Labophot trinocular and eyepeices

[Ilikeplants]

Hello all,

I am looking to get a trinocular head for a Nikon Labophot 2 I have. I found one with an AFX-II Camera Shutter Adapter Eyepiece and looks to be UWF. Would it be compatible with my scope?
I would also need eyepieces for it, and I believe they would need to be 30 mm. Is that correct? If so I have heard there are some good Chinese eyepieces around. How do I figure out what will work best?

Thank you all!

~Ilikeplants

[Phill Brown]

23mm eyepieces.

[Scarodactyl]

The uw head does take 30mm eyepieces and most chinese 30mm eyepieces should be OK for it (not all but they typically end up being fairly Nikon compatible). That said if you want to get the full 26.5mm field of view your options are more limited, though 25mm gives a very similar visual impression.

[Ilikeplants]

Thank you for the info Scarodactyl!
I guess I have thought of a few more questions.

Would eyepieces like these https://www.ebay.com/itm/254441689548?h ... R_yc6eKwYg or these https://www.ebay.com/itm/321109071640?h ... M-pzp4rBi work? I didn't find any 25 or 26.5 mm off-brand eyepieces on a cursory search.

How difficult would it be to adapt the trinoc afx to a mirrorless, DSLR or iPhone? Would I just need to remove the AFX head and leave the trinocular tube on and get an adapter? Are there any guides or anything to assist?

Also, would I need infinity objectives for the photo setup?

Thanks again,
Ilikeplants

[MichaelG.]

I am sure that Scarodactyl will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe his 26.5 and 25 refer to field of view, not to physical diameter

MichaelG.

[Ilikeplants]

MichaelG, yes I believe that is what that's referring to, oops!
Regardless, I do not see any, most are 10 or 20, with the occasional 22 or 23. I'm probably just not searching hard enough/in the right places! I have seen Nikon lenses with the 25, but not the 26.5 yet.

[PeteM]

You can occasionally find "CFUWN" 10x eyepieces, which will match the 26.5mm field available with Nikon's better finite objectives. A Web search would likely find you a pair - though probably expensive. There's also the earlier "CFUW" version, not quite as large a field.

You might find Mitutoyo 10x/24mm FN eyepieces just fine. It's not just field size, but eye relief that contributes to comfort in use. The latest infinity Nikon eyepieces are 25mm and very comfortable to use.

The Chinese 10x/23mm field eyepieces with a 30mm tube size can also be quite good - though I've found one example where the only thing 23mm-like about them was the "WF10x/23" label. There are also 24mm field size ones out there, but I haven't yet tried them.

[Phill Brown]

Interested to find out how things work out on a Labophot 2.
Only tried 30mm tube eyepieces with ∞ objectives.
Stand corrected on the 23mm tube eyepieces, should have reread the OP.
Good luck with the project if you take it on.

[Ilikeplants]

I hope I don't need infinity objectives for this.

I am also unsure about how to adapt this trinoc to a camera. Does anyone have experience with the AFX setup? It looks like the top has a larger lens/projection than I am familiar with seeing from trinoculars. I figure to work with the non-infinity objectives, I might just have to toss the AFX and just use the tube and an adapter?

PeteM, do you have a link to any that you know are OK quality?

Thanks again,
Ilikeplants

[Scarodactyl]

Finite and infinity microscopes don't have fundamentally different eyepieces. Nikon's cf eyepieces are specced for both.
For mirrorless aps-c/micro 4/3 just remove the afx adapter and photo eyepiece. Get a 38mm outer diameter to m42 adapter and a flat m42 to your camera mount adapter. Put the camera on direct with no intermediate lenses for best performance.

[Ilikeplants]

So, would I need to remove the tube that is inside the tube? It just twists off, right?
I can't really get an image from the tube unless there is an eyepiece there, so that's what I am assuming has to happen. Its just feels almost stuck on (I've tried twisting it off).

Also for eyepieces: would cheap Chinese ones be better than old Nikon 10x/23 with no CFUW or similar markings?

[blekenbleu]

Also for eyepieces: would cheap Chinese ones be better than old Nikon 10x/23 with no CFUW or similar markings?

https://www.microbehunter.com/microscop ... hp?t=15977

[Ilikeplants]

So I removed the tube and chimney, and it looks like I can't get a good image from the opening. Any ideas?

[Phill Brown]

Are you using 160mm objectives?

[blekenbleu]

So I removed the tube and chimney, and it looks like I can't get a good image from the opening. Any ideas?

UW.jpg (47.16 KiB) Viewed 2415 times

Words do not sometimes suffice.
If yours is as above, the lens at UW head bottom port has converted finite objective rays to nearly infinite,
which want converting back to finite for focus e.g. on camera sensor.
A normal camera lens will focus near infinity rays, but to minimize vignette must be close to UW prism, which is over 60mm down into that photo port.
One camera lens with suitable length, diameter and focal length for APS-C sensors is Zeiss Triotar 1:4 f=13.5cm

Triotar.jpg (20.93 KiB) Viewed 2415 times