lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

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awa54
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lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#1 Post by awa54 » Tue Aug 09, 2022 8:48 pm

Hello all,
I have a tendency to seek optimization for my various tech toys, so I'd like to figure out what oculars work acceptably with my vintage Olympus stereo microscope.
A brief set of searches seem to indicate that the Olympus stereo 'scopes originally came with G10X oculars fitted, supplemented by 15x, 20x and 30x oculars available with the same nomenclature (G15X, etc.).
I have also seen a G6X ocular up for auction, but sadly just a single...

For my use case (watchmaking and general mechanical inspection), a lower magnification, longer working distance and wider field of view is a benefit, so I'd like to find compatible low magnification eyepieces for this 'scope.
If anyone has information on the G6X eyepiece (seems uncommon and isn't mentioned in period Olympus catalogs), or other eyepieces that function well on the VT-II, I'd be glad to hear it!

Another tangent... are other Olympus oculars also 30mm fitment, or are there different sizes depending on design family... either way, which series of oculars are interoperable, if any?
I assume that intended field width, objective power, aperture of the ocular and even overall optical design of the 'scope all play into compatibility (and viewing quality issues if not-to-spec oculars are used)?

Thanks!

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#2 Post by PeteM » Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:46 am

Your best bet might be a supplementary reduction lens meant to fit below the objective of your VT-II. You'll keep the nice reasonably wide view of the OEM 10x oculars and increase your working distance.

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#3 Post by awa54 » Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:53 pm

PeteM wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:46 am
Your best bet might be a supplementary reduction lens meant to fit below the objective of your VT-II. You'll keep the nice reasonably wide view of the OEM 10x oculars and increase your working distance.

@ PeteM, thanks for the tip.
I knew that a 2/3 reduction lens.was made for the AO cycloptic, but wasn't aware that was an available accessory for the VT-II, the vintage catalogs are definitely short on detail for the basic stereo microscopes.

I'll be on the lookout for one of those now!

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#4 Post by Scarodactyl » Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:53 pm

0.5x is standard for working microscopes. Iirc the V series takes standard 48mm threaded auxiliary lenses so even a generic one might give acceptable results. Better if you can find the exact match though.

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#5 Post by awa54 » Wed Aug 10, 2022 2:08 pm

Scarodactyl wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:53 pm
0.5x is standard for working microscopes. Iirc the V series takes standard 48mm threaded auxiliary lenses so even a generic one might give acceptable results. Better if you can find the exact match though.
Yep, turns out that the VT-II doesn't have an accessory thread on the bottom of the objective turret :(
But the SZ 'scope from that time period seems to, and I found that lens (48mm) on Ebay for a fair price... any idea if the SZ zoom scope fits the same 60mm ring mount as the VT?

further research:
...looks like the SZ III may be the first model that can use an accessory lens attached below the objectives, several well photographed SZ models on Ebay definitely *do not* have accessory threads.
...also appears that at least later production SZ 'scopes use a larger ring (75mm-ish?), it's hard to tell from photos alone if the first gen. SZ uses the same base ring as my VT, but it *looks* as if that might be the case?
Last edited by awa54 on Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#6 Post by blekenbleu » Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:19 pm

awa54 wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 2:08 pm
any idea if the SZ zoom scope fits the same 60mm ring mount as the VT?
According to this topic, SZ is 83mm:
viewtopic.php?t=7610
Metaphot, Optiphot 1, 66; AO 10, 120, EPIStar, Cycloptic

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#7 Post by Scarodactyl » Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:59 pm

Honestly I'd get something a bit newer for this. Much easier to find compatible accessories for newer (like 80s and 90s) designs since the Chinese are still making close copies. They do cost a bit more but something with thr modern standard 76mm diameter like an Olynpus sz30 or sz40 or a nikon smz-1a/1b would probably be worth considering.

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#8 Post by Hobbyst46 » Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:48 pm

Olympus VM stereos have a thread for an accessory lens under the objective. I have used an X1.5 WILD and x2 AO lenses (with thread adapters). A relatively cheap (~40$) new generic X0.5 lens can be used as well, if one finds an adapter for it, since it is 48mm in diameter, vs the ~60mm of the Olympus VM thread..

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#9 Post by Scarodactyl » Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:08 pm

This one is an older model than the VM series.

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#10 Post by awa54 » Thu Aug 11, 2022 3:20 am

Scarodactyl wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:59 pm
Honestly I'd get something a bit newer for this. Much easier to find compatible accessories for newer (like 80s and 90s) designs since the Chinese are still making close copies. They do cost a bit more but something with thr modern standard 76mm diameter like an Olynpus sz30 or sz40 or a nikon smz-1a/1b would probably be worth considering.

Sure, ideally, I'd get a zoom unit that has lots of available accessories, but the optical quality of this older unit is more than adequate and it came on a home made swing arm that is perfect for my workbench (good arm mounts are $$$!).
I could probably swap a correctly configured SZIII head, with its correct ring, on to the arm, as it (the arm hardware) uses a semi-quick disconnect from the arm that I've also seen on a couple of the early generation Oly zooms posted for auction on Ebay.
Also, I don't want to just throw tons of money at this right now, since it's definitely a hobby item and I'm a new homeowner with the many attending expenses that entails...

I wonder what the G6X oculars were supplied with, seems like the zoom scopes all had a sub-1X objective setting, so for most uses a 10X ocular would do just fine. Maybe it was either an early Photo oriented eyepiece (very large glass at the eye and likely similarly large FOV and exit pupil?), or perhaps something mostly used on industrial rigs, for precision instrument or transducer assembly?

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#11 Post by Scarodactyl » Thu Aug 11, 2022 3:48 am

My guess would be a photo eyepiece. I have a similar 5x Wild eyepiece which I haven't found in their documentation. Not great as a viewing eyepiece as I recall.

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#12 Post by awa54 » Thu Aug 11, 2022 8:18 pm

Sigh ...seems I failed at the "not throwing money at it" thing ;)

I ordered an SZ(III if I made the ID correctly) that comes with a focus rack-mounting ring that will attach to my existing arm, G20X oculars (I only had 10X and 15X), and a 0.75X accessory lens. Also have an Olympus SZ 0.5X multiplier on the way.
The good news is that the total bill was still less than half what a used set of genuine Olympus WF5X oculars would cost and just over twice the price of a set of used G20X oculars.

With the G10X oculars and the 0.5X multiplier fitted, spec. says I'll have 166mm max working distance, with more than 40mm field width and a very useful 3.5-20X magnification range.

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#13 Post by PeteM » Thu Aug 11, 2022 9:55 pm

I think you'll be happy with your new scope. Perhaps there is a kid in your extended family who would be delighted with the old one? Maybe with a bit of your shared interest - on to some voyage of discovery.

The few times I've tried 5x eyepieces, I've been disappointed. The apparent field has seemed cramped.

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#14 Post by Scarodactyl » Thu Aug 11, 2022 10:19 pm

The sz series was widely imitated, and there is a reason people wanted to make lookalikes. I fhink you will enjoy it.

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#15 Post by awa54 » Fri Aug 12, 2022 8:22 pm

This is good news!
Having fairly extensive experience with older zoom optics on cameras, I was approaching the jump to a vintage zoom scope with some real trepidation...
It seems like it's only in the last 40 years that camera zoom lenses have managed to have all of the major optical aberrations controlled to the point of excellence, rather than just acceptability.
I have to remind myself that 'scopes in this class were a category of performance above even professional photography optics, at least partially in light of the resolution demands they were built for, where even the most modern films are comparatively limited in resolution.

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#16 Post by awa54 » Tue Aug 16, 2022 6:05 pm

SZIII arrived, optics are clear and aligned, and it really only needs a bit of lubrication on the individual dioptric adjusters and the prism housing rotation points.
When I get home (scope was shipped to work address) I'll see if the arm setup needs to be tweaked to accommodate the much longer working distance of the SZ.

The fact that a full service manual is available and that there are plenty of parts donors for cheap on Ebay makes me confident that this was a good choice!

Thanks all!

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Re: lower than 10x oculars for an Olympus VT-II?

#17 Post by Scarodactyl » Tue Aug 16, 2022 10:08 pm

Nice, I hope you enjoy it!

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