Olympus objectives

[smollerthings]

I am thinking of building an olympus system down the road. Currently window shopping.
I was browsing and found some olympus objectives.

Are different series of Olympus objectives parfocal?

Also, are they supposed to be 1000+ euros? So if I find them around 500 euros, those are good deals?

[Scarodactyl]

Almost all, excluding much older short barrel finite objectives and unusual spexialized ones, they'll all be 45mm parfocal.
The prices are sometimes much lower and the supply is pretty good, but deals get bought quick as demand is high.

[deBult]

The 160 mm tube lengt versions are way cheaper both the old style short barrel and the long barrel, each series require their own compensating eyepieces.
The 160 mm tube length series AE, A, DPlan, SPlan are parfocal.


The infinity series require a scope with a build in Telan lens, plus yet another series of compensating eyepieces.
No experience here with parfocality.

[Leitzcycler]

I am thinking of building an olympus system down the road.

What exactly do you mean? I think it makes no sense to upgrade your Biolam with ojectives of other brand if that is what you mean. Or do you think you allready need a better microscope?

I will tell you the following story. Around ten years ago I was travellin in Russia with my wife and we stopped in a small town Suojärvi. It is located not very far away from the border and was actually part of Finland before WW2. We drove on the streets and suddenly came to an area of buildings which seemed to be a hospital. And then there was a sign ”laboratory”. Well, let’s go and see how it looks like in there. So we just walked in and asked for the director. I told her I am a biochemist form Finland and I would like to see your lab. She was very pleased and kindly showed us the whole lab. And there they sat by a table: four or five nurses with basic Biolam microscopes with blood smears calculating cells. That was a sight I won’t forget. I don’t know if they are still there with Biolams…

To me the experience emphasizeses that a very basic microscope – as Biolam – with the standard objectives is capable doing almost everything you need to count cells, identify stained bacteria, see the morphology of a histology preparate and so on… The question is what equipment do you really need to get the results you are looking for? What is the aim of your research and how much money you have to spend to reach the goal?
I have Leitz Orthoplan with Leitz high-quality objectives and Olympus FH with old short barrel objectives, the latter being very inexpensive these days and surely underestimated. I can’t see much difference in the image quality. However, I haven’t done a detailed comparison as I had no time for that yet. And that’s because my focus is in research and the result I will see using any of those objectives (provided everything has gone well; seldom has). It is difficult for me to compare Lomo objectives as the illumination system in Biolam is far more primitive. So I have used Biolam mainly as a backup microscope to check cultures.
However, If you would like to take pictures like those in Jamess Weiss’s book you definately need DIC. And in that case you have to buy something more expensive than Biolam.

[smollerthings]

Hi Leitzcycler,

I fully agree that the Lomo is a superb machine. It frankly exceeded my expectations (ok, I didn't have much ground to base them on) multiple folds. I am amazed by the modest videos I have been taking with it.

I am actually purchasing another one (hopefully not as stuck as the first one) that I will repair for my godson. Found a cheap 20x to snap on it. Such an essential magnification... I think this is a great gift for a young mind that will blow his mind

So my master plan: I am monitoring the market for some Olympus gear because I have noticed that the local market has some insanely cheap pieces of equipment from time to time, very randomly. So I want to get smart on what the equipment, the prices and will slowly be accumulating good deals. I would like a trinocular, probably Olympus compatible platform so I can take pics and videos more easily, some time lapse too. I will let my next microscope come to me in slow motion. I think I will target trinocular, polarizing but no DIC because that seems another dimension of price and effort.


Cheers

[Leitzcycler]

Your plan is excellent! And giving Lomos to children is just what they are made for.

There is a thread somewhere here in which someone said that microscopes will very soon multiply after you have bought the first one...

[Leitzcycler]

I still wonder if it is really worth spending money of 500€ for an objective. For that money you will get a whole microscope with a set of objectives surely good enough. Trinocular is better of course and then you also need money for a good camera. So I would start purchasing a good stand and then a camera. And perhaps later consider widening my objective collection if really necessary.

[smollerthings]

Yes, I realized $500 an objective is a loooot of money for a single objective but interesting to see what the market is. Fluor and APO objectives can really expand the bill.

Reminds when I went to a photography exhibition and there was a leica stand that lent you a leica for a day for free. At then at the end of the day, I thought, nice camera, maybe I am gonna get one. Then I asked the guy at the stand, "how much is the camera by the way?" He answered: 4000 for the body, and 8000 for the lens (prime lens). I ended up buying a second hand fuji for 300 euros and a 85 euro prime objective. Still have my camera, which works amazing.

You know this is the same story as getting a beautiful house, then you need the beautiful car and pieces of furniture that go with it. Never ends.