PZO DIC collecting dust...

[Rossf]

About a year ago I very impulse bought a PZO MB-30 scope with mint trinocular head and DIC head and condenser and slit condenser-I know I’m gonna have to beef up illumination for DIC but this scope has me beat-only have parts of the English manual and haven’t a clue what I’m doing-anyone have the full English manual PDF or know of any good videos showing how to set it up-have some Olympus SPlans-anyone has luck using them on this set up?
Regards fellow microbe hunters
Ross

[apochronaut]

I have the complete manual . It is around 100 pages. I have not as yet been able to scan and upload it but your inquiry might spur me on.
If there is anything specific you need to know, let me know.

[Rossf]

I need all the help I can get!-haven’t made any progress on my own with just snippets of the manual and guesswork-not a clue-Brightfield,dark field,oblique,phase I could all work out without touching a manual. 100 pages is a lot to scan- In Australia a lot of public libraries have kick arse photocopy/scanner machines that turn scanned material into PDF’s-pop in USB stick to grab-if pages are unstapled you just plonk the whole lot on top and it takes in each page and double scans for both sides until it finishes. Just thinking a good way to do it if you decide to-not sure how good your libraries are- I have the shearing objectives but just have double images and confusion-can non PZO objectives be used on it? Roughly how bright does illumination need to be?
Regards ross
Once I know how to use it I want to make a YouTube instruction video for visual learners like me-might name it “so you got the only affordable DIC setup and it’s a paperweight” or something similar!

[apochronaut]

I don't currently have a scanner set up but yes, the library will do it. I just haven't been able to fit my schedule with when the guy at the library can do it. Perhaps I can leave it with him. I will see.

No where in the manual is the term DIC used. Whether that is to get around Nomarski's patents or not, I don't know but the system is called a Polarizing Interference Microscope or PI microscope. The prisms are called quartz compensators or birefringent prisms or special kind of Wollaston prisms at various points in the manual . They may in fact be Wollaston prisms , not Nomarski type. They may be some other type too.

To answer your questions briefly. It takes a little interpretation, due to the topsy turvy nature of the manual. It goes back and forth in the sections between the slit condenser and the prism condenser and also between objective types. Sometimes this is revealed by implication only.
1) Illumination. There is no mention in the manual of the illumination level required but the illustrations depict the 24 watt model Biolar, not the 100 watt model.
2) The system can employ two different condensers. A slit condenser, or a rotary condenser , which houses 4 quartz compensators.
3) Always , the understage polarizer is used. It fits below either condenser type on a sliding dovetail.
4) The system can employ two different sets of objectives. Standard objectives or objectives with built in rotating birefringent prisms, referred to as high image splitting objectives. It is possible that the rear image plane location is critical so that only PZO objectives can be used but it is a D.I.N. 160mm microscope, so other standard objectives may work too.
5) The high image splitting objectives are only used with the slit condenser.
6) Methods exist using either one or two birefringent prisms above the objective, with the second one integral to the objective barrel in the high image splitting objectives.
7) There are 4 distinct methods possible.
A) The Differential Method, using the slit diaphragm condenser, high image splitting objectives and the interference head set at 1.
B) The Uniform Field Method using the slit diaphragm condenser, high image splitting objectives and the interference head. In this case the birefringent prisms of the objective are adjusted differently and the interference head is to be set at 3.
C) The Fringe Method using the slit condenser, standard objectives and the interference head.
D) The Differential with compensating condenser method, using the condenser with quartz compensators, standard objectives and the interference head.

hope this helps for now.

[Rossf]

Thanks Apochronaut-great handle by the way-well I certainly absorbed way more info than piecing together bits of the manual-I will do some experimenting just with those pointers-
Regards ross

[synnus]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11S7HIE ... sp=sharing

[Rossf]

Wow synnus that was a wonderful surprise to find today! I am so grateful to you-I was just thinking about the PZO the other day and thinking should I sell it-I may still but I at least need to see what it can do first! Do you use one of these scopes? If so how do you compare it’s DIC capabilities to more expensive options (Olympus,zeiss etc)-I’ve only really seem footage of the wildly birefringent setting which I liked the look of.Certainly colourful footage but want to explore all its settings-
Thanks again and have a wonderful day!
Much respect Ross

[MichaelG.]

Thanks from me too, synnus

I have downloaded the document just for technical interest, and the introductory chapter looks very helpful.

MichaelG.