Leitz eyepiece question for afocal camera setup

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S_Reynolds
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Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2020 8:14 am
Location: Vermont, USA

Leitz eyepiece question for afocal camera setup

Post by S_Reynolds »

I am going to try the afocal camera setup described by Cactusdave here, and have found most of the parts I need. I was lucky enough to find a red dot Leitz 519749 eyepiece, have ordered the step down ring and an Olympus OM 50mm 1.8 lens (and adapter) for my Canon M200 mirrorless. I have two microscopes I wanted to use this on. One is a Motic SMZ-143 which has a trinocular port but no trinocular tube. I will fabricate a tube out of plumbing parts, so I can make the tube length match the focal point of the eyepiece. However, the other scope I want to use is an old Leitz like this one
Leitz scope.jpg
It has a tube length of 170mm, and from what I have learned, the red dot Leitz eyepiece 519749 won't work with a 170mm tube length - or will it? That is my question. Thank you.

Pau
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Re: Leitz eyepiece question for afocal camera setup

Post by Pau »

Hi S_Reynolds,

Welcome aboard!

The pictured microscope is very old (and beautiful :D ). I'm not sure if it accomplishes with later standards about tube length, objective and eyepiece optical corrections, even eyepiece tube width and objective mount...
The tube seems of variable length, so 170 or 160 eyepiece will not be problematic, if it accepts the standard 23.5 mm eyepieces it will work. Another thing is how adequate the optical corrections are.
In its time a very common situation is that the low power and low correction objectives used non compensating Huygens eyepieces and the high power and high correction grade objective needed compensating eyepieces like the later Leitz Periplan.

Your Motic SMZ-143 steromicroscope almost for sure doesn't need compensating eyepieces, so if you use your nice red dot Periplan it will induce lateral chromatic aberration. Very likely you could project the image directly onto the camera sensor with just and empty tube* without further optics, you can test the idea just holding the camera over the photoport**. If the image doesn't cover well the sensor often just cropping it can still be more convenient than complex adaptations.

* almost for sure you will need to add flocking to avoid glare due to internal reflections
** do it in a enough darkened room with the microscope well focused on a high contrast subject and at low or middle magnification.
Pau

S_Reynolds
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2020 8:14 am
Location: Vermont, USA

Re: Leitz eyepiece question for afocal camera setup

Post by S_Reynolds »

Thank you for the reply. I will look into adjusting the tube on the Leitz.

Re. the Motic, I have tried 4 different approaches so far, the afocal to be my fifth. First I tried all 3 camera adapters from Motic - a .4 C-mount, a .5 C-mount and their 2x projection lens for SLR, all with appropriate cameras, and none gave decent results. Motic has not offered any suggestions. That is when I tried the direct projection method - using a piece of PVC pipe and a T2-mount adapter for my camera -
CAM20110a.JPG
The setup is parfocal with the eyepieces, the images are better than any I got with the Motic adapters, but still inadequate. The camera has live-view and zoom-in on the LCD for focusing, but this is the best it will do:
EOS M200_0071a.JPG
I don't think it is shutter vibration, even though the camera does not have electronic shutter, because I can't get crisp focus in the live-view much better than the captured image. All this is why I am trying the afocal approach.

Scarodactyl
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Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 10:26 am

Re: Leitz eyepiece question for afocal camera setup

Post by Scarodactyl »

Motic stereo eyepieces are not compensating, so Leitz eyepieces would not be a good match. Nikon eyepieces would probanby work well for afocal on this stereo.
My guess is that what you're seeing has a lot to do with performance limitations of the scope though. Eyes are very forgiving, especially on stereos where they are getting extra 3d information. Motic's m/k series Wild clones are good but their 'smz' stereos don't have as good a reputation.

S_Reynolds
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2020 8:14 am
Location: Vermont, USA

Re: Leitz eyepiece question for afocal camera setup

Post by S_Reynolds »

Thank you. I have been trying to determine where the limiting factor is. When I get the 50mm Olympus lens for my camera, I will try afocal with the Motic eyepieces and see where that leaves me. I want to be able to compare afocal shot through the trinocular port vs. afocal through the viewing eyepiece - I will go ahead and make up my adapter tube for the trinoc port to fit the Motic eyepiece.

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