AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

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hans
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AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

#1 Post by hans » Sun Jun 13, 2021 9:13 pm

I have two of these and the order of lens and annulus is different between them, assuming one was reassembled incorrectly as some point, does anyone know what the correct order is? The markings are on the top side which faces up toward the condenser. The one with lens on top shown slight signs of disassembly on the retaining ring so guessing that is the incorrect one?
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apochronaut
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Re: AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

#2 Post by apochronaut » Tue Jun 15, 2021 11:47 am

The one example I have , presents like your left hand example. That being an intermediate working distance diaphragm, it should be slightly different than the 1255, the S.W.D. diaphragm. I only have 1255A, which seems to be the default diaphragm used in the series 400. The annulus in it is the same as the 1259, except that they are cemented in and have no glass window..
Those "A" diaphragms are what is fitted into all the condensers that I have seen in the 400 microscopes. The 1255 was the 40X s.w.d. diaphragm catalogued for the series 100. The 1259, the i.w.d. diaphragm.
I have never seen the 1255 and 1255A side by side.

Diagramatically, AO shows the 1259 to be slightly smaller than the 1255. The light beam arriving at both is parallel, or in other words the condenser is focused at infinity. The 1255 is for standard thickness slides, with condenser focusing just under the slide. The 1259 is for standard thickness up to 4.56mm chambers. Anything not to exceed 3mm of air. Both use the same condenser.

hans
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Re: AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

#3 Post by hans » Wed Jun 16, 2021 4:55 am

Thanks for checking, that agrees with my suspicions based on the disassembly marks on the retaining ring.

Have you noticed any compromise optically for the 40X IWD vs. the SWD? Or maybe not because neither illuminated field nor NA are near the extremes supported by the condenser? These came in some 1206+1201 single-annulus condensers that were included in a lot of other stuff I bought a while back. Still slowly working on putting together a phase contrast 410 bit-by-bit...

apochronaut
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Re: AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

#4 Post by apochronaut » Wed Jun 16, 2021 12:24 pm

The 1259 I have is mounted into a series 10 condenser, serving as a replacement for a 1245, which I currently do not have. I also do not have a 1255, just a couple of 1255A, which I am pretty sure is the default diaphragm for the series 400 because both 1205 condensers I have are equipped with all diaphragms marked with an A suffix.

I don't know the difference between the 1255 and 1255A. AO applied that A suffix to models that had minor differences, compared to the original model. For instance, the 1096 and 1096A DF condensers are different in that the 1096 was a toric condenser made to fit the series 100/400 xy adjustable condenser fork. When the supply of K 2172 series 10 toric condensers based on a Reichert Zetopan condenser ran out, they modified the 1096 to use a series 10 dovetail and integrated xy adjustors as a replacement and dubbed it 1096A.
The A diaphragms do not have the glass window and rather than being dropped into a mount and held there with a retaining ring, they are cemented into the mount.

I can move the the 1259 over to a 1205 housing sometime next week and compare it to a 1255A.

dtsh
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Re: AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

#5 Post by dtsh » Wed Jun 16, 2021 4:04 pm

Hans,
I had not realized you were working with a 410, I presumed this was for a 110 or other. I have a 410 with phase and would happily examine any component I can reasonably access if it would be of assistance.

If it helps you or anyone in the future, my system has the following objectives and annuli....
10 Ph (cat 1742), annulus 10x 1WD 1253A
20 Ph (no cat #), annulus 20X SWD 1224A
40 Ph (Cat 1744), annulus 40x SWD 1255
100 Ph (Cat 1745), annulus 100x SWD 1256

I also have a 10 Ph 1747 which also works with the 10x 1WD 1253A annulus.

hans
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Re: AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

#6 Post by hans » Wed Jun 16, 2021 5:55 pm

Hmm, I was thinking 410 because of the 1201 condenser but I see now the 1206/1201 are also listed in the 110 phase catalog, did not realize the 1201 predated the 410. And actually this specific combination 1206+1201+1259 is shown as part of "phase outfit 1206PPL" so that explains the origin.
apochronaut wrote:
Tue Jun 15, 2021 11:47 am
I only have 1255A, which seems to be the default diaphragm used in the series 400. The annulus in it is the same as the 1259, except that they are cemented in and have no glass window.
dtsh wrote:
Wed Jun 16, 2021 4:04 pm
40 Ph (Cat 1744), annulus 40x SWD 1255
If 1255 (non-A) works with a 1744 then hopefully 1259 does also and if the annulus is the same 1255A vs. 1259 then maybe it can also be used SWD just by removing the lens. I will do some experimenting.

dtsh
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Re: AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

#7 Post by dtsh » Wed Jun 16, 2021 10:00 pm

My condenser is a 1201, the phase turret is a 1205, none of my annuli have lenses. Interstingly, the 10x annulus is labeled "1WD" and I have no idea why it is different.
1253a_annulus.jpg
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hans
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Re: AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

#8 Post by hans » Fri Jun 18, 2021 5:26 pm

Turns out I do have a 1255 (non-A) that was in another older mount from the same lot of stuff. I got bored of looking through catalogs and gave up trying to figure out what that was from or if that was even an approved combination but did finally finish cleaning up and lubricating a 1205 turret I got which makes comparison easy. Oddly the annular masks in the two 1259s are not quite the same -- same inner diameter but outer diameter is slightly different. The 1255 works well with the 1744 40X objective and the annulus is centered radially in the phase ring, as does the narrower of the 1259s which gives almost identical image in the phase telescope as the 1255. The other 1259 with slightly larger OD works ok but the OD is basically coincident with the OD of the phase ring so very sensitive to centering and a bit less contrast.

Unfortunately in my own part-swapping I lost track of which annular mask was originally in which 1259 ring/lens assembly but am guessing the thicker one is not actually from a 1259 (any idea what it would be from?) and was the one originally installed in the wrong order.

In any case between the 1255 and the 1259 that gives matching phase telescope view there is very little difference in the final image other than ~1/3 stop less light with the IWD 1259. Photos were processed with identical settings in RawTherapee except for 0.3 stop greater exposure compensation on the IWD one:
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apochronaut
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Re: AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

#9 Post by apochronaut » Wed Jun 23, 2021 2:00 am

Presumably the I.W.D. would produce a superior image in either contrast or resolution or both when compared to an S.W.D. diaphragm if the cover glass thickness was pushed closer to the limit of the I.W.D.'s range.

Nice pictures by the way. Are you using the modified system with the 181s?

hans
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Re: AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

#10 Post by hans » Wed Jun 23, 2021 3:56 am

Good point, I assume you mean slide thickness? The phase contrast manual I have does mention the difference in working distance glass vs. air (note at the bottom of the attached table) but nothing about effect on image quality. I don't have any slides thicker than 1.2 mm but could try stacking some with immersion oil, would be an interesting comparison to do.

Thanks, yeah, same setup with the eye tube and 181 on top of the trinocular head but now using a Panasonic GX850 (micro 4/3) with the 12-32mm kit lens instead of the Nikon D5100 with 35mm prime. Still not ideal for a few reasons (HDMI output in playback mode only not live, limited manual exposure control for video, no flash hot shoe) but I am liking it otherwise (both EFC and fully electronic shutter modes, 4K video, doesn't shut off automatically every ~5 minutes in live view) and will probably upgrade to a GX85 eventually. Haven't calibrated carefully but those were with the lens set at 32 mm so sensor should be FN 18 mm diagonally (22.5 mm * 25 mm / 32 mm) then cropped slightly so maybe ~15 mm diagonal for the final images.
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apochronaut
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Re: AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

#11 Post by apochronaut » Wed Jun 23, 2021 11:11 am

apochronaut wrote:
Wed Jun 23, 2021 2:00 am
Presumably the I.W.D. would produce a superior image in either contrast or resolution or both when compared to an S.W.D. diaphragm if the cover glass thickness was pushed closer to the limit of the I.W.D.'s range.

Nice pictures by the way. Are you using the modified system with the 181s?
Yes. I was thinking in terms of an inverted set up. slide = cover glass.....dish etc.

hans
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Location: Southern California

Re: AO/Reichert 1259 40X IWD phase annulus assembly order

#12 Post by hans » Thu Jun 24, 2021 6:23 am

hans wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 5:26 pm
Oddly the annular masks in the two 1259s are not quite the same -- same inner diameter but outer diameter is slightly different.
...
Unfortunately in my own part-swapping I lost track of which annular mask was originally in which 1259 ring/lens assembly but am guessing the thicker one is not actually from a 1259 (any idea what it would be from?) and was the one originally installed in the wrong order.
Well the 1259 with slightly thicker annulus mounted in a 1206+1201 in a 110 works well with a 1238 dark phase 45X/0.66 achromat. Not really sure what that means since if I understand correctly 1238 is from 10 series where IWD uses the same annulus as SWD (1249) but with a different condenser. And I have not seen the 1238 mentioned in 100 series catalogs.

Seems to be more false color overall with the 1238 vs. the 1744, not sure if that is expected or something else is wrong with this setup. Same photo, color version with neutral processing profile, black-and-white version (green channel only) is getting some contrast enhancement from the tone curve:
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