🔬 Should you buy new Eyepieces and Plan objectives?

[@shivercanada]

Agreed! I bought a $500 microscope and returned it because I was not impressed with the quality but loved the exploration. I ended up getting a new model with plan objectives, trinocular, infinity focusing and Kohler illumination. It also has a filter bay for my Darkfield filters I 3d printed. Cost was about just under $1000 US plus tax but i recommend it if you can as you use it for a lifetime! I’m so excited to get it!!

[@vijaygangurde6092]

Father of amateur microscopy- Oliver Kim

[@tapariayogesh]

Thank you for taking my question for the video. It does clear a lot of things.

[@pinkpanther5379]

Can you show a video of plan objectives and non-plan objectives so people can see?

[@thoughtsbright7928]

Hi can you make a phase contrast objective by adding a dark circle to both the objective and eyepiece also, can you make a condenser homemade or not and is the condenser necessary., Because in my country the microscope is a little bit more expensive so I just can afford an inductory microscope(sw150 mostly) with prepared slides and a microscope with the condenser above $266 so is it really a must-have feature keep in mind that it is the second microscope get after a toy one so I am a beginner and i know a little bit of microscopy from your videos as well as your "OK biology" channel according to biology do you know microbiology only or overall biology for example i was going to send my biology book but i am afraid of law sutis so i am not gonna sent it but i hope you understand my question Thank you

[@edward_grabczewski]

Perhaps it also depends on how the objective is manufactured, whether or not it needs a new eyepiece. Presumably the PLAN objectives are designed to give a flat image independently of the eyepiece, so no further correction is required as far as focus is concerned - otherwise they should include a matching eyepiece with the PLAN objectives, which doesn't seem to be the case for generic Chinese manufactured PLAN objectives.

[@BritishBeachcomber]

He did say that matching eyepieces may be required to match the objectives for chromatic correction.

[@ElectricityTaster]

Are E-Plan objectives planar? I've seen achromatics, semi-plan, e-plan, and plan. Do they all use the same screw?

[@athomenotavailable]

Also if you are mounting a phone to capture your images, you have to zoom in by a lot and so the sides will be cropped out anyway,

[@ever.rip.]

Wow, thank you so much for explaining all this!

[@zachallerton1724]

Is it worth purchasing Plan Apochromatic Objectives for visual work? In other words, do you see a significant improvement in viewing with Plan APO objectives? Thank you Oliver!

[@MicrobehunterMicroscopy]

For visual observation alone probably not, becasue of the very high price. The human eye will produce a fuzzy image on the periphery, so the benefit of the plan apos is defeated anyway. chromatic aberration can be corrected digitally as well. If you intend to do photographic work, then definitively or if the structures are very fine and difficult to see (specific research interests). But for conventional observation, it is not only image quality that counts but also the specimens and that they are sufficiently interesting. But then again: I myself am saving for a microscope with fluorite objectives (not quite as expensive as apos). But one objective alone can still cost several hundred USD or EUR. There are some disadvantages as well, such as the reduced working distance. From what I read, if the lens is only a bit dirty then the advantage of the apochromatic objective is already destroyed. So there are also other factors to be considered.

[@zachallerton1724]

​@@MicrobehunterMicroscopy I appreciate your insight and observations. Although I do some photography, I think I will stick with my DPlan objectives at least for now. And yes, the APOs are prohibitively expensive. Thank you Oliver!

[@pinkpanther5379]

Hmmm.... If you wanted to re-use slides cleaning and re-applying things to look at would it be just as clear to use two slides instead of a cover slip? The cover slips are so frail. I don't like them.

[@SloopyJohnG]

The objective lens is subject to chromatic aberration if you use the incorect thickness of coverslip. Most lenses (other than those designed for metallurgy) are corrected for coverslips 0.17mm thick. Any other thickness will degrade the image quality. Using a second slide (about 60x too thick) will trash the view at all but the very lowest magnisification. Try it and see. Meyallurgical lenses (usually marked 'MET') are corrected for use with no cover glass at all, but that won't help you either. Instead, practice using coverslips with fine tweezers, a mounted needle etc. You will develop the skills for delicate handling.

[@surajradhakrishnan2414]

Can you suggest some books for amature microbhunters?

[@tiburd7]

AmScope makes several low-cost plan objectives for 160mm tube length.

[@ksenyamichalewska7924]

I purchased PLAN objectives for my old microscope that has 20.3mm sockets for eyepieces, and the view is worse than with the old Achromats. I suppose that my eyepieces are not PLAN compatible. Are there 20.3mm PLAN eyepieces?

[@BritishBeachcomber]

Hi Microbehunter. I'm thinking of buying a microscope with Infinity plan achromatic objectives. What is your opinion. Would it be a good choice

[@alexandrevaliquette3883]

It all depend of what you want to observe and your budget. Infinity plan is way more expensive and you might not see a significative difference if you don't do professional photography. I've bought the SWIFT 380B for 203$ Canadian (new open box) and the quality is amazing! Highly reccomend.

[@bendirval3612]

Eyepieces seem to get scratched, dirty, and damaged, and those defects are extremely visible when looking through the eyepieces. I find it difficult to clean eyepieces and there's nothing that can be done about damage to them. If you buy an old used microscope, new eyepieces would seem to be a pretty high priority. Plus they are relatively affordable, it seems.

[@TomFrajer]

Thanks, you are very good teacher, very clear explanations :)

[@gatotacha]

Gracias

[@kb2cxj]

what dose flat-field objective mean

[@alexandrevaliquette3883]

The outside of the image will be in focus. If the image was a pizza see from above, the crust will be blurred with general cheaper apochromatic objective. With plan or semi-plan, you will get most of the crust in focus! Bon appétit!

[@AlexanderTripolski]

Vwry Good!