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Nikon microscopes
Condensers
- DIC
- Labophot 1
- LED conversion
- Metaphot, first CF 210mm tube length microscope
- Objectives
- Optiphot 1
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- Optiphot 66
- Base illumination
- curiosities
- Diascopic conversion
- Questions - Sure Squintsalot:
  Part 1: polarizing
  Part 2: fine focus, base
- Optiphot-66 DIC
-  
- Photo relay lenses
- Sliders
- Stages and crossed roller bearing rails
- Trinocular heads
- (almost) Infinity-focused Optiphot trinocular heads
- Vertical Illuminators
- Nikon Optiphot Series Microscopes - lavinia.as.arizona.edu
  (Mike Tuell)
- Optiphot-66/77/88 | Nikon Multiphot system - prc68.com
background
While my first microscopes were American Optical Series 10s
(cheap and plentiful in the U.S.),
they were also interesting because AO pioneered diascopic infinity objectives.
That did not preclude also acquiring a
Nikon Apophot,
which used Nikon's popular
Model S optics.
That Apophot was too large to move from KY, instead
continued using AO/Reichert microscopes until concluding that:
AO episcopic illumination was "not ideal"
larger than RMS objectives are wanted for sharp darkfield epi
fewer old optics in paths to camera sensors benefit contrast and sharpness.
210mm tube length
Nikon 210mm objective motivators:
macro photographers using CF M Plan objectives
relatively low cost and widely available Nikon EPI microscopes with CF BD Plan objectives
   
having M26x0.75 threads:
   
   
Comparable Mitutoyo objectives have
M26x0.706 threads (36TPI, same as RMS).
Beware of incompatible M26x1 (robot lens) and M26x0.5     (Roedenstock Schneider enlarger lens shutter) threads...
While more highly regarded, Nikon's newer infinity objectives
are also significantly more expensive, since still current technology.
Obvious frames for 210 BD objectives are Nikon's Optiphots,
which are more capable than contemporary Labophots with only RMS objective turrets,
although all are notorious for
fragile plastic fine focus gears.
Optiphot frames come in 4 flavors:
- IC inspection (
-66, -77,
-88, 100 and 150), of which 100 and 150 uses infinity optics
- Optiphot-2, with 100W illumination
- Optiphot(-1), using less plastic than Optiphot-2, but also 50W instead of 100W illumination
Although vertical illuminators are often installed on Optiphot-1 and -2,
IC inspection frames have XY stages with more space for examining opaque objects.
- Optiphot-200 and -300, which (like 150) use infinity objectives
but on frames more similar to Eclipse
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