Quick test: Mitutoyo QV 1x vs M Plan Apo 2x

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

Quick test: Mitutoyo QV 1x vs M Plan Apo 2x

Post by Scarodactyl »

I'm clearing out my redundant objectives, which includes my QV 1x. I had to get an M Plan Apo 2x to replace it because I couldn't get the spacer off of the QV, which precludes parfocality on my microscope's nosepiece. Visually both seemed to perform the same, but since I needed to take test photos with the QV before putting it up anyway I figured I'd run a head to head.

Unfortunately the results are not 100% comparable because the spacer on the QV adds significantly to corner shading (which I am already getting a bit of on my scope setup, though I am still not sure why. Maybe the darkfield stop in the nosepiece is shading it a bit?). I only thought to test after shooting, but adding a similar length spacer onto the M Plan Apo 2x gives similarly enhanced corner shading, so this is likely not a difference in coverage. There's already a fair amount of space between the objective and tube lens thanks to the nosepiece, coaxial illuminator and mag changer on my scope:

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Anyway, here are the pictures, M Plan Apo 2x on the left QV 1x pushed to 2x on the right. Pictures were taken with my canon EOS t6 on the Nikon UM2 measurescope pictured above with an infinity Optiphot head providing the tube lens.

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Overviews (click for full size)^

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Center^

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Edge^

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Corner^

The M Plan Apo 2x isn't really an apo objective, a fact which is well known but seeing that strong CA in the corners is still a little unsettling. In practice I still find it very useful. Aside from the corner shading the performance of the QV objective seems almost identical to me, with the exact same strong CA. I suspect if it were put close to the tube lens you wouldn't see any meaningful difference in performance between the two. It's unclear what the implications would be for other QV objectives, though, since the 2X is already an underperformer relative to others in the series, so matching its performance isn't a high bar for the QV 1x.

RobertOToole
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Re: Quick test: Mitutoyo QV 1x vs M Plan Apo 2x

Post by RobertOToole »

Results look very similar, just about identical. Thanks for sharing that. At one point I did own both the QV1x and the M Plan 2x, sold both after trying them. Never thought about sharing the poor results. This makes me even more confident I did the right thing. Good luck selling the QV 1X. I got lucky, the lens sold for more than I paid for the entire QV scope!

Best,

Robert

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