Oil Immersion Operation

Objectives marked "Oil" are oil immersion type objectives (Typically these come in 50x and 100x). Objectives of this type require immersion oil to be applied between the specimen and the tip of the objective.

Air bubbles in the immersion oil will decrease image quality. Thus, it is important to keep these bubbles from forming during specimen preparation.

To check for air bubbles follow these steps:

1)Fully open the field diaphragm and aperture diaphragm.
2)Remove the eyepiece.
3)Examine the exit pupil (the bright round section)of the objective inside the eyepiece tube.

If you have trouble determining whether or not you are suffering from specimen degradation due to air bubbles using the method above, you can use the following method.

1)Attach a centering telescope. (optional accessory on clinical microscopes)
2)Look for air bubbles while turning the eyepiece section of the centering telescope to adjust focus.

How to remove air bubbles from your oil:

Turn the revolving nosepiece slightly to move the oil-immersion objective back and forth once or twice which will move the oil and disperse the bubbles.

or

Add more oil.
or

If the two above options fail, you will have to remove the oil and apply new oil.

Cleaning immersion oil:

Immersion oil is messy when it's not applied properly. Use as little oil as possible. You need just enough to make the connection between the tip of the objective and your specimen.

After use, thoroughly wipe off all the oil on the tip of your oil objective. (Also check to make sure you don't have cross contamination of your dry objectives in the event that the oil may have gotten on the non-oil objectives.)You should also thoroughly wipe off the condenser.

Cleaners:

Use petroleum benzine to wipe off immersion oil. For optimal results, you should follow up with a final cleaning using methyl alcohol.

Note: When using immersion oil during Fluorescent microscopy, you should use non-fluorescing immersion oil. This oil is typically marked NF on the bottle and can be purchased from authorized Nikon Microscope dealers.

Your microscope is an expensive investment. Keeping it cleaned and calibrated is good practice. We recommend you have your microscope serviced by a reputable microscope service company at least once a year if you operate in a clinical or research environment that uses oil immersion. You should also ask your service technician to give your staff a quick tutorial on how to use the microscope properly.

Flourescent Microscopy

Fluorescent Microscopy is my favorite type of microscopy.

The use of stains and dyes to isolate particular specimen characteristics makes for some beautiful slides. These images were taken with a DK3000 microscopy camera on a Nikon 50i fluorescent microscope.


Feel free to add your favorite images from your fluorescent microscopy image captures.

Microscope Objectives- Who has the edge in quality?

The big three in the microscope industry (Nikon, Olympus, and Leica)are highly competitive and all make excellent microscopes for both the clinical and research level laboratories.




Nikon however employs CFI60 lenses which generally have higher N.A.s and longer working distances than comparable infinity objectives from other manufacturers. The CFI160 microscope objectives provide increased resolution, greater light-gathering capability, and high performance in confocal imaging. Longer working distances allow thicker specimens to be focused from top to bottom without fear of breaking the cover glass or damaging the objective. Applying immersion oil is easier, as is changing specimens. Thicker-bottomed chambers may be accommodated on the microscope and micromanipulation becomes possible with lenses of higher magnification.




This technology gives Nikon a slight advantage in terms of optical clarity and quality over Leica and Olympus. Although, you probably wouldn't be able to tell unless you viewed the same specimen through the different microscopes as they sat side by side, it's nice to know that you're getting a slight edge in value for your money. The Nikon objectives also aid when your using digital imaging on your microscopy system.




Whether you're using, phase, plan, apochromat, or fluorite objectives, Nikon has the edge in optical clarity of the big three microscope manufacturers.

The Best Laboratory Microscope for under $2,000.00 - Nikon Eclipse 200

I'm often asked my opinion of which clinical level laboratory microscope is the best for the laboratory who's chief concern is budget. I've tried to determine which microscope provides the most quality for a budget of under $2,000.00

The Nikon E 200 is the cream of the crop, with regards to the under $2,000.00 microscope class for clinical laboratories. It comes preconfigured with 4x, 10x, 40x, and 100x oil PLAN objectives. The eyepieces are 10x with a 20mm field of view. The optics are amazing. The quality of the microscope is tops. We've been in the microscope service business since 1969, and have serviced every brand, make, and model of microscope out there, and I can honestly say, that the Nikon E 200 is the best clinical microscope for end users who require an affordable high quality microscope on a budget of $2,000.00 or less.

The Nikon E200 is also fully upgradeable to a fluorescent unit. It's also available in a trinocular version for people interested in digital imaging of specimens. Polarization accessories, as well as a teaching head (side by side, and face to face) configurations are also available. This microscope is fully upgradable, so you can add features as you go along.

Nikon provides a 5 year warranty and problems with this particular model are virtually non-existent.

The good thing with Nikon is, you never have to pay retail if you're willing to negotiate, and the customer service is the class of the industry.

Nikon Microscope Sales and Pricing