WANTED: Olympus BH-2

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myxomop
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Location: New Orleans
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WANTED: Olympus BH-2

Post by myxomop »

EDITED 3/8/2013. Thanks to those who wrote the initial replies for the clarification.

Desired Specs:

Base: BHT-F/BHTU-F/BHS-F
Observation Tube: BH2-TR30 Trinocular Head
Eyepieces: WHK10x/WK10x with Crosshair Reticle
Stage: BH2-SVL/BH2-SVR
Objectives: None (already have a full set of SPlans w/ nosepiece)
Condenser: BH2-CD 1.25 N.A. Abbe

Photomicrography Components:
-NFK 2.5x Photo Eyepiece
-Anything else required for attaching an APS-C or Full-Frame DSLR

Optional Perks:
LED Illumination
Additional Components for DIC, Darkfield & Phase Contrast
BH2-AAC Achromatic/Aplanatic Condenser NA 1.40
Hard-Shell Carrying Case

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,

-Danny

References:

1.http://earth2geologists.net/Microscopes ... Scopes.htm
2.http://www.alanwood.net/photography/oly ... scope.html
3.http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/ha ... index1.htm
4.some stuff at http://krebsmicro.com, much of it way, way over my head.
Last edited by myxomop on Fri Mar 08, 2013 11:03 pm, edited 5 times in total.

NikonUser
Posts: 2693
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:03 am
Location: southern New Brunswick, Canada

Post by NikonUser »

The BHS is a modular system.
What are you forgetting? Quite a bit, depending on what you need
See brochure on Alan Wood's site:
http://www.alanwood.net/downloads/olymp ... ochure.pdf
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives

Tom Jones
Posts: 326
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 2:05 am
Location: Crestline, CA

Post by Tom Jones »

Hi Danny,

First off, do a lot of searching on these forums. Lots of questions have been answered multiple times.

Forget the CH-2. It's more of a lower cost teaching microscope. Components are harder to find and DIC does not exist that I know of.

That said, you have several choices in the BH-2 series. The BHT (forward facing objective turret) and BHTU (rear facing objective turret). Both are modular and have a 6v20w halogen lamp. You can get a trinoc head and condensers for bright field, dark field and phase contrast very easily. If you really want to do DIC you'll probably need a BHS, which has a 12v100w halogen lamp. DIC takes a lot of light. All of the optical components and camera adapters are interchangeable between the BHT, BHTU, and BHS.

DIC components are hard to find for the BHS, and pricey when available.

As a matter of fact, DIC is pricey and hard to find period. A few months ago I bought a new model DIC condenser for my BX-50 and had to get it from Olympus. I bough a demo unit and it was $2700 without the prisms! They almost never show up on eBay. Some people have built hybrid systems using components from multiple manufacturers in order to get DIC. Still, bring $$$ and it's a crap shoot as to whether it will work.

DIC sure is pretty though...

Ignore the LEDs for the moment. Charlie Krebs uses one to very good effect on his BHS, but generally I don't see how they benefit anything until the power supply dies and is no longer repairable. Even then it's easy on the BHT/BHTU to just buy another bare stand for the power supply, build up an external one, or get the original repaired locally. The bulbs are cheap and last a long time.

I'm using a BX43 at work right now. It has an LED source built-in and I'm personally not that fond of the color balance without a warming filter. If you're slick, you could probably build a high power LED light source for the BHT/BHTU that would be adequate for DIC. The LEDs are a lot brighter than they were a few years ago.

Hard cases are hard to find too. I'm not sure I've ever seen one for the BHS. You can certainly make one though. I've made several for my BHTUs.

Tom

myxomop
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:22 am
Location: New Orleans
Contact:

Post by myxomop »

Tom,

I'm curious about these cases. Do they work well for travel? Are they at all weather sealed? I guess I could always buy some pick and pluck foam for my Pelican case. That would probably be my best bet...

As a side note, I'm currently oogling this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0868935564

though with a brightfield set of SPlans in 4x, 10x, 40x and 100x in place of the PC ones.

Tom Jones
Posts: 326
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 2:05 am
Location: Crestline, CA

Post by Tom Jones »

Danny,

I think pick and pluck is a bad idea for things this heavy. A couple of years ago I bought 4 large Pelican cases to transport my BH-2s to and from outreach sites. The pick and pluck foam was too soft and I returned the cases. That's why I made my own. I used 1/4" ABS plastic for the cases themselves, and 1" polyethylene foam sheet to line them. I designed them to be transport cases, not shipping cases. There is no foam above the bino head since I had no intention of transporting them inverted. Not weather sealed for the same reason. They go in my truck, not UPS. The work very nicely for what I need.

Tom

myxomop
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:22 am
Location: New Orleans
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Cases

Post by myxomop »

Tom,

I too don't intend on doing any shipping, only transporting. I'm thankful that I have your experience with pick and pluck to draw from and know that this will not be a suitable solution for me. Depending on if and when I purchase my own BH2, would you be willing to sell/custom build such a case to fit a trinoc?

myxomop
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:22 am
Location: New Orleans
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Camera Attachment

Post by myxomop »

still having a bit of a hard time determining precisely what components (aside from the NFK eyepiece) are needed to achieve the coupling of a DSLR to a trinocular BH2.

For example, there is currently a trinocular BHS fitted with a PM-10 AD up on ebay. I feel like an idiot for still, after so much reading, not being able to determine whether or not this would be of any use to me if using a DSLR.

Alan Wood
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Re: Camera Attachment

Post by Alan Wood »

myxomop wrote:there is currently a trinocular BHS fitted with a PM-10 AD up on ebay. I feel like an idiot for still, after so much reading, not being able to determine whether or not this would be of any use to me if using a DSLR.
The PM-10 is no use with a DSLR. It comes off easily by loosening a screw to reveal a circular dovetail on the trinocular head. The NFK sits inside the circular dovetail. A Photomicro Adapter-L clamps to the circular dovetail, and its top is the same as the rear of Olympus OM lens. There are lots of cheap Chinese adapters for fitting OM lenses to Canon DSLRs.

I have a web page with more details:
http://www.alanwood.net/photography/oly ... scope.html

Alan Wood

Tom Jones
Posts: 326
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 2:05 am
Location: Crestline, CA

Post by Tom Jones »

Danny,

I'm afraid I don't have the time to build a case for you. The easiest thing to do if you don't want to do it yourself is to have a cabinet maker build it for you out of nice plywood. They can even cut the foam liner using a table saw.

If you get a BH-2, pm me and I'll shoot a couple pictures so you'll have an idea what you'll need. That eBay BH you linked to is a BHS with the 100 Watt lamp house. That would take something substantially different from what I have, just due to the lamp house itself.

Did you read the pm I sent you a while back?

Tom

myxomop
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:22 am
Location: New Orleans
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Purchases

Post by myxomop »

Recently won the following two auctions:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330884734382
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321088483806

The scope comes two objectives, one of which is a 100x SPlanApo, which, if I'm not mistaken, is worth roughly as much as the final price of the entire auction, if not more.

It looks like there's an NFK photo eyepiece in the trinoc port as well, though I'm not yet sure which one.

Re: Alan

Thanks for the clarification on the unneeded PM-10. Wonderful site, by the way. I've poured over it many a time in my quest for Olympus photomicrography fluency, and recommended it to many seeking the same.

Re: Tom

I must have missed your PM until now... how, I'm not entirely sure. It sounds like you've got much of what I'm looking for. Perhaps if one or both ebay purchases turn out to be lemons, we can work something out. If so, it would be a BHS I'd be after, as this is the model I've decided on.

Thanks again to everyone for their help and input. I should have everything set up by the end of the month, at which time I'll know what other odds and ends are still needed and post here accordingly.

myxomop
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:22 am
Location: New Orleans
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Last question:

Post by myxomop »

Can anyone identify what kind of condenser this has from the images included in the auction page?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 1088483806

NikonUser
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Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:03 am
Location: southern New Brunswick, Canada

Post by NikonUser »

Looks like you have a nicely equipped scope.
The condenser looks identical, from what I can see of it , to my Olympus BHS Phase Contrast.
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives

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