AO Spencer Series 10

[sim0n]

Hello All,

I am the proud new owner of an older AO Spencer Series 10 Microscope. This recent acquisition is the first step in the fulfillment of a long standing dream: to produce some decent photomicrographic images of my own. It was something of an impulse buy. I saw it in a shop. It looked suitable for the job, so I made it mine. Of course have visited this site <http://user.xmission.com/~psneeley/Pers ... oscope.htm> for information on the instrument. That is how I identified it, but it needs a few tweaks. It has a three objective nose piece with three objectives, 10x, 40x, and 97x oil immersion. The 97x objective seems to me not so useful, isn't that past the limit of resolution with a light microscope? I would rather have a four objective nose piece and 10x, 20x, 30x, and 40x objectives. Is this a good plan for amateur observation of mainly biological specimens? Do I want to have that oil immersion objective? Also, do I need a trinocular head to use a camera? I look forward to digging around for all the great info that abounds here. I clearly have a lot to learn and don't know much now except to not crash the high power objective into the slide (Thank you high school biology!) Just wanted to introduce myself and say Hi. Thanks!

[Charles Krebs]

sim0n,

Welcome. I don't know much about the specifics of the AO Series 10, but as you have discovered there is a great deal of information available online about American Optical equipment.

The 97X oil immersion may well be an objective you do not use very often, but hang onto it until you determine the subject matter that is of most interest to you. If you track down a 4 place nose-piece, a good assortment would be 4X, 10X, 20X, and 40X. (Never seen a 30X for AO... or from anyone else for that matter). A 4X may not seem very "powerful" but is t is very useful. Not only for larger subjects but simply to scout around a slide to find subjects.

You certainly can take photographs without a trinocular tube. In a nut-shell, you would point a camera with an attached lens directly down one of the viewing eyepieces. The is known as the "afocal" method. Getting it set-up so that the camera is centered and properly supported, and getting a good optical match between the camera lens and the eyepiece may take a little ingenuity and patience but very good results are possible.

So read up on the equipment and technique, and let ups know when you have questions. We'll do our best to help you out.

[sim0n]

Thanks for the reply, Charles. What you said made a lot of sense to me. So much, in fact, that I, just tonight, have purchased a very nice infinity corrected 6.5X objective for my scope. No four place nose-piece yet. I plan to remove the 97X oil immersion objective and mount the 6.5X in its place. I like the idea of being able to survey the slide for interesting visuals, but also, I am attempting to interest my young daughters in the hobby as well. They can't use the high power objectives that can be run down into the slide. So far, they are very excited by looking into a microscope. They want to see some 'germs.' I am thinking that some aquarium water will have some sufficiently 'germy' looking things to satisfy them. I will hang on to the 97X objective. Maybe after I get the condenser centered, all the dust blown out and all the caked up oil off the front element I might be able to see something through it.

[sim0n]

Very disappointed. Ebay seller alcamera has sent me a message stating that he has to cancel the sale due to the fact that he doesn't have the 6.5X objective that he said he did when he listed it for sale. How convenient! What if I just canceled a sale when it turns out that my money is mysteriously 'out of stock'? I was really looking forward to installing that on my scope!