Cheap Phase contrast

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GaryB
Posts: 521
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2016 12:18 pm

Cheap Phase contrast

Post by GaryB »

I received my first phase contrast objective yesterday, a Beck 40x .65 for the grand sum of $28, and made a cheap illuminator from some spare parts I had lying around. It's based around a cheap LED, a 3v Cree XP-L. I put this on a small heatsink with a spacer and the spare parts on top. It's very similar to my COL setup but with a different LED and different diffuser for higher light output.

My primary goal was to see if I could get decent results without the expense of a phase condenser, and of course to have phase contrast at last :D I'm happy to report that it works a treat. The following series of pics show the parts I used. An old eyepiece top with the lens removed, a black plastic blob, some blutak, a small frosted diffuser and a tube to give the diffuse some space and keep the heat of the LED away.

I did do a rough guestimation of sizes needed as a lot depends on the total height Vs. how much space you have beneath the stage above the condenser holder where it sits in place of the condenser. It fits in the Zeiss standard great but not the Lomo Biolam as the Lomo has much less space available. However, it can be adjusted to fit.

Pics:


Image


This shows where and how it sits, on a lump of plastic
Image

Image


Now I know these look pretty bad, they are zoomed in cellphone pics. They look much better in the flesh and downright spectacular for $33 and some junk parts. It's to show you can do it for very little outlay if on a tight budget. Rough and ready for action. 8)

Videos here using this rig:

https://youtu.be/JX1Z-4ofYtE

https://youtu.be/M3e4XjF0Kec

zzffnn
Posts: 1896
Joined: Thu May 22, 2014 1:25 pm
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
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Post by zzffnn »

You results look very nice! It would look better without digital zoom.
You should be able to get phase contrast out of NA 1.25 oil phase objective too, since you got COL NA 0.65 working, as phase ring diameter is usually around half the size of the objective NA.
Selling my Canon FD 200mm F/2.8 lens

GaryB
Posts: 521
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2016 12:18 pm

Post by GaryB »

I'm more interested in getting a 20x next, and one of those lomo 75x 1.23 waters. You might have noticed that I have the Zeiss stage on a riser block. Now I can use Lomo, Wild, Leitz and Beck as well as DIN standard objectives on the same nosepiece :D Only problem, none of them are par focal :(

Another advantage of condenserless micro!

*edit*
I almost forgot. Due to the design, it functions as phase when lowered to match the phase ring, when it's raised it works as standard COL and if moved off-center, oblique too. Totally seamless.

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