ID this stereoscope?

Everything relating to microscopy hardware: Objectives, eyepieces, lamps and more.
Post Reply
Message
Author
Zuul
Posts: 212
Joined: Fri May 01, 2020 9:01 pm
Location: California

ID this stereoscope?

#1 Post by Zuul » Sat Jul 11, 2020 3:12 pm

I was wondering if somebody could tell me anything about this stereo microscope I stumbled across. The only name to be found is “Bioscope” on the eyepieces. There is a “Japan” sticker on the bottom (no “made in” ... maybe they are a just a fan of the country :D ) I thought it might be a Chinese clone at 1st glance.

8AE71848-2147-4C0E-9F1B-3B172771A408.jpeg
8AE71848-2147-4C0E-9F1B-3B172771A408.jpeg (72.24 KiB) Viewed 2503 times

Scarodactyl
Posts: 2775
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 9:09 pm

Re: ID this stereoscope?

#2 Post by Scarodactyl » Sat Jul 11, 2020 8:04 pm

This is a pretty common design, broadly speaking. Any number of Japanese companies might have made it before China emerged as the budget microscope center of thr world. Carton and Kyowa are two of the bigger whitebox makers from that era but there are a lot of Japanese optical firms with fairly limited brand awareness in the US who used to do this sort of thing.

Zuul
Posts: 212
Joined: Fri May 01, 2020 9:01 pm
Location: California

Re: ID this stereoscope?

#3 Post by Zuul » Sat Jul 11, 2020 11:51 pm

Scarodactyl wrote:
Sat Jul 11, 2020 8:04 pm
This is a pretty common design, broadly speaking. Any number of Japanese companies might have made it before China emerged as the budget microscope center of thr world. Carton and Kyowa are two of the bigger whitebox makers from that era but there are a lot of Japanese optical firms with fairly limited brand awareness in the US who used to do this sort of thing.
So nothing particularly desirable, then. Thanks for the info.

Scarodactyl
Posts: 2775
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 9:09 pm

Re: ID this stereoscope?

#4 Post by Scarodactyl » Sun Jul 12, 2020 1:19 am

Not necessarily. Kyowa and Carton never made it big like Olympus or Nikon, but they were no slouches either, and both are still in business (though Carton has moved operations to Thailand). The quality can be surprisingly good on these, often at a very low price point.

Zuul
Posts: 212
Joined: Fri May 01, 2020 9:01 pm
Location: California

Re: ID this stereoscope?

#5 Post by Zuul » Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:33 am

It appears nearly identical to microscopes marketed in the US as Elgeet. Sellers claim the Elgeet was made by Olympus, but I can’t find any credible source for that claim.

Scarodactyl
Posts: 2775
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 9:09 pm

Re: ID this stereoscope?

#6 Post by Scarodactyl » Sun Jul 12, 2020 4:15 am

Olympus used to do whitebox work as well (the best-known example is probably the B&L galen I) so it's not out of the question. They were once similar to Kyowa or Carton or whoever, before they ascended to their current position.
You can expect it to be a pretty good oldschool stereo. It will produce a good image, but I have found the ergonomics on some of these a bit uncomfortable (my eyes feel like they're working harder to converge the image, even if alignment looks perfectly fine).

Zuul
Posts: 212
Joined: Fri May 01, 2020 9:01 pm
Location: California

Re: ID this stereoscope?

#7 Post by Zuul » Sun Jul 12, 2020 11:46 pm

I was able to find information on the relationship between Elgeet and Olympus, thanks to information published by Yale.
https://medicine.yale.edu/cellbio/abou ... 094_v1.pdf

“ In 1956, Elgeet Optical in Rochester, New York, became the exclusive U.S. distributor for the microscope product division of Olympus Optical of Japan. The microscopes were all branded Elgeet-Olympus. Olympus began marketing scientific products in the United States in 1968 and is known as The Olympus Corporation of the Americas.”

Of course the obvious similarity between the scope above and Elgeet models could just be a case of copycat engineering. I don’t know how common that would have been in 60’s Japanese manufacturing.

Post Reply