On the subject of macroscopes, the B&L/ Leica Monozoom 7

Everything relating to microscopy hardware: Objectives, eyepieces, lamps and more.
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BramHuntingNematodes
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On the subject of macroscopes, the B&L/ Leica Monozoom 7

#1 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Tue Feb 16, 2021 1:06 am

These get no love on the Microbe Hunter site, probably because you can scarcely find any documentation. The fact they are pretty evenly split between older Bausch and Lomb's and newer Leica scopes doesn't help. I think what they are is essentially a single viewing path of a SZ7, with a nice kit of video camera accessories. This one appealed to me as it was very cheap, much cheaper than the exorbitant amounts wanted for a camera adapter for an SZ7 (besides, I put all that work into getting the coaxial illuminator working). Somehow no one gets good through-the-eyetube shots with an SZ7 either, so I figured I would give this a try:
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So, as you can see there was quite a bit of improvisation here. In addition to the body of the scope, you also need a separate objective, but also a black plastic flange that interfaces with the tube and the objective, which was missing on this one. I made one out of a piece of twisted wire and electric tape pending a more elegant solution. You 3d printer folks would probably find this a good application.

Also you need something to go on top, either just a plain camera adapter or the eyepiece adapter shown in the foreground. There are optics in the eyepiece adapter, and trying to take pictures through this adapter is also very bad as in the SZ7. I have been using the same 31-15-71 10x wf eyepiece with success. The real advantage is when you strap a little camera to it, as pictured. Without any of the amplifying lenses that would fit this to a full frame sensor, the light coming out of the end is nearly perfect for a 1/2.3 camera such as the Pi HQ camera. The view is almost identical to the eyepiece adapter!

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Here a coin celebrating our European magic tree people.

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Focusing at high magnifications with this setup is a little Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Well there you have it. Probably more of an oddity than anything, as one of these in good shape with all the pieces still cost about as much or more than some plainly superior options like uh I guess a cycloptic with a camera adapter but it's kind-of neat. If you get one you most likely will have to take the entire thing apart and re-lubricate it as there are a lot of moving parts all of which had frozen on my example. As a plus the contrast and resolution as pictured here are on the low side as I still need to take it all apart again to clean it.
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

hans
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Re: On the subject of macroscopes, the B&L/ Leica Monozoom 7

#2 Post by hans » Tue Feb 16, 2021 5:54 am

Interesting, I notice these on eBay occasionally but didn't realize there was an eyepiece mount, figured they were just intended as camera lenses only. Looks like percentage wood is increasing... how long until we see an entire microscope carved out of wood?

Scarodactyl
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Re: On the subject of macroscopes, the B&L/ Leica Monozoom 7

#3 Post by Scarodactyl » Tue Feb 16, 2021 6:34 am

I'm glad to see some info about this model! I have one up on the shelf but haven't had a chance to try and hook up my camera and really try it out. I've heard mixed reviews, some very positive and others less so--they don't seem to have the same optics as an SZ7 (which has pretty decent coverage and resolution even by modern standards). Still, I love the look and the occasionally very low price point of the MZ7.
They did make an adapter to attach a trinocular head to these too, which I'm hoping to find someday if only to have it in my collection.
It's kind of funny that the trademark has apparently lapsed and is being used on GTvision's Chinese macroscope https://www.gtvision.co.uk/MZD-Monozoom ... LECT-MODEL
I'd rather like to have one of those as well to be honest.

BramHuntingNematodes
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Re: On the subject of macroscopes, the B&L/ Leica Monozoom 7

#4 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Tue Apr 06, 2021 5:14 am

I have streamlined the setup a little. I got rid of the paperclip holding the objective on and have gotten a new stand. Holding the Monozoom 7 by the bottom much improves stability. Made a better camera adapter too. Here is a series of photos of Mayumi Kinniku taken with the 1x objective at 1x, 2.5x and 7x zoom and then the 2x objective at those same zoom levels. The image circle seems to change with the zoom levels interestingly enough, but I don't think I want to switch out the old reduction lens just yet as after about 3x the crop looks pretty good. I really like this macroscope!

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1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

BramHuntingNematodes
Posts: 1538
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:29 am
Location: Georgia, USA

Re: On the subject of macroscopes, the B&L/ Leica Monozoom 7

#5 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Tue Apr 06, 2021 5:14 am

Here is the new setup:

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1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

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