Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

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charlie g
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Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#1 Post by charlie g » Wed Jul 21, 2021 1:28 am

Hi all, I request comments , opines, advice on my puzzle over a Nikon Flour 10 X Ph2 DL objective, with the etched/redinked spec of:160/0.17, 0.5 ? How is it that Nikon etches cover-glass spec as:"0.17" on this objective...but only lists it's NA as: "0.5"?

To my understanding...in understanding the 'precision' in a spec ( be it length, mass, weight, temp, or NA, etc., etc.)....the last digit in a spec is the estimate value. For example, with a yardstick only marked in centimeters, you may only spec measures with it as: "say 5.7 centimeters"...the last digit in the recorded measurement is an estimate..this informs you of the precision of the lenghth measurement. If you used a yardstick marked with mm...you may correctly record a measurement as: 5.72 centimeters.

So why does my Nikon Flour 10X Ph2 DL phase objective only list NA: 0.5? My Nikon Plan 40,DL Ph3 is etched with spec: "0.65"...not with spec: '0.6'.

My Nikon Plan-Apo10X is etched and blackinked with spec:"0.45"....not with: '0.4'.

Of course I understand that the NA speced/etched on a Nikon optic barrel is based upon specific illumination setup, specific target object...but why does my Nikon Flour imply only one significant digit in it's etched spec..whereas all it's family of sister DL phase objectives are etch/speced with two significant digits..with more precise measurements? please help me sort this out, thanks all, charlie g.
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apochronaut
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#2 Post by apochronaut » Wed Jul 21, 2021 1:58 am

It was probably made on a Friday. The etchers were itching to take in some pitching, so knocked off early. The invincible Seibu Lions were in town to take on the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

charlie g
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#3 Post by charlie g » Wed Jul 21, 2021 3:00 am

Thanks for that, apo

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75RR
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#4 Post by 75RR » Wed Jul 21, 2021 4:07 am

.
0.5 is a huge amount of NA for a 10x, perhaps the reason that they did not add another digit beyond 0.5 is that that figure is already rounded up?

Say it was 0.495 ...
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Scarodactyl
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#5 Post by Scarodactyl » Wed Jul 21, 2021 4:33 am

This is normal, and how they still mark them today.
Image

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patta
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#6 Post by patta » Wed Jul 21, 2021 8:34 am

Itchy Friday also for the meticulous metrologists of Mitutoyo.
Here their gauge blocks; are guaranteed to be precise within 0.01 mm; they should have written 2.00 mm
but they skimped on zeroes
unforgivable laziness
Imagine how good Japanese optics could be if weren't for unnecessary entertainment distractions
Mitutoyo_gags.jpg
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patta
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#7 Post by patta » Wed Jul 21, 2021 9:03 am

The mystery thickens
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charlie g
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#8 Post by charlie g » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:05 pm

There must be a reason Nikon etched spec for NA is sometimes speced as ..."0.5"..., yet other times as: "0.45"...or whatever NA. Please opine on this ( apochronaut included). thanks for any thoughts, charlie g.

MichaelG.
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#9 Post by MichaelG. » Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:37 pm

My guess is that it’s the work of an “industrial designer” who believes that simplification brings clarity.

MichaelG.
.

and, as if by magic, here is evidence that they are at work: https://www.nikon.com/about/technology/design/
Too many 'projects'

apochronaut
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#10 Post by apochronaut » Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:00 pm

Cooke and later Vickers objectives followed that pattern. 100X 1.3 I have seen and I have a 40X 0.7 in my hand right now. There were no baseball games affecting production in York, England! At least they put the 0 and decimal on there, otherwise someone would be looking for viruses with that objective.
I side with the industrial designer theory. Some objectives, mostly older ones, don't even have an N.A. : E.Leitz Wetzlar 4 , a 10:1. In newer designs, an EPO, made by Nikon 2X has no N.A. and a Nikon 4 X from about the same era is just stamped 0.1 It seems it was a design ethic at Nikon not to include that, that isn't needed. The zero after the 5 is implied and truly unnecessary.
Last edited by apochronaut on Thu Jul 22, 2021 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hobbyst46
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#11 Post by Hobbyst46 » Thu Jul 22, 2021 7:45 pm

Here is an example from the old Zeiss catalogue, displaying the same variety of significant figures:
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patta
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#12 Post by patta » Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:22 pm

Hobbyst46 wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 7:45 pm
Here is an example from the old Zeiss catalogue, displaying the same variety of significant figures:
Nice, the table likely display true "significant digits" that are omitted in the objective lettering. Like, magnification, is just approximate. NA seems to have loose tolerance.

The last "100x" is a bit puzzling though... Only reasonable explanations, are football matches or beer hangover.
Last edited by patta on Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

viktor j nilsson
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#13 Post by viktor j nilsson » Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:24 pm

patta wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:22 pm
Hobbyst46 wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 7:45 pm
Here is an example from the old Zeiss catalogue, displaying the same variety of significant figures:
Nice, the table likely display true "significant digits" that are omitted in the objective lettering. Like, magnification. NA seems to have loose tolerance.

The last "100x" is a bit puzzling though...
I think the 40x 1.0 and 100x 1.3 iris objectives got mixed up...

charlie g
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Re: Please advise, please offer comments on objective lens etched specs ed specs

#14 Post by charlie g » Fri Jul 23, 2021 2:07 am

Thank all, all very helpful to me...I sense you good forum folk ( like me), I sense you too are baffled by these sloppy spec statements on NA...gulp...these are optics from a major firm ...and yet ( as pointed out by patta, thanks to you) Nikons 'biological stand/ student stand E-plan black barrel optics spec NA to two significant digits...yet a Nikon Flour is spected to only one significant digit...this still stymies me.

Regards to 'marketing and design depts in big firms...language like 'semi-plan'...or 'semi-apo' are found in the post -WWIIsales brochures for microscope optics...but to screw around with something as basic as the precision of the NA spec of the optics...wow..the roof drops and the spec for cover-slip ( 0.17) seems a laughfable joke to etch on an objective. So is it simply: 'Nikon liar, pants on fire' regards to specs etched on objective barrels?!!! I like my circa 1980's Nikon Labophot stand and it's optics for BF and DF, and phase contrast...why this 'spec NA' anomoly? Again, thanks all for your comments, charlie guevara
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