I was surprised that my 90x oil is kind of usable without oil

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smollerthings
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I was surprised that my 90x oil is kind of usable without oil

#1 Post by smollerthings » Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:27 am

Especially at low condenser aperture. Not as good, but not too bad either. Didn't realize that. Note: I used glycerin in lieu of oil because I don't have oil.



apochronaut
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Re: I was surprised that my 90x oil is kind of usable without oil

#2 Post by apochronaut » Wed Sep 22, 2021 11:48 am

Some oil immersion objectives won't focus before hitting the coverslip without oil but some will. It depends on the original working distance with oil. All oil immersion objectives will however give an image without oil, it just isn't a very good one because the N.A. is below 1 and there is spherical aberration.
There is an image yes but if you look closely there is an awful lot of detail missing, even using glycerin, which would have a degraded image.

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Rossf
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Re: I was surprised that my 90x oil is kind of usable without oil

#3 Post by Rossf » Sat Nov 06, 2021 2:19 am

Hey smollerthings I found this also with certain 90-100x objectives -I know it’s not the best image but just a casual look I can find it enough visual information to keep wanting to explore the slide without the hassle of oil-did you try any digital sharpening in post?
Regards ross

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Re: I was surprised that my 90x oil is kind of usable without oil

#4 Post by Dubious » Sat Nov 06, 2021 2:24 am

I've never been into oil, but now feel that I should be, since by accident I acquired a Leitz 50x oil objective that seems to work well, so would be able to switch between 50x and 100x on the Laborlux.

smollerthings
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Re: I was surprised that my 90x oil is kind of usable without oil

#5 Post by smollerthings » Sat Nov 06, 2021 8:13 am

Rossf wrote:
Sat Nov 06, 2021 2:19 am
Hey smollerthings I found this also with certain 90-100x objectives -I know it’s not the best image but just a casual look I can find it enough visual information to keep wanting to explore the slide without the hassle of oil-did you try any digital sharpening in post?
Regards ross
Yes, oil really isn't that great while looking at pond life. Ruins a slide. Now if I want to use the 100x, which is not that often, I use water (refraction index 1.33), or glycerin (1.47) instead of the immersion oil (1.51) and that works pretty well. To clean water, I just absorb it with paper towel. To clean glycerin, I dilute it in water and absorb it with paper towel.

I haven't tried digital sharpening but I think digital sharpening + contrast can really improve the appearance.

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patta
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Re: I was surprised that my 90x oil is kind of usable without oil

#6 Post by patta » Sun Nov 07, 2021 2:29 pm

Here too, doing this forbidden thing of using water instead or oil. Or, even... olive oil!

I'd even dare to say that the 100x oil in water, ain't nice but it still resolves neatly more than the 40x 0.65 dry.... so, why not?
Last edited by patta on Sun Nov 07, 2021 2:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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patta
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Re: I was surprised that my 90x oil is kind of usable without oil

#7 Post by patta » Sun Nov 07, 2021 2:53 pm

Got this idea now:
modify an oil immersion objective for water immersion.
-how:
glue/oil a small coverslip in front of it, & finish.
How that works? the coverslip fills most of the working distance that would be otherwise full of water. So there is only a very thin film of water, less aberrations.

Working distance drops further, but, since water immersion objectives are in such scarce supply...

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Re: I was surprised that my 90x oil is kind of usable without oil

#8 Post by viktor j nilsson » Sun Nov 07, 2021 5:15 pm

The biggest benefit of water immersion is that it let you look deeper into water mounts without introducing excessive aberrations. It is also convenient to clean up. Your suggestion will allow you to benefit from the convenience of water, but you will not get the optical advantage.

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patta
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Re: I was surprised that my 90x oil is kind of usable without oil

#9 Post by patta » Sun Nov 07, 2021 7:25 pm

yes was a far shot... also just realized that most 100x don't have enough working distance to fit a second coverslip... but there may be another solution...

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