Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

Everything relating to microscopy hardware: Objectives, eyepieces, lamps and more.
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apochronaut
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Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#1 Post by apochronaut » Wed Jun 15, 2022 3:34 pm

I usually don't get too excited about Chinese microscopes, although some of the high end ones are pretty exciting at their price point.
These M2 and M3 scopes however are pretty unique and a bit revolutionary.
The earlier M2 is based on the AO Cycloptic design, infinity corrected with two semi-objectives in a magnification changer. The M2 changer is an exact copy of the one in the Cycloptic, just not in a practical way adjustable for collimation and smaller and more delicate.
The nosepiece contains 3 non-standard locked in objectives. A .8X , a 1.6X and 16X. There are no N.A.s but based on the microscope's performance the 16X is about .40. There is a .65 N.A. condenser fixed to the stage with an iris diaphragm. The eyepieces are W.F. 12.5X in a Seidentopf head which can be rotated to any desirable position and locked. The eyepieces are a pretty standard diameter giving an 18mm f.o.v. They are threaded in and locked with recessed hex screws. The whole system is sealed and tightened up, obviously geared towards portability and the educational market. The only thing that can easily be removed or fall off is the stage and legs, which come off with one thumb screw and necessarily need to.

The microscope has 3 folding legs which allow it to be stable on uneven terrain. The legs come off with one thumb screw and fold for packing. The microscope can be mounted on a tripod.
1) Side view when in micro mode, with Seidentopf head adjusted in the common reversed position. Rotating the head 180° makes the stand more compact for storage.
2) Front view. Just below the condenser the stage dovetail is visible. Releasing a spring loaded locking pin allows the stage carrier to be loweredall the way down to the illuminator window after the stage and condenser have been lifted out.
3) View of stage, objectives and mag.changer. The mag. changer has two reversible semi-objectives and an open port. A telan lens in the head converges the infinity image. Green is for the 16X micro objrctive, red the 1.6X macro objective and blue the .8X macro objective. There are 5 magnifications for each with a duplicate at the open port. The grey button on top of the arm is the on off switch for the illuminators. 1 push turns the incident light on, 2 the transmitted light. The battery is rechargeable and in my experience seems to last for at least 2 hours.
4) View of detachable stage.
5) The .65 condenser is permanently attached to the stage and comes away with it when the stage is removed in macro mode. The spring loaded locking pin that allows upward and downward sliding of the stage carrier is visible just to the right of the dovetail. The legs have been removed showing the threaded( into steel) tripod attachment.
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dtsh
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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#2 Post by dtsh » Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:00 pm

That's an interesting setup, but how does it perform?

I presume the small diameter knobs just above the stage control focus, but what do the larger knobs toward the base do? Perhaps fine focus? Light intensity?

apochronaut
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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#3 Post by apochronaut » Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:26 pm

More pictures.

1) With the stage removed the stage carrier can be slid down to the maximum lowest point. The two macro objectives are like small CMOs of a stereo mic. only since there are not duplicate optical tubes, the image is not stereo. Both of the objectives are well corrected providing an excellent quality 18mm flat field image. The led incident illuminator provides a broad enough diffuse beam, although it is just a little dim at the maximum magnification.
The stage carrier will take a 35mm petri dish, glass or opaque plate. A dish that descends below the stage support will give maximum vertical focus for thick subjects. The macro objectives will focus only about a cm. above the level of the stage support. The stage slide dovetail easily visible.
2) A commercial food container just fits. There is an ambidextrous lateral stage control only ( X ). This is reasonably functional for macro use but of limited use for micro since it moves the condenser too, decentering the illumination beam. When switching back to micro from macro, there is a registration mark with which to center the stage. Offsetting the condenser, could have value for oblique but I have not experimented with that.
3) With incident illumination
4) With transmitted illumination. A dispersion filter over the illuminator window is a good idea.
5) The legs removed and folded, showing the base with a threaded mount for a tripod.
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Last edited by apochronaut on Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

apochronaut
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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#4 Post by apochronaut » Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:29 pm

dtsh wrote:
Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:00 pm
That's an interesting setup, but how does it perform?

I presume the small diameter knobs just above the stage control focus, but what do the larger knobs toward the base do? Perhaps fine focus? Light intensity?
The focus knobs are the large and small coaxial. The small knobs are X stage movement. It wouldn't have been that hard to install a Y movement too.

My example of this was used and missing some paraphernalia for the macro stage. I probably will eventually cannabalize a small mechanical stage to provide good XY control in micro.
The magnifications are 100X, 132X, 200X, 300X and 400X in micro. At 400X the led provides lots of even light but with typical simple led contrast... a little low compared to the tricked out tungsten or halogen systems I am used to. Overall, the image quality at 400X is below that of say a #1116 objective in a tungsten series 10 with poorer planarity , to give you a base line but it isn't shabby either. Certainly above an average hobby scope but given the microscope's versatility it is quite decent.
I suspect that is why the M3 is there now. Full R.M.S. infinity corrected objectives and no mag. changer. Probably the macro performance is poorer and the micro better, especially since it might take a set of those PlanF objectives or even an Olympus format Chinese water immersion 1.15 100X. The M2 macro performance is excellent, the micro....average/good.
Last edited by apochronaut on Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

GerryR
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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#5 Post by GerryR » Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:31 pm

The copy of the manual that I have states that the condenser N.A. is 1.2, but the .65 N.A. sounds more realistic. Also, I read that the eyepieces were 10X though the manual does state them to be 12.5x. That would only change the Magni-Changer lens magnifications in any case. The two small knobs just above the stage move the stage left to right, no Y-motion.

The M^3 has three fixed objectives 4x, 10x, 40x and a 2x macro objective, if I recall, and no Magni-Changer.

The M^2 does all I need, and I like the more detailed design. I made some of the "accessories" and added a picture. The stages I made out of Delrin, one just a flat surface and the other for holding 55mm petri dishes. The white "contrast" plate is made from sign engraving plastic and just sets on top of the gray Delrin flat stage.
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apochronaut
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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#6 Post by apochronaut » Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:56 pm

One other thing about this is that my example although used , seemed little used. There certainly was no evidence of tampering. All the adjustments were out of whack, like the instrument was assembled and never aligned. I started by centering the head to the 16X objective and condenser, with the stage centered on the X axis. That was a chore because there is very little wiggle room. I did get it done and then I adjusted the in base led to center in the condenser. It is pretty good now and has stayed aligned.

......and the head was full of dust. No way it had been apart so I assume that was from the factory or the casting plant and the Seidentopf castings had never been cleaned out prior to assembly. It was everywhere but 3/4 hour cleaned it up. The oculars no longer have Monkeypox.

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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#7 Post by zzffnn » Wed Jun 15, 2022 7:29 pm

I have seen a few of those with both ~1x and ~40x objectives. They are pretty light as binoculars (around 7 lbs?). Nice to have a real condenser.

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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#8 Post by Scarodactyl » Wed Jun 15, 2022 7:48 pm

Wow, that looks really neat! I've seen them for sale as well but figured there was no way they were much good--super glad to see I was wrong. I wonder if they or similar ones are sold under any other brand.

GerryR
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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#9 Post by GerryR » Wed Jun 15, 2022 8:03 pm

I'm not 100% sure as I bought mine used thru Ebay, but I think these are the people I bought mine from:
https://spwindustrial.com/swift-optical ... field-10x/
Price is way above what I paid for mine, but they have 5 for sale.

apochronaut
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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#10 Post by apochronaut » Wed Jun 15, 2022 8:10 pm

I don't know. The only ones I have seen are Swift with that distinct "Jug Handle" arm. Those were fashionable pre- W.W. I !
New, they aren't cheap. Cole-Parmer wants 999.00 $CDN. for the M3, although you might find one for around 700.00 U.S. somewhere. There is a forensic comparison version : 2 joined with a bridge as well for over $2,000.00.
Mine was under 150.00. That's the only reason I have it. Couldn't resist and the battery operation works flawlessly. Ultimately it will go to my daughter for looking at bugs and spider stuff after I am finished sussing it's potential.

I do think the M3 could be fashioned into a formidable higher magnification field scope with a set of those Olympus format PlanF, if those can be fitted. The condenser might need some upping though.

This M2 is a very decent scope in the 6.5X to 40X range. Good enough that you hardly miss that it isn't a small stereo.

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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#11 Post by apochronaut » Wed Jun 15, 2022 9:27 pm

zzffnn wrote:
Wed Jun 15, 2022 7:29 pm
I have seen a few of those with both ~1x and ~40x objectives. They are pretty light as binoculars (around 7 lbs?). Nice to have a real condenser.
The M2 weighs 5.75 lbs. with the stage and condenser on. The quoted weight of the M3 at over 7 lbs. probably includes the entire kit, charger, book, stage plates, a tool, extra objective. The M3 looks a little lighter if anything. Smaller base and legs, no mag. changer, no X travel dovetail.....maybe a slightly larger nosepiece.

The quality of the objectives in the M3 are the low end Olympus format infinity achromats.
The 16X in the M2, that through the mag. changer stays as a 16X through the open port, or becomes a 24X or a 32X through the 2 mag. changer semi-objectives is probably purpose built. As a 32X through the 12.5X eyepieces the resulting image is pretty good, as good as a lower end 40X .65 objective. My guess as .40 for the N.A. is probably conservative. Not sure why a .65 condenser would be called for, then. The 16X could be .55 or higher.

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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#12 Post by GerryR » Thu Jul 21, 2022 11:18 pm

I ran across some of the original accessories for the M2 along with one I didn't know existed, a fixed base. I picked them up for a reasonable price and with one more purchase, I think I will have all the accessories offered for the M2. Picture of what I purchased:
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apochronaut
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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#13 Post by apochronaut » Fri Jul 22, 2022 2:11 am

The fixed base looks usefull. The ring with the vertical arm on it. . ...The objectives are either the one 16X coverslip corrected objective or the two low power incident light objectives and the stage is required to either be for close focus or right down on top of the illuminator for l.w.d. incident. I'm trying to figure out the use of that ring. Can it be used below the sliding stage mount to get slightly more working distance so taller objects can be focused on? I find the depth of focus for invidrnt, a little shallow.

GerryR
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Re: Swift/Motic M2 Portable/Field microscope.

#14 Post by GerryR » Fri Jul 22, 2022 12:23 pm

The ring had me slightly confused because of the way it was shown in the catalog page. See photo. I believe it is shown upside down. But because of the way the ring is made I think that it is used to hand-hold the petri dishes so you can move the dish under the scope for examination. There is a small counterbore that the dish fits into perfectly and the handle on the ring is in a more appropriate position. Just a SWAG. And, the ring doesn't fit on the stage; it would need a flat on one side to clear the x-stage mechanism.
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