I can’t speak to whether your lens is defective or not, but figuring out if there’s an issue with the threads is pretty easy to diagnose.
Unscrew the bottom lens and look at the threads. If they’re stripped or damaged you should be able to visually see it. Also when you unscrew the lens is there any resistance anywhere? That’s also a sign. If the threads are in good shape each thread should look crisp, kind of like a knife or a chisel edge. If the threads are damaged, you’ll see that the threads are not sharp and crisp where there’s damage.
It’s pretty easy to pull the microscope from the stand. Pull the microscope out of the stand and flip it over. I’d recommend setting it down on something soft like a pillow. With the bottom lens out, look inside at the internal threads for the same kind of thread damage. You may need to shine a flashlight up there. While you’re doing that look to see if there’s anything else obviously wrong.
Yesterday, I did this with my scope to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. My lower lens screwed out and back in easily, plus all the threads were clean and sharp.
Hopefully, you’ll get this problem resolved quickly! Fingers crossed!!
you guys, i think someone at vevor installed the glass upside down on this lens. just realized if i hold it there (since it won’t screw that way), its clear!!! could this really be? for now, i’ve taped it on. this is the video i sent to vevor. unbelievable!!
If you live in a big city, you can take the lens or even the whole microscope to a scientific supply store. That way you could make sure the lens fits and works.
I did check Otto Frei & Gesswein. Otto Frei sells Meiji auxiliary lenses, but I don’t know if they fit? They’re $180.
HI Christine,
My sympathies on your very bumpy ride to magnification heaven! Your scope is very common and you should be able to find a replacement lens if needed. Look for some way to get a new one to try which is returnable for nothing or for cheap.
To clarify, however, it was clear from your picture that the lens didn't screw in with it's center line aligned with the center line of your lens. One side of your image was more out of focus than the other and you showed arrows to indicate it was screwed on crooked. So that's problem number one. You could hold the adapter in the light path and move it around and get the lens straight and get everything equally in focus...just brace the adapter on the housing at one point and correct the misalignment. You can play with it and get it to show you an image that is equally in or out of focus across the field.
Your second problem is whether the lens is reversed or not. This is easy to do in manufacturing...the lens drops into the sleeve and then a retaining ring is screwed in to hold it in place. Very easy to flip the lens and someone forgot to check for that! A 0.5x lens is a *reducing lens*. It produces negative magnification. It's probably convex on one side and concave on the other, kind of like a thick parenthesis symbol. If you use it alone, and look thru it, things should look smaller and further away. The bulge of the convex side is probably away from you. Things look about half as big as they do without it, which is what 0.5x means!
If you found someone with a lens spanner, they could remove the single lens and get the misalignment fixed (assuming that the lens is just in there crooked and maybe upside down) and retighten the retaining ring, but it may be simpler to get a new adapter.
I hope some of this explanation is helpful and good luck with gettting it fixed, because working with a stereo microscope is awesome and makes some of our close work so much easier and better!
-royjohn (who has taken many lenses apart and even gotten most of them back together!)
Christine…just talking about the imaginary center line at right angles to the plane of the lens in the housing. If the lens is put in right, the center line of the lens and that of the housing are the same. Just like a jar lid going on right…or not. There’s a ledge or shoulder on the lens housing (which has the threads on it) where the lens is supposed to rest. Sometimes, because of close tolerances, the lens somehow gets hung up and doesn’t sit on the shoulder and is crooked. I hope that make sense! And then, as you said, it might be upside down, too.
I just checked. My auxiliary lens says: 0.5x WD165. There’s a pile of those auxiliary lenses on Amazon for under $30. All of the info that you need to replace your defective lens is probably written on it.
thanks everyone, i got vevor to agree to send me a new lens, it’s going to take forever so i might just buy one on amazon per your comment Jeff. If I get a new one and that one doesn’t look right, i’m gonna lose my mind! will keep you updated
just updating you all, I just got the replacement lens in the mail and wouldn’t you know it, crystal clear!!! very validating that I’m not an idiot who can’t figure out a microscope
