My Vanox AH journey (was: Olympus BH-NIC DIC with Nikon CF long-barrel optics?)

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viktor j nilsson
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Location: Lund, Sweden

Post by viktor j nilsson »

Couple of notes. The condenser was way off center yesterday, and I just learned how the centering mechanism works. The centering knobs weren't attached to the condenser holder. Yet another hint that this microscope has hardly been used. I think I've seen them in one of the accessory bags, fingers crossed! That should hopefully improve things a bit.

I also didn't check what the condenser prism fringe looked like without the objective prism, I just twisted the adjustment knobs and tried to make the background more even. I'll try to set that up more carefully tonight.

Edit: the thumbscrews that came when the microscope weren't for the condenser centering mechanism. Shoot. Gotta figure that out.

Pau
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Post by Pau »

Did you try with the original Olympus short barrel objectives?
Even if this is not your goal, if as it seems they are matched with the DIC system, this will be very useful to tune the whole microscope and the DIC stuff.

Of course condenser centering will affect the DIC effect
The first thing I did was to crash into my Klaus Kemp 8 form test slide
Very likely for 45mm objectives you can clamp the vertical position of both stage carrier and condenser carrier lower in the guide, the system seems the same of Zeiss WL/Universal, not nice to break Kemp's slides
Pau

viktor j nilsson
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Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:43 am
Location: Lund, Sweden

Post by viktor j nilsson »

I did a very very quick test with the Olympus objectives first, the DIC effect was kind of bland. But I was too curious to test the Nikon's so I didn't set it up very carefully. Agree that optimizing it with the Olympus objectives first is the way to go.

Klaus Kemp is currently not taking any new orders, so it was really dumb of me to use that slide. Might check out Stefano Barone's offerings


Edit: I borrowed the thumb screws from the rotating stage. So now I can center the condenser!

PeteM
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Post by PeteM »

Viktor, Good DIC is very sensitive to the polarizers -- when setting up first make sure you have complete extinction with the polarizers in the proper position versus the DIC prisms. Just a few degrees off makes a significant difference. Kohler and avoiding stray illumination also helps.

Later you may wish to get a rotatable quarter wave plate, which provides another element of control.

Something like tiny water/oil emulsion drops under a cover slip can make a good target.

Good luck - I suspect this will eventually become a very satisfying scope. as you tune it and find which newer DIN standard objectives work with it.

viktor j nilsson
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Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:43 am
Location: Lund, Sweden

Post by viktor j nilsson »

Image
Image
Image

I was setting it up with the Olympus short-barrel objectives last night when I had a bit of a scare! I removed an eyepiece and looked down the tube, and saw... a circlips! It took me a while to figure out that it was located inside the BH-NA intermediate tube, and a bit longer up figure out where it came from and how to get it out. But in the end it was easy. Unscrew the nylon-tipped locking screw, use a flat-headed screwdriver to unscrew the hollow threaded insert, which releases the slider.


While I was at it I unscrewed the four screws on top and cleaned and regreased the sliding mechanism (which was almost stuck from stiff grease, which explains my feeling that the prism wasn't sliding properly). The circlip must have come loose from the end of the adjustment screw. It's only purpose is to prevent the screw from unscrewing too far, for now I'll just live without it. So now all is well on that front.

DIC looked pretty good with the SB objectives and significantly worse with the Nikon LB ones. However, the loose circlip caused an abrupt end to my comparison session!

PeteM
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Post by PeteM »

Viktor - Which Nikon objectives do you have - the Nikon Plan CF? Or, the Nikon Plan CFN with the slightly higher numerical apertures?

I just did a quick comparison on my "LB" marked Olympus DIC setup that's similar to yours. On mine:

- Olympus SPlans look good at 10x and 40x. There's no 20x prism in mine; and neither the 10x or 40x prisms look good.

- Nikon Plan CF objectives look banded at 10x and good at 40x.

If you have Nikon CFN, I could try those as well. It may be that our DIC condensers have prisms with different shear angles. But could be they are similar?

viktor j nilsson
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Post by viktor j nilsson »

Pete,
I very much appreciate you making these comparisons. It would be good to try at least one identical objective/prism to ascertain if our prisms differ.

I mostly use the Nikon CF Fluor objectives, the ones that you can see in the "Nikon CF" catalogue on Charles Krebs' site (not the later Plan Fluors). I have the following Fluors: 10x 0.50, 20x 0.75, 40x 0.85 and 40x 1.30.

I also have the following: E Plan 10x 0.25, E achromat 10x 0.25 (black barrel), 20x CFN plan 0.50, E Plan 40x 0.65. I also have a CFN plan 40x 0.70 DL phase contrast objective.

Furthermore, I have a CFN Plan Apo 20x 0.75.

For comparisons, maybe you are most likely to have the E plan 10x and 40x? It would be enlightenimg if we could both try those.

PeteM
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Post by PeteM »

Hi Viktor, It was the Nikon E Plan (the chrome over brass ones) I tried earlier. The 40x was good on the 40x prism. The 10x had banding on the 10x prism.

Also have a Nikon 40x Plan Fluor, which worked as wel (even DIC image) as the 40x E Plan.

Judging by that, 40x might be a good test magnification to try after you have the system aligned and working with its native Olympus objectives.

viktor j nilsson
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Re: Olympus BH-NIC DIC with Nikon CF long-barrel optics?

Post by viktor j nilsson »

Haven't been able to do any further testing lately, but I did pick up a fairly cheap Olympus short-barrel 10x 0.32 PlanApo the other day (will take a while to arrive from China). Will be interesting to compare it with the rest of my objectives, and to see how it works with DIC. I'm starting to gravitate toward the idea of going all in on Olympus SB-objectives if I keep this microscope, rather than trying to use mismatched Nikon optics. The banding you and I both got at 10x with the Nikon objectives didn't feel very inspiring. And the Olympus SB Plan Achromats are looking pretty good, so I have fairly high expectations for the PlanApos.

If anyone has some 40x and 100x Olympus short-barrel PlanApo's to spare I might be interested!

PeteM
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Re: Olympus BH-NIC DIC with Nikon CF long-barrel optics?

Post by PeteM »

Might be intereresting, Viktor, if you can obtain an Olympus 10x SPlan to try. If you get DIC with no banding, it would give you confidence the other SPlans might work as well.

PeteM
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Re: Olympus BH-NIC DIC with Nikon CF long-barrel optics?

Post by PeteM »

Viktor, Just FYI, I tried a couple more Nikon objectives with the Olympus Vanox DIC system. A Nikon 50x Plan oil iris with a .85 NA did well on the 40x prism. A standard Nikon Plan oil 100x (chromed barrel, standard CF finite) did well on the 100x prism.

viktor j nilsson
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Re: Olympus BH-NIC DIC with Nikon CF long-barrel optics?

Post by viktor j nilsson »

My Vanox AH is still not quite operational, but my gear acquisition syndrome is getting worse. Been assembling some more Olympus short-barrel objectives, a 10x PlanApo as mentioned earlier for $70, a 100x Fluor 1.30 for $70, and today I couldn't resist a 100x PlanApo for $175. Costed £602 in 1978, which is equivalent to $3900 in today's currency, so it should be a good performer!

Will be especially interesting to see how the Fluor and PlanApo compares.

Still interested in a 40x short-barrel PlanApo if anyone has one.

viktor j nilsson
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Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:43 am
Location: Lund, Sweden

Re: Olympus BH-NIC DIC with Nikon CF long-barrel optics?

Post by viktor j nilsson »

Disassembled, cleaned and regreased the focus block of my Vanox AH today. Finally! Didn't take it apart completely, as I didn't want to mess with the gear box, but it seems to be working fine now. The coarse and fine focus shafts were really sticking to each other, but can now move independently. Relubed it with Nye light oil (gear mechanism and focus shafts) and Nye hobbyist kit general purpose grease (ball bearing assembly).



Also took apart and regreased the stage XY movement with Nye high viscosity oil, and fixed the slide holder that was bent and stuck from old grease. It really is quite useful to be able to move the slide :D

The diopter and interpupil distance adjustments are still almost entirely stuck, but I should be able to find an acceptable setting with some force.

So now I have almost no excuses to not use it!

The 10x and 100x planapo has arrived, and I'm waiting on a 40x apo 0.85. Will be cool to see how those old objectives perform.

René
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Re: Olympus BH-NIC DIC with Nikon CF long-barrel optics?

Post by René »

Satisfied, Viktor?

Greetings, René

viktor j nilsson
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Re: Olympus BH-NIC DIC with Nikon CF long-barrel optics?

Post by viktor j nilsson »

René wrote:
Fri Aug 28, 2020 4:26 am
Satisfied, Viktor?

Greetings, René
Not quite yet - I haven't really been able to get everything working yet. Perhaps most importantly, I still need to make a couple of thumb screws for the condenser centering mechanism (bought the dies, and some thumb screws to re-thread, but haven't gotten round to it yet). I can almost get it centered using the thumb screws from the rotating stage, but they are a little too short and thick so I can't achieve Kohler and a centered condenser at the same time. So I don't think it's fair to judge the image quality just yet. I did find the DIC with the 10x a little disappointing (but it could be the non-optimal setup), and I haven't tried any other magnifications as I've found the achromats to be pretty bad. However, I recieved a 100x planapo a while back, and a 100x fluorite as well, but haven't tried them yet. And yesterday I recieved the 40x Apo 0.85. So I really should invest some time in putting it all together very soon.

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