Nikon M5 0.1 Microscope Objectives

[ray_parkhurst]

Here is the deal of the century...seems Technical Instruments, an eBay seller I have bought many items from with good history, picked up a surplus lot of Nikon M5 0.1 microscope objectives and is practically giving them away. They are going for $5 each, plus reasonable shipping that they reduce for multiple purchases. I bought several, but have not received them so can't vouch for their quality, but other reviews I've seen for this lens are favorable. I think they're at least as good as the 4Plan 0.1 I use for many of my variety shots. When I bought mine I got an email saying they're closed next week so won't be able to ship until 7/9, so I won't be able to give any opinions until they are likely all gone. They have more than 10 left now but have sold 58 of them already. Maybe they started with 100? I don't know, but if you have any interest in variety photography with a high quality microscope objective, now is the time to pull the trigger. BUT don't come back to me if they are damaged, hazy, or just bad quality...I'll be in the same boat as you since I can't check them out for almost two weeks...

Here is the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-M5-0-...em46109a3075 (http://www.coincommunity.com/go/f1.asp?target=http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-M5-0-1-Objective-/300926251125?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item46109a3075)

BTW #1...the M series objectives are for metallurgical microscopes, and have long working distances. What could be more appropriate for viewing coins than a metallurgical objective?

BTW #2...you will need an RMS adapter to make these work. I use cone shaped RMS-M42 adapters from jinfinance. Flat adapters are available and are a little cheaper. So if you buy one of these objectives, you will be committing yourself to paying an additional $12-$20 or more for an adapter to fit it to your camera or bellows.

edited to add: Here are a few choices of adapters, all RMS-M42:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RMS-Thread-...em5192a1613c (http://www.coincommunity.com/go/f1.asp?target=http://www.ebay.com/itm/RMS-Thread-to-M42-Adapter-for-microscope-objective-cone-/350352400700?pt=US_Lens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item5192a1613c)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RMS-to-M42-...em3a823ed20c (http://www.coincommunity.com/go/f1.asp?target=http://www.ebay.com/itm/RMS-to-M42-Microscope-Objective-Adapter-4-Micro-photography-0-8-inch-dia-36-TPI-/251293258252?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a823ed20c)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RMS-thread-...em19de68adcb (http://www.coincommunity.com/go/f1.asp?target=http://www.ebay.com/itm/RMS-thread-to-M42X1-adapter-for-Microscope-Objective-micrography-photomicrograph-/111105584587?pt=US_Surveillance_Accessories&hash=item19de68adcb)

[Antiquity]

How does this compare to the one you sold with the basic Lincoln Cent Photo setup you were selling in the trading post? If it is an upgrade and will fit on that setup, I will jump on it.

I am sure some where in all that camera tech language it already tells me, unfortunately I don't speak the language. :tinysmile_twink_t:

[ray_parkhurst]

The Nikon 4x Plan 0.1 I included in the photo setups is a great objective, but I expect the M5 to be about the same. They have slightly higher magnification at 5x vs 4x, but that will just make the date a bit bigger in the photo.

The important number when comparing objectives of similar magnification is the Numerical Aperture, or NA. Both the 4x Plan and the M5 have NA=0.1, so they will have comparable sharpness and depth of field.

[ray_parkhurst]

Picked up my M5 objectives today and they look really good. Here is a picture taken with one. As expected, this is similar quality to the 4x Plan 0.1 but with 5x magnification. Quite a deal for $5 each...Ray

http://i943.photobucket.com/albums/ad273/rparkhurst/NikonM5-1_03.jpg

[jcuve]

Drats, I was too late. All gone...
Nice photo Ray.

[Roller]

I picked one up. Should be delivered this week.

[Roller]

Thanks for the heads-up Ray. BTW which one of the adapters will fit a Nikon mount?

[ray_parkhurst]

Thanks for the heads-up Ray. BTW which one of the adapters will fit a Nikon mount?

None will fit Nikon directly. All the ones I linked to go to M42. So in addition you need a Nikon-M42 adapter like this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/M42-Lens-to-Nikon-Mount-AI-Adapter-D80-D90-D200-D300-D700-D3X-D5000-D7000-D3000-/310509618388?pt=US_Lens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item484bd0c4d4

or this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/M42-Lens-to-NIKON-D60-D90-D400-D700-D3000-D5000-Adapter-/290931198052?pt=US_Lens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item43bcd9c864

M42 is sort of a "middleman" thread that is convenient for everything, so you can almost always find X-M42 and M42-Y adapters so that you can fit X and Y together.

Ray

[Roller]

Just noticed that the 5100 is not listed in either link. Will it work? Of course the connection is the bellows, not the camera, and I don't know if that's different. I now have a Vivitar flat field zoom attached to the bellows right now.

[ray_parkhurst]

Just noticed that the 5100 is not listed in either link. Will it work? Of course the connection is the bellows, not the camera, and I don't know if that's different. I now have a Vivitar flat field zoom attached to the bellows right now.

The D5100 has the same mount as the D5000, D3000, D3100, etc. Any Nikon-F adapter should work. Is your bellows Nikon-F mount?

[Roller]

The D5100 has the same mount as the D5000, D3000, D3100, etc. Any Nikon-F adapter should work. Is your bellows Nikon-F mount?
Yes, it is.

[ray_parkhurst]

Yes, it is.

Then those adapters should work fine, independent of the camera...Ray

[Roller]

Then those adapters should work fine, independent of the camera...Ray
So, if I understand correctly, I will need the cone RMS-M42 adapter to hold the microscope objective and the M42 flat adapter to attach the assembly to my Nikon mount bellows.

[ray_parkhurst]

So, if I understand correctly, I will need the cone RMS-M42 adapter to hold the microscope objective and the M42 flat adapter to attach the assembly to my Nikon mount bellows.

Yes, exactly right...Ray

[ray_parkhurst]

FYI, I measured the working distance (WD) of the M5 and it is around 17mm. This is long enough to get reasonable lighting in, but not with full flexibility as it limits the lighting angle to around 60deg. There are long and ultralong WD objectives out there, and in fact my favorites are the Nikon 3x and 5x Measuring Microscopes objectives with 75mm and 64mm WD respectively. But a cheaper alternative is the Unitron 3x Measuring objective, which is small and much less expensive. It doesn't provide full APS-C coverage at 3x, but if you push it to 4x it is reasonably sharp at the corners and is still very sharp in the center. Here's a stack I took with the 3x Unitron with extra extension to bring the magnification to around 4x. This stack was 15 images, and the WD was a very respectable 45mm:

http://i943.photobucket.com/albums/ad273/rparkhurst/3xUnitron-1_02.jpg

[Roller]

Ray, I got the last of the parts today. Took a few trial shots with not much attention to lighting. How much of the coin should I be able to get into a frame at the widest angle?

[ray_parkhurst]

Nikon's APS-C sensors are 24mm x 16mm, so you should be able to see 24/5 x 16/5 or a 4.8mm x 3.2mm field of view. I'd suggest putting a ruler down where the coin goes and adjusting the extension until you have a little less than 5mm field of view in the final image.