Nikon small world

Joseph S Wisniewski wrote:

ThrillaMozilla wrote:

Joseph S Wisniewski wrote:

ThrillaMozilla wrote:

Joseph S Wisniewski wrote:

Infinity objectives are the "new darlings" of microscopy.

I don't know if they offer any advantages for ordinary macro photography, though.

• They couple well to cheap, easily obtainable things.
• You can change your magnification, within reason.

Interesting. Yes, I see. A finite objective would require too much extension to change the magnification by much.

Technically, they were simply optimized for one magnification. It's hard to make a lens perform well at multiple focusing distances/magnifications. You can optimize a design for multiple focusing distances, at the expense of overall resolution.

That's also true of infinity-corrected objectives, of course.  But you said you could change the magnification.  I assume you did it with a zoom lens?

...And thus scope objectives get "mushy" when you try to use them at other tube lengths. I've cataloged which of mine work well for changing tube lengths, because it's used for a focus stacking technique called "bellows draw focusing".

Presumably you mean subject and objective in fixed positions.

...The bulk of my objective collection is Nikon CF objectives introduced for the Optiphot 66 and 88 series scopes. I have about twenty-five of that series, most of which are mounted on four turrets.

• 4 objective BD loaded with a 5, 10, 20, 40x series with the 20 and 40 being ELWD. I have an ELD 100x that can get swapped into one position when I want more magnification. Technique at 100x is basically standard microscopy. For that matter, 40x is more like microscopy than "macro". I also have a 150x standard distance CF PLAN APO (fractional mm,
• 4 objective BD DIC head loaded with a 5, 10, 20, 40x series of DIC objectives. Nikon DIC objectives are only standard types, no LWD/ELDW.
• 5 objective brightfield head loaded with a 2.5, 5 DIC, 10 D(C, 20 ELWX, 40x ELWD series. This can also mount on my bellows. I don't have a way of mounting BD turrets.
• 4 objective BD head loaded with whatever redundant objectives I'm OK to loan out.

Holy smokes!  That's a lot of equipment.  I also had the plan CF objectives with an Optiphot.  I had it equipped for polarized light, phase contrast, and polarized epi-illumination.  I notice all this stuff is pretty cheap now used (but toward the high end by photography standards).