally upgradeable it is still possible to use various illumination methods including polarization, oblique, Dodt contrast and fluorescence as previous posts have shown. The built-in LED illumination is good and there is no problem with warming up live specimens. Cheap (lensless) USB cameras work well as they only record the center of the field compared with the eyepiece view and here simple achromats are sufficient. Under these conditions 3MP is more than adequate for resolution based on the Nyquist limit. Capturing the full field of view is more challenging as the primary image is poor around the periphery. The eyepieces seem to help correct for this, so I found it best to mount a camera/iphone on the eyepiece (afocal method) rather then using a USB camera with a generic (unmatched) reduction lens.

EYE C U
Posts: 288
Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2020 5:18 pm

Re: Difference between Swift SW350T and SW380T?

#12 Post by EYE C U » Sun Apr 04, 2021 8:23 am

>>>30<<<< :mrgreen:

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