Zeiss Axioskop - New member Matador

What is your microscopy history? What are your interests? What equipment do you use?
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Matador
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2021 4:55 pm

Zeiss Axioskop - New member Matador

#1 Post by Matador » Sun Apr 25, 2021 6:35 pm

Hello everyone,
My name is Matador from Canada.
I am an anatomic pathologist, so my main focus at work is diagnostic pathology, mostly by examining histologic specimens (about 100-200 histology slides per day, of human tissu, such as core needle biopsies, surgical resection specimens, etc). I also do cytology.
Basically, I sit at the microscope between 6 to 12 hours per day.

The microscope I use in my office at the hospital is amazing (brand new Olympus BX53 with two additionnal teaching heads, trinocular head with Olympus camera, 1X, 2X, 4X, 10X, 20X, 40X and 60X all plan-apochomatic objectives, with 40X and 60X having correction collars, FN22 occulars (I plan to upgrade for FN26.5 in the future))... very spoiled (microscope is owned by the hospital of course, could not afford a microscope that price even if I wanted to... I'm guessing it's probably worth 70 000$ brand new ?).

But for home, I acquired in 2019 an old Zeiss Axioskop EL-Einstatz (45 14 85) on eBay. I just love the image quality of Zeiss optics and the sturdiness of these Pyramid scopes.
It was all seized up when I received it so I took the plate apart, degreased it with mineral spirits and regreased it with Nye lubricants (took it apart completely with precision screw drivers, cleaned each one of the ball bearings and sliding surfaces).
When it arrived, the movable prism in the trinocular head was dislodged from the sliding metal bracket holding it (slides into either photoport position or occular position), so I could not see the field of view. I took it apart and reglued the prism to the sliding metal braket using mirror cement. All good working order now.

MORE PICTURES IN THE POSTS BELOW
:
Axioskop 50 - 001.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 001.jpg (94.3 KiB) Viewed 3099 times
I bought it off eBay for 1100 USD (winning bid). But the objectives on it were not that great, especially for doing professional work at home
Objectives (all RMS thread) on it when I first got it were:
- Zeiss (West Germany) ACHROSTIGMAT 10x/0,25 ∞/- (44 01 30)
- Zeiss (West Germany) ACHROPLAN 20x/0,45 ∞/0,17 (44 00 40)
- Zeiss (West Germany) Plan-NEOFLUAR 40x/0,75 ∞/0,17 Ph2 (44 03 51)
- Zeiss (West Germany) ACHROPLAN 100x/1,25 Oil ∞/0,17 (44 00 80)

Apart from the phase contrast Plan-NEOFLUAR 40x objective, objectives were pretty much base models (still okay and very respectable optics, but not the best of the best). But the good thing about this scope was that it came with a bunch of cool accessories:
- DIC sliding analyser prism (44 44 50) for the Plan-NEOFLUAR 40x.
- A 5 position objective turret with 5 slots to insert DIC analysers
- A sliding polariser to insert in the nosepiece
- A polarizing filter mounted under the coundenser (can swing out of the way, but cannot adjust the polariser angle).
- A Achromatic-aplanatic condenser 0.9 Ph DIC (44 52 41) with swing in front lens. I has 4 positions: H/DIC, DIC, 1 and 2.
- The H/DIC position has no filter
- The DIC position has a DIC prism 0.5-1.4 (44 52 74)
- The 1 position has a Phase ring Ph2 /0.9 (44 52 70)
- The 2 position has what appears to be a darkfield diaphragm D (44 52 99)
- Has 4 neutral density filters (press-button actived) located in the light path, on the right side of the base of the microscope.
- Has an Halogen 50W 12V light source
- Has two PL10x/20 FN Zeiss occular eyepieces (44 40 32), both with rotatable diopter adjustments
- Has a cross-hair reticle in one of the objective (I removed it and stored it in a safe place, wrapped in lense paper).

So all in all, seemed like a good buy for the price.
But being a pathologist, I often scan slides at 2x and 4x magnifications and very often work at 10x.
So I wanted suited objectives for my work. Also I do not like the inconvienience of using oil immersion for cytology specimens (20X, 40X and 60X dry objectives, the latter two with correction collars is what I use in the hospital for cytology).

Since I do not need DIC or phase contrast with the kind of work I do (my slides are stained with routine H&E stains, so contrast is built into the stain), I removed the DIC nosepiece rotating 5 objective turret and replaced it with a 6 objective rotating turret (no DIC slots for DIC prisms to be inserted in this replacement turret) I bought for 100$ on eBay.
If found a mint condition Plan-APOCHROMAT 10x for 450 $ on eBay, so I bought it. Image quality is incredibly impressive.
Then, realizing I had no 4X to scan my slides, I bought a cheap Zeiss CP-ACHROMAT (5x/0,12 ∞/-, 44 09 20) as a temporary solution (as Zeiss 5X Plan-APOCHROMATS are rare nowadays).
In the meantime, I also found a Plan-APOCHROMAT 20x for 530 $ on eBay (man infinity corrected objectives are expensive, but Zeiss would still sell it brand new for 5 times the price I payed).

With all that, I found some wide field (FN 25 mm) occulars that I bought:
- Two Zeiss PL 10x/25 FN focusing eyepieces (44 40 34) in mint condition for 450 USD. Unfortunately, it seems my field diaphragm barely extends to 25 mm, so there is an anoying shadow in the periphey of left eyepiece field of view (or maybe my trinocular head still has a slightly misaligned prism), so I went back to the 20 mm FN eyepieces, but kept the 25 mm eyepieces as spares (maybe the 25mm eyepiece only work with the bigger Axioplan types), but the axioskop can definitly take 22 or 23 mm eyepices (I tested it with cheap chinease 22mm eyepieces and it worked perfectly).

So I used this setup for about a year with no problems, but the 5X CP-achromat was a bit uncomfortable to use as it is not corrected for spherical aberration (periphery of field of view is blurry).
I also found a 2.5X Plan-NEOFLUAR for 350 $, and it is great. Made my work easier.

Two months ago, I took a plunge.
Bought a Plan-APOCHROMAT 5X (730 $) and a Plan-NEOFLUAR 1,25x (700$) on eBay (Zeiss sells the 1,25x Plan-NEOFLUAR new for 2400 USD!)
I also bought a rotating cross-polariser that mounts under the condenser (150$) and a standard Zeiss 0.9 flip-out condenser (44 52 30) (80$). Haven't mounted the cross-polariser yet, but it will be very usefull for me in order to identify birefringent foreign body materiels in the specimens I study. As for the standard Zeiss 0.9 flip-out condenser, I ended up preferring my Achromatic-aplanatic condenser 0.9 Ph DIC (44 52 41) better because it seems to yield better image quality.
I also bought a 1X Zeiss photo adapter for the trinocular head (Zeiss part 45 29 95) for 250 $ and a cheap camera from china 100$ (temporary solution... CMOS is only 1/2.3 inch, so camera FOV is rather small).

So I now have the following mounted objective on my Ziess Axioskop 50 (none of them show any kind of delamination) :
- Zeiss (West Germany) Plan-NEOFLUAR 1,25x/0,035 ∞/- (44 03 00)
- Zeiss (West Germany) Plan-NEOFLUAR 2,5x/0,075 ∞/0,17 (44 03 10)
- Zeiss (West Germany) Plan-APOCHROMAT 5x/0,16 ∞/0,17 (44 06 20)
- Zeiss (Germany) Plan-APOCHROMAT 10x/0,32 ∞/0,17 (44 06 30)
- Zeiss (Germany) Plan-APOCHROMAT 20x/0,60 ∞/0,17 (44 06 40)
- Zeiss (West Germany) Plan-NEOFLUAR Ph2 40x/0,75 ∞/0,17 (44 03 51)
- Zeiss (West Germany) ACHROPLAN 100x/1,25 Oil ∞/0,17 (44 00 80) - not on the turret currently (in protective container)


The setup is absolutely awesome, except for the 1,25x objective... My field of view with this objective is only around 60% of what it should be (of course both iris and field diaphragm are fully opened).
I later found in a PDF manual of the Axioskop (available on the internet) that I need to mount a special lens in my phase condenser to be able to have full field of view with the 1.25x objective.
This part is labeled Zeiss as a "1.25x auxiliary lens (44 52 65)", but I am unable to find it anywhere (I checked google, Ziess website (discontinued part I assume), eBay).

Anybody has a photo of this Zeiss "1.25x auxiliary lens (44 52 65)" part so I can make my search more efficient ? Anybody knows or has the part ?
As a very temporary solution, I place a cheap chinese 10X/22FN occular piece between my field diaphragm light source and the condenser, and it seems to do the trick to widen the light cone so I can take advantage of the complete field of view of the 1.25x objective, but the light that results from this trick doen't seem to be as even as one would normally require.

Anyways, I absolutely love the old Zeiss scopes and since this is for my work at home, I don't feel to guilty about spending quite some money on these infinity corrected systems.
I also think the old Zeiss axioskops are built like tanks and will last a very long time (with proper maintenance of course). German quality. But I absolutely love the Zeiss optics (I have experience with Olympus, Zeiss, Nikon and Leica professionnal grade microscopes in practice).

I also wanted a 40x Plan-APOCHROMAT objective (old RMS thread type of course... not the new M27 threads), but Zeiss only seems to make oil immersion ones in the 40X segment (unlike Nikon and Olympus) and I want to work with dry objectives only. I think there are some dry Zeiss 40X objectives (with coverslip thickness correction collar.... not talking about diaphragm collar objective here), but they seem to be rare and quite expensive.

Anyways I love Zeiss instruments and I'm looking to make friends with people who share this passion for Ziess microscopes and microscopes/microscopy in general.
I don't know much about special techniques though (like Phase, Dark field or DIC) as I don't use them often.

I'd also love to learn more about maintaining these Axioskops (and Axioplans too). I almost won an Axioskop Service Manual on eBay but I was outbid (unfortunately, the SERVICE manual is not available online in PDF from the web... just the OWNERS manual). So I'm here to learn more. And if I can also provide some restoration/maintenance pictures for others to profit, then I think I'm in the right place !

Cheers

Matador
Last edited by Matador on Tue Apr 27, 2021 4:10 am, edited 6 times in total.

User avatar
75RR
Posts: 8207
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 2:34 am
Location: Estepona, Spain

Re: Zeiss Axioskop - New member Matador

#2 Post by 75RR » Sun Apr 25, 2021 7:48 pm

Hi Matador, welcome.

My Zeiss is a little older than yours, a 'finite 160 tube length', and yes it is a beautiful piece of machinery.

You seem to have put together a fine instrument.

Out of curiosity, when you say that you are "doing professional work at home", is this covid work at home related or are you at work and then taking work home?
Zeiss Standard WL (somewhat fashion challenged) & Wild M8
Olympus E-P2 (Micro Four Thirds Camera)

Matador
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2021 4:55 pm

Re: Zeiss Axioskop - New member Matador

#3 Post by Matador » Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:05 pm

At work, and then taking work home.
Adding some pictures of my instrument to share the pleasure...
Matador
Axioskop 50 - 001.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 001.jpg (94.3 KiB) Viewed 3099 times
Axioskop 50 - 002.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 002.jpg (77.18 KiB) Viewed 3099 times
Axioskop 50 - 003.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 003.jpg (94.68 KiB) Viewed 3099 times
Axioskop 50 - 004.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 004.jpg (96.9 KiB) Viewed 3099 times
Axioskop 50 - 005.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 005.jpg (93.51 KiB) Viewed 3099 times

Matador
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2021 4:55 pm

Re: Zeiss Axioskop - New member Matador

#4 Post by Matador » Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:08 pm

More pictures...
Axioskop 50 - 006.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 006.jpg (95.53 KiB) Viewed 3098 times
Axioskop 50 - 007.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 007.jpg (96.18 KiB) Viewed 3098 times
Axioskop 50 - 008.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 008.jpg (96.87 KiB) Viewed 3098 times
Axioskop 50 - 009.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 009.jpg (93.88 KiB) Viewed 3098 times
Axioskop 50 - 010.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 010.jpg (107.7 KiB) Viewed 3098 times
Matador

Matador
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2021 4:55 pm

Re: Zeiss Axioskop - New member Matador

#5 Post by Matador » Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:09 pm

Again...
Axioskop 50 - 011.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 011.jpg (118.21 KiB) Viewed 3098 times
Axioskop 50 - 012.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 012.jpg (86.24 KiB) Viewed 3098 times
Axioskop 50 - 013.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 013.jpg (92.89 KiB) Viewed 3098 times
Axioskop 50 - 014.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 014.jpg (93.05 KiB) Viewed 3098 times
Axioskop 50 - 015.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 015.jpg (99.52 KiB) Viewed 3098 times

Matador
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2021 4:55 pm

Re: Zeiss Axioskop - New member Matador

#6 Post by Matador » Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:10 pm

To finish (got more Zeiss stuff, but not showing it here)
Axioskop 50 - 016.jpg
Axioskop 50 - 016.jpg (71.15 KiB) Viewed 3098 times
Matador

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75RR
Posts: 8207
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 2:34 am
Location: Estepona, Spain

Re: Zeiss Axioskop - New member Matador

#7 Post by 75RR » Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:33 pm

.
Given your many photos of your microscope, I assume you will appreciate this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQW5ttGJxpM
Zeiss Standard WL (somewhat fashion challenged) & Wild M8
Olympus E-P2 (Micro Four Thirds Camera)

Matador
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2021 4:55 pm

Re: Zeiss Axioskop - New member Matador

#8 Post by Matador » Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:49 pm

75RR wrote:
Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:33 pm
.
Given your many photos of your microscope, I assume you will appreciate this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQW5ttGJxpM
Thanks for sharing. Such a beautiful Zeiss instrument !
Matador

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