Olympus UVFL 40/1.30 field curvature

Ichthyophthirius · Post by **Ichthyophthirius** » Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:03 am

Hi,

I have recently got hold of an Olympus UVFL 40/1.30 microscope objective. Upon testing, I noticed a considerable field curvature in this objective, more pronounced than usual in a non-plan fluorite.

Does anyone here own this objective? I just want to make sure that there is no defect.

Regards, Ichty

Choronzon · Post by **Choronzon** » Thu Jan 18, 2018 4:30 pm

For fluorescence. Light transmission into near UV is more important than field flatness. Try the Leitz NPL Fluotar 1.3 oil instead, a much better lens.

Ichthyophthirius · Post by **Ichthyophthirius** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 2:35 am

Hi,

The Leitz? Oh, I wish

It's just that it is more pronounced than usual; I'm keen to know if anyone can confirm this observation so I can be sure it isn't defective.

Regards, Ichty

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:20 am

I don't have this particular lens, but I do have the Nikon equivalent UV, high NA, oil immersion X40, designed presumably for fluorescence work. It also has quite noticeable field curvature. I've not used it a lot, but when I did for some diatom work, I used stacking to overcome the problem.

Picking up Choronzon's point, I have seen and indeed bought several nice high quality X100 fluorite objectives from Zeiss and Leitz that looked as though they had hardly, if ever been used. The explanation was:

'We bought the microscope and a selection of lenses from the salesman as a 'kit' to use up the grant, but we never use oil in the lab, that objective just sat in the drawer till we disposed of the microscope.'

David