Can you identify this Nikon model?(& options on photo)

sphyrna · Post by **sphyrna** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 12:06 pm

Hi all,

Newb here - found the site and love it!

I recently picked up a Nikon microscope off ebay - Trying to identify the model so I can get a manual (so I learn how to use it properly!) and also so I'll know what lightbulbs I'll need if/when they blow out.

I do know it has a 1.3 Abbe condenser. The lamp/illumination is different from other Nikons I've seen on the web ('s' model,S-Kt). The microscope came with a separate Nikon transformer. A black cable from the microscope plugs into the rear of the transformer.

And/or - any great resources on the web on operating a compound scope? (it''s been almost 20 years since grad school- I've forgotten most of my lab techniques...)

Second - photography. That's more my area of expertise. How do I attach a camera to this binocular head? I have Nikon D90, D7000, D700.
I bought off ebay an inexpensive 'eyepiece adapter'
http://www.ebay.com/itm/200873509213?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Not really remembering how to prepare the specimen (an ant) and set the condenser, I attached that adapter to my D700, inserted it into one of the eyepiece tubes (eyepiece removed) and took a few shots. Not having a CF card reader at work, I took this shot with my little Nikon of the back of my D700.

Am I supposed to see the circular field of view?
Many questions,
Thanks so much in advance for any help, advice, info

Peter

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 1:14 pm

It is (I'm nearly certain) a Nikon Model S. They were produced for a long time and there were many configurations, and a variety of sources of illumination.. This should help you a great deal:

http://www.science-info.net/docs/Nikon/ ... ctions.pdf

Your Nikon D700 has a 24mmx36mm sensor, with a diagonal of 43mm. The objectives produce a usable circular image (for photography purposes) of about 18mm diameter. So you will get a circular image if you project onto the sensor as you have done.
Normally for photography with a 24x36mm film/sensor size you would have additional optics in the camera attachment to magnify the image produced by the objective about 2.5X. Then you will have an image circle of 45mm diameter... a good "fit" for the sensor.

Also, adapting the camera as you have done adds considerably to the microscope "tube length". A Nikon SLR body depth is 46.5mm. Your objectives were designed for a specific "mechanical tube length" (160mm). By adding all or most of the Nikon body depth to this you increase it quite a bit. This will likely be OK with low power, low NA objectives (the magnifications will be a bit bigger than marked on the objective).. But as the objective NA increases it will provide increasingly less than optimal results. (You are probably OK with a 4X and 10X. Wouldn't recommend it for most higher magnification/NA objectives).

A potential image problem such "direct projection" will have is because you want to include any additional color correction that the manufacturer intended, and provided in the eyepieces with these optics. So I think the best approach for you might be the "afocal" method, where you attach a lens to the camera, You set the lens to "infinity" focus and photograph looking through the your "HKW10X" eyepiece. For a full-frame camera the best focal length would be about 60mm. For an APS-C sized sensor the best focal length would be about 40mm, (using a 10X eyepiece). In order to avoid more vignetting it is best to not use a zoom lens, but a fixed focal length length, the more "compact" the better. You can put the camera on a tripod and align it carefully, and close to, the eyepiece. (Since your camera does not have an electronic first shutter curtain capability this will also help to reduce camera induced vibration, which could be a problem if the camera were "hard-mounted" to the microscope).

zzffnn · Post by **zzffnn** » Tue Jun 23, 2015 6:05 pm

Peter,

Yours does look like a Nikon S model. Its current mechanical stage probably came from an AO Spencer 60/50/150 model though. Not sure about its lamp. Everything else looks like original.

Follow Charles' advice and you are golden. Almost each and every words of his is important, you will understand it more if you come back and review it a year later.

Your current direct projection approach will not work well with 40x objective or anything more powerful. Your added tube length will not play well with any objective with NA value higher than 0.65.

The afocal approach (shooting through visual eyepiece with camera lens of correct focal length) is the way to go, if you do not have a trinocular head. Mounting camera on a tripod and shooting through one eyepeice would work, but your eye may not have enough space to use the only other eyepiece.

You can buy a teaching head attachment which will provide 2 additional visual eyepieces, one of which can be used for camera. There are "digiscoping" adapters on the market for you to "hard-mount" camera to eyepiece (for example, I use an Orion SteadyPix Pro for my micro 4/3 camera http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... ht=#165061). But with teaching head, you will lose 50% light to the 2 additional eyepieces.

But like Charles said, hard mount camera will introduce vibration. You can use off camera flash (e.g., 2nd curtain syn flash) or long exposure to reduce vibration. A right angle prism or a microscope slide mounted at 45 degrees under condenser can add flash while keeping most light of your microscope lamp.
http://www.photomacrography.net/amateur ... D/300D.htm
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=26185

The benifit of using hard mount digiscoping adapter is that you can put it on and off within 10 seconds (while this will be much slower with tripod, as alignment takes a while with tripod). Digiscoping adapter clamps onto one eyepiece, so if you dedicate an extra eyepiece for adapter you can take off the whole camera/adapter/eyepiece assembly quickly and replace it with another plain visual eyepiece.