Which immersion oil is recommended?

[karhukainen]

What should one consider when choosing immersion oil? I recently bought a Nikon plan fluor 100x/1.3 objective (hasn't arrived yet) and I already own a Nikon E plan 100x Ph4 DL.

[Alexander]

As long as you don't do fluorescence work any contemporary immersion oil will do the job fine.

[imkap]

Yesterday I was told glycerol can be used also, cheap and simple as it is available in the pharmacy, no need to order online. I'm happy with the view... I suppose oil is better, not sure how much especially for visual observation, any thoughts?

[Greg Howald]

The best solution I have found is to purchase type a and type B immersion oil. Type b goes under the slide on top of the condenser. Type a goes on top of the slide. I don't readily know the R/I of glycerol but would check that before using it, and I don't know how easy it might be to clean the glycerol from the lenses. Be very careful when you depart from standard practices.
Greg

[karhukainen]

Aren't there any brand differences?

[DrPhoxinus]

The refractive indices are really close.

There are glycerol objectives.

Discussion here:

https://www.leica-microsystems.com/scie ... esolution/

[Alexander]

Glycerol is used for deep UV microscopy. Oil would filter the light and produce auto-fluorescence on wave length below 320 nm.