Excellent demonstration! Fortunately, the plan objectives are not so expensive as to preclude having the extra one. The next demonstration I would like to see is a comparison between a cheap chinese objective and a top dollar Lietz or other premium objective. Is the difference as obvious as the difference in this video or is there some "politics" in the pricing of the expensive objectives!
Wowee some of my favorite UA-cam celebrities talking about some hard hitting topics, small world ! Thank you Oliver for the video, I was thinking about this the other night and now I can put it rest!
Thanks so much for covering this topic. I just recently bought a phase-contrast microscope and just to save time keep the PC objective installed even when I've switched to a bright-field condenser. My results are similar to yours and it's nice to see this is OK to do. These are really interesting topics. Enjoying them a lot!
hello Oliver.this is an older video but I noticed on around 1:00 minute you held your objective lens in a plastic round device? to easily mount your lens into the scope?I have a Nikon objectives do you know the JOHN WATERMEIER of your device or where I can get one?I have trouble aligning threads in to the mount sometimes.thanks John
I think this is the cap of the container that you keep objectives in! Sometimes they are made to attatch to the lid instead of resting on ledges inside the container like maybe yours does? Unfortunately this wouldnt help with aligning the threads.
Thanks for the research. This is a question I also had and never found a serious answer. Now I can probably buy a used Olympus BH2; it is equipped with a regular Abbe condenser but one of the objectives, the 40x, is for phase contrast (after the 40 it shows PL which of course stands for Positive Low). I have a regular long barrel A40 from Olympus, so I can do the same comparison as you did. The extra challenge here is that the pc 40 objective is also labeled SPLAN, so it has an extra advantage. If I can’t see a difference in resolution, it will stay. Even when I don’t have a phase contrast condenser for the BH2. I have one for the BH, I wonder if that would fit…
Let's say I get a objectives set of brightfields and a set for phase contrast and a turret condenser with 4 phase options and a brightfield iris. Will I get the best of both?
Yes, this is what I have. The condenser has Phase annuli and also a brightfield option. If you use the phase annuli on other objective magnifications, then you also get darkfield. At least for mine.
@@MicrobehunterMicroscopyaaah same here, except i have 4 adjusting knobs at bottom part of PC condenser, 1 for each annulus. what fun i had playing with all combinations. then i replaced the 100x oil with 40x BF, so i compared both 40x! scary to play with samples that suddenly show shitloads of bacteria i didn't see before 😖. thank you for your superb videos
I'm really trying to get the most bang for my buck, waited for a sale and got a microscope with 4, 10, 40, and 100x lenses. Bought a 60x since I didn't like using the oil and it was dark and difficult to see anyways, and I'm quite happy with it. I've made my own dark field filter thanks to your video as well as get some linear polarizing film, so I can see and do quite a bit with the microscope. I find my next limiting factors to be UV and phase contrast, but I'm afraid phase contrast might be too expensive and complicated to switch between with just one microscope, but still I guess I have something to work for in the future while I inspect these other forms. My wife and I have spent countless hours watching different samples of water especially, it's been awesome. Just yesterday I found my first rotifer, it was one of the things I had wanted to get a microscope to see if I could find, it was exciting! Seen lots of diatoms, amoebas, paramecium, some larvae and of course various worms... still on a quest to find some tartigrades, but I've been impressed at what a few hours of searching can help you find. Also it's been interesting to verify live cultures in things like "cider vinegar with the mother", yogurt, and even in additives with "good bacteria" for septic tank use, amazing you can buy these products and shelf them for a year and find life. Ok not the yogurt, I don't keep yogurt for a year lol.
I did make a comment about phase objectives being out of my price range, but I am very curious if it'd be possible to get some kind of result making my own phase contrast lens. It would be very difficult I think, but trying with a 35 dollar lens vs paying 100 or more might be a fun experiment for me.
I have read articles to the contrary, but your comparisons absolutely refute those claims, and show that the image quality is substantially reduced with P.C. objective. You have saved me from replacing my excellent DPlan objectives with PL objectives and being very disappointed, not to mention wasting a lot of money. Thank you for this video.
That's interesting. Which articles were these? Maybe they did not compare the same type of objectives? Maybe modern high quality Phase objectives produce a better image than low quality non-phase. But with everything being equal, I can not quite imagine that the phase ring has no influence at all.
Hi Oliver. Thanks to your video, I have removed the quarter wave plate from a leitz PV 10x phase contrast lens, and to my surprise it was like an achromatic recovering the contrast and colors. It was easy to achieve because it was located in the back of the lens, then I tried with a 20x PV phase contrast but it was impossible because it is located between the elements. Thank you.
No you can't. You either have a phase contrast annulus or a DIC prism under the specimen. Not possibe to have both. My favorite technique depends on the specimen, some techiniques are better then others for some specimens. Bacteria are very good in phase contrast. DIC for larger water microorganisms, regular brightfield for tissue cross-sections,
Thank you for taking the time to explain things!
Hi oliver
You have been the best microscopy teacher ever since day one
Luv your channel alot
Thx for teaching us everything you know😌👍🏻✌🏼😁
Excellent demonstration! Fortunately, the plan objectives are not so expensive as to preclude having the extra one. The next demonstration I would like to see is a comparison between a cheap chinese objective and a top dollar Lietz or other premium objective. Is the difference as obvious as the difference in this video or is there some "politics" in the pricing of the expensive objectives!
Wowee some of my favorite UA-cam celebrities talking about some hard hitting topics, small world !
Thank you Oliver for the video, I was thinking about this the other night and now I can put it rest!
Thanks so much for covering this topic. I just recently bought a phase-contrast microscope and just to save time keep the PC objective installed even when I've switched to a bright-field condenser. My results are similar to yours and it's nice to see this is OK to do. These are really interesting topics. Enjoying them a lot!
Thank you for making this video! Easily the best comparison I've seen. I'm sure this will help a lot of people with the same question.
hello Oliver.this is an older video but I noticed on around 1:00 minute you held your objective lens in a plastic round device? to easily mount your lens into the scope?I have a Nikon objectives do you know the JOHN WATERMEIER of your device or where I can get one?I have trouble aligning threads in to the mount sometimes.thanks John
I think this is the cap of the container that you keep objectives in! Sometimes they are made to attatch to the lid instead of resting on ledges inside the container like maybe yours does? Unfortunately this wouldnt help with aligning the threads.
Thank you sir for sharing your precious knowledge with us...❤️
Thanks for all you do, very informative
Thanks for the research. This is a question I also had and never found a serious answer. Now I can probably buy a used Olympus BH2; it is equipped with a regular Abbe condenser but one of the objectives, the 40x, is for phase contrast (after the 40 it shows PL which of course stands for Positive Low). I have a regular long barrel A40 from Olympus, so I can do the same comparison as you did. The extra challenge here is that the pc 40 objective is also labeled SPLAN, so it has an extra advantage. If I can’t see a difference in resolution, it will stay. Even when I don’t have a phase contrast condenser for the BH2. I have one for the BH, I wonder if that would fit…
Let's say I get a objectives set of brightfields and a set for phase contrast and a turret condenser with 4 phase options and a brightfield iris. Will I get the best of both?
Yes, this is what I have. The condenser has Phase annuli and also a brightfield option. If you use the phase annuli on other objective magnifications, then you also get darkfield. At least for mine.
@@MicrobehunterMicroscopy thank you you're really helpful!
@@MicrobehunterMicroscopyaaah same here, except i have 4 adjusting knobs at bottom part of PC condenser, 1 for each annulus. what fun i had playing with all combinations. then i replaced the 100x oil with 40x BF, so i compared both 40x! scary to play with samples that suddenly show shitloads of bacteria i didn't see before 😖. thank you for your superb videos
Great explanation video thank you as I am currently looking at phase contrast objectives to add to my scope
I'm really trying to get the most bang for my buck, waited for a sale and got a microscope with 4, 10, 40, and 100x lenses. Bought a 60x since I didn't like using the oil and it was dark and difficult to see anyways, and I'm quite happy with it. I've made my own dark field filter thanks to your video as well as get some linear polarizing film, so I can see and do quite a bit with the microscope. I find my next limiting factors to be UV and phase contrast, but I'm afraid phase contrast might be too expensive and complicated to switch between with just one microscope, but still I guess I have something to work for in the future while I inspect these other forms.
My wife and I have spent countless hours watching different samples of water especially, it's been awesome. Just yesterday I found my first rotifer, it was one of the things I had wanted to get a microscope to see if I could find, it was exciting! Seen lots of diatoms, amoebas, paramecium, some larvae and of course various worms... still on a quest to find some tartigrades, but I've been impressed at what a few hours of searching can help you find.
Also it's been interesting to verify live cultures in things like "cider vinegar with the mother", yogurt, and even in additives with "good bacteria" for septic tank use, amazing you can buy these products and shelf them for a year and find life. Ok not the yogurt, I don't keep yogurt for a year lol.
Hi, can i use a phase contrast objective without the phase condenser?
Thanks --- some solid info!
I did make a comment about phase objectives being out of my price range, but I am very curious if it'd be possible to get some kind of result making my own phase contrast lens. It would be very difficult I think, but trying with a 35 dollar lens vs paying 100 or more might be a fun experiment for me.
I have read articles to the contrary, but your comparisons absolutely refute those claims, and show that the image quality is substantially reduced with P.C. objective. You have saved me from replacing my excellent DPlan objectives with PL objectives and being very disappointed, not to mention wasting a lot of money. Thank you for this video.
That's interesting. Which articles were these? Maybe they did not compare the same type of objectives? Maybe modern high quality Phase objectives produce a better image than low quality non-phase. But with everything being equal, I can not quite imagine that the phase ring has no influence at all.
That’s actually quite a noticeable difference, glad I saw this video!
Hi Oliver.
Thanks to your video, I have removed the quarter wave plate from a leitz PV 10x phase contrast lens, and to my surprise it was like an achromatic recovering the contrast and colors. It was easy to achieve because it was located in the back of the lens, then I tried with a 20x PV phase contrast but it was impossible because it is located between the elements.
Thank you.
Great side by side comparison! Thank you!
Which phase-constrat microscope will you recommend, not higher than 1000$ With darkfield
I see value in both types of images. Is there a depth of field difference between the two?
Good video.
Is it possible to do phase contrast and DIC at the same time? Or what are your favorite illumination techniques to combine together?
No you can't. You either have a phase contrast annulus or a DIC prism under the specimen. Not possibe to have both. My favorite technique depends on the specimen, some techiniques are better then others for some specimens. Bacteria are very good in phase contrast. DIC for larger water microorganisms, regular brightfield for tissue cross-sections,
@@MicrobehunterMicroscopy Thank you!
Thank you very much
thanks.
the loss of image quality in PH is as grate as the loss of money buing this objectives
without brightfield PH-objectives can not be aligned