Microscope: Objectives

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Patho2009

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Just curious to know...

Apart from the 100X objective, what is the non-oil objective of highest power you use in your own office microscope: Is it 40X or 60X?
 
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Speaking of objectives, does anyone know why the 2X is so low to the stage while 4X is a lot higher? It would be nice if 2X were higher so you can dot on it.
 
Good observation. I think this is because X2 requires flipping the condensor. The condensors usually work for objectives 4X to 100X. When using X2, you have to use the flipper (flip-out lens)..but the flipping occurs below the stage, not above. Anyway, X2 length is larger than that of X4, leading to less space available for using markers with X2 than with X4. I really don't know why X2 is longer..I think this has something to do with optics.
 
Hahaha, I've asked myself the 2x question a million times. I'm glad I'm not the only one.
 
I have heard that it actually requires more lenses inside the objective in order to obtain a 2x mag (as opposed to 4x). This was word of mouth from someone who obviously understood optics much better than I ever will, but I don't know if it is really true. Seems reasonable, and seeing as I am not planning on cutting my 2x in half to find out, it satisfies my curiosity for the time being. 😉

To answer OP's question, I use 40x (also like 20x as stated above). I had a 60x high dry before and I did not like it (never seemed very clear...maybe it had been oiled on accident before I got it or something). I like dermpath, so in general I am more of a low-power type of pathologist!
 
I also have 60X but for certain reasons it is always fuzzy. I asked a microscope professional and told me that 60X is affected by the coverlsip thickness + mounting medium thickness. Because the total thickness of both is variable, 60X magnification can appear fuzzy and 60X focusing has to be adjusted according to the thickness you have.!!
 
I think you can get a dry lens (no oil) up to 100x but I have never seen one over 60x personally. I don't really use 60x. I have a 50x and 100x oil but use it only for hemepath and occasionally looking at bug stains.
 
I only -have- up to 40x dry, plus 100x oil. These days I essentially never use the 100x oil, though I'm glad it's available. In residency we had a couple of scopes with a 60x/"high dry," and I really liked them. Come to think of it, one I always had difficulty focusing with, but I always assumed it was dirty or scratched. Seemed like a good way to avoid oiling everything up when I didn't really have to; worked for me for everything except some heme and rare micro-organisms I wanted a better look at. Wish I still had a 2x, but that's a different topic.
 
Inherited a couple of office-owned scopes, neither with a 2x, and just haven't taken the time to find a 2x to add/replace. Instead I complain to myself in my head every time I pop a new slide up there (I don't do a lot of histology anymore so that's not exactly every day, though some forensic offices do a few on every case). But, yes, I doooooo miss it.
 
I'm not sure which 60X objectives the rest of you are using. The one I in my office has a collar around the objective for additional focusing. I'm wondering if that's what you use to account for coverslip, mounting media & slide thickness.

That being said, I don't use it very much. Like some of the other responders, I mainly use it to look for organisms.


----- Antony
 
Mine doesn't have a collar. This explains why it appears fuzzy!!!!!
 
That "collar" is used to adjust for coverslip thickness ( or lack thereof) and is usually found on the higher end objectives such as the olympus S-plan APO's of 40X plus. If you look at lots of objectives you will see a "0.17" which is the built-in coverslip intended usage. if you do not have a correction collar and you use it on non coverslipped slides ( or for 50x, 60x,100x objectives intended for the 0.17) you may get less than optimal results. For example, my olympus s-plan 100x oil has 0.17 on it and does not have a correction collar and is best used on blood films with a 0.17 mm coverslip. I have the Olympus flourite 2x and s-plan apo's in 4x, 10x, 20x and 40x. The S-plan apo 100x is over $2000 and i just don't use one enough to bite that bullet. i am generally talking about the objectives for the 160mm optical tube lenght and not the newer infinity lenght corrected objectives, although i believe the above is still valid.
 
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We have one community scope with a 60x and collar. It is a nice novelty and I use it often for taking pictures of things, especially organisms or cytology. I guess it would be neat to have one of my own at some point, but not a necessity. I have not tried, but I imagine it would be helpful for questionable H. pylori.
 
on our multiheaded microscope, they took the oil objective off so that the oil does not spoil other objectives, mainly 40X..the neighbour of X100!!!!!
 
Patho2009 said:
on our multiheaded microscope, they took the oil objective off so that the oil does not spoil other objectives, mainly 40X..the neighbour of X100!!!!!
Click to expand...

Exactly. I may have to take it off and hide it from the CP folks. In vet path, anatomics rarely use oil - usually it is the CP residents doing cytology who use it (damn grease monkeys :laugh:). Since our residencies are split due to innumerable species differences (CP and AP are separate residencies with separate board certs, that is) , usually the CP folks doing cyto and hematology are away from the AP folks doing histo, but nothin irks me more than getting my biopsy specimen on 40x on a community/multi scope (which are usually better than my personal office scope which I hope will be upgraded soon) and going...."wait...fuzzy..DAMMIT!"
 
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