Good and Cheap 10x Objective

[rmpsrpms]

I'm always looking for good deals on high quality optics, and I have found a "ringer" to alert you all to: the Bausch & Lomb 10x 0.25 16mm. In general I have not found B&L microscope objectives to be particularly good, at least the lower power ones. So when I bought this B&L 10x it was with modest expectations. But for $12 shipped, I could not pass up the opportunity. It turns out this objective is indeed very good, and is sharp out to the corners of the APS-C sensor. It also has excellent working distance, making the subject very easy to light. Best of all, it is very available on eBay for peanuts! One seller has 120 NOS objectives for sale at $25 each, so there should not be a shortage of supply.

 

For comparison, I tested my Nikon M10 0.25, my best 10x objective, in the same lighting situation. The Nikon requires a longer extension, so I had to adjust the bellows between these two, and I was not very careful about matching the magnification, but they are not too far off. I did a simple 6-image stack on both, which is actually not sufficient but will give you an idea of what the objectives can achieve.

 

Here are the comparison images:

 

B&L 10x

 

Nikon 10x

[RWB]

Nice photos!