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It is called a relay lens because it is a lens that relays the image to the camera. Also called photo eyepiece. If without this lens, the image does not reach to the camera.
There are various magnifications of the relay lens, and it will be selected according to the size of the sensor of the camera. For a microscope camera with a small sensor size, use an adapter with a relay lens less than 1 time. A camera adapter incorporating a relay lens of 0.3x to 1x can be easily found in Amazon or eBay. Although they are almost the same, so there are not many manufacturers. There seems to be a conspicuous dark attenuation of the relay lens which reduces it. I actually used the Nikon DXM 1200 microscope camera equipped with 2/3 inch sensor connected to a 0.5x relay lens. Certainly, the four corners appear dark. It seems that a 0.63x relay lens was attached to the DXM 1200, so it may not suitable to 0.5x.
The adapter that can be used with the lens exchange type camera of the APS - C sensor is 2.5 times or more. It seems that the magnification of the relay lens that matches APS - C is 1.67x, but I have not seen a relay lens of 1.67x. Relay lens with 1.67x magnification may not exist. When I was photographing microscopic pictures with film, full size was commonplace, APS size film cameras existed for several years and disappeared as overlapping with the digital camera rise period. Therefore, it seems that there was no market value for the APS size relay lens. Even with a relay lens of 2.5x, I think that the shooting area is enough. If you want to shoot more wide area, you can choose low magnification objective lens. A relay lens more than 2.5x can be used when simply wanting to enlarge it. I think that this use is most important. Since the focal point of the microscope is fixed, it cannot be brought close to the subject in order to enlarge it, therefore, replacing the relay lens to use as a zoom lens.
Here is an example of shooting with a camera with APS-C size sensor using a 2.5x relay lens.
When you shoot with APS-C size camera with a combination of 10x objective lens and 2.5x relay lens
23.4 mm (long side of the sensor) / 10 (objective lens magnification) / 2.5 (relay lens magnification) = 936 μm
Therefore the long side of the photograph is 936 μm. (For other combinations of magnification lenses, we can calculate only by changing the numerical value, so we omit it.)
The camera adapter we sell here is designed to be about this size.
These relay lenses are on the market such as auctions.
FK is an old type relay lens, and the diameter of the lens mounting part is 23.2 mm for both FK and NFK. FK is for an objective lens with a focal length of 36.65 mm, and NFK is a relay lens for an objective lens with a focal length of 45 mm. However, these two relay lenses are used in a system with a 45 mm focal length of the objective lens, but both FK and NFK can be used exactly the same way. I never felt degradation of image quality. Strictly there may be something different, but it seems there are no problems in using it as a hobby. In addition, since the diameter of the lens mounting part is 23.2 mm, it also fits in the camera port of Nikon's old microscope. It was also attached to the camera port of the tri-lens barrel of AmScope's stereomicroscope. (It may be possible to attach to other AmScope microscopes.) Moreover, it can attach to the Zeiss microscope having a relay lens attachment part of 30 mm in diameter by attaching an adapter changing diameter 30 to 23.2 mm.
PE is a relay lens for the latest UIS, UIS-2 optics. Olympus is proceeding in a direction not to use a camera of a large sensor size so this relay lens will be the last model. The diameter of mounting part is 25 mm, therefore, PE is not compatible with FK, NFK because the diameter of the lens mounting part is different.
This is a shooting area of Nikon 1 with 1” type CX format sensor.
Green frame: Nikon1 using with a 2.5x relay lens.
Red frame: Nikon1 using with 1x relay lens. I do not have a 1 × relay lens, so it is speculation.
With a combination of 1x relay lens and 1” type CX-format sensor, it seems that it can capture the same area as the combination of 2.5x relay lens and the full frame 35 mm sensor camera. If you are a Nikon microscope user and you feel that a full frame 35 mm camera is expensive but you want to shoot as much of the field of view as possible, a combination of a 1x relay lens and Nikon 1 may be better. However, Nikon 1 has a drawback as a camera for a microscope.
The Zeiss relay lens seems to be only 2.5x for the current optical system. It is not in the current catalog so details are unknown.
The old Zeiss relay lens can be found on eBay at a low price. It is unknown whether it can be diverted to other microscopes.
It is called a relay lens because it is a lens that relays the image to the camera. Also called photo eyepiece. If without this lens, the image does not reach to the camera.
There are various magnifications of the relay lens, and it will be selected according to the size of the sensor of the camera. For a microscope camera with a small sensor size, use an adapter with a relay lens less than 1 time. A camera adapter incorporating a relay lens of 0.3x to 1x can be easily found in Amazon or eBay. Although they are almost the same, so there are not many manufacturers. There seems to be a conspicuous dark attenuation of the relay lens which reduces it. I actually used the Nikon DXM 1200 microscope camera equipped with 2/3 inch sensor connected to a 0.5x relay lens. Certainly, the four corners appear dark. It seems that a 0.63x relay lens was attached to the DXM 1200, so it may not suitable to 0.5x.
The adapter that can be used with the lens exchange type camera of the APS - C sensor is 2.5 times or more. It seems that the magnification of the relay lens that matches APS - C is 1.67x, but I have not seen a relay lens of 1.67x. Relay lens with 1.67x magnification may not exist. When I was photographing microscopic pictures with film, full size was commonplace, APS size film cameras existed for several years and disappeared as overlapping with the digital camera rise period. Therefore, it seems that there was no market value for the APS size relay lens. Even with a relay lens of 2.5x, I think that the shooting area is enough. If you want to shoot more wide area, you can choose low magnification objective lens. A relay lens more than 2.5x can be used when simply wanting to enlarge it. I think that this use is most important. Since the focal point of the microscope is fixed, it cannot be brought close to the subject in order to enlarge it, therefore, replacing the relay lens to use as a zoom lens.
This is the shooting area of each sensor size when using 2.5x relay lens.
Blue frame: The full-size shooting area. This is speculation because I do not have a full-size camera.
Green frame: The shooting area of CX format. CX format is a 1” type sensor used in Nikon 1.
Red frame: The shooting area of the APS-C sensor.
Here is an example of shooting with a camera with APS-C size sensor using a 2.5x relay lens.
When you shoot with APS-C size camera with a combination of 10x objective lens and 2.5x relay lens
23.4 mm (long side of the sensor) / 10 (objective lens magnification) / 2.5 (relay lens magnification) = 936 μm
Therefore the long side of the photograph is 936 μm. (For other combinations of magnification lenses, we can calculate only by changing the numerical value, so we omit it.)
The camera adapter we sell here is designed to be about this size.
A micrometer with 100 μm scale
Camera Sony NEX - 5N (APS - C)
Objective lens Olympus Splan 4
Relay lens Olympus NFK 2.5
Camera adapter for OLYMPUS Trinocular head
A micrometer with 100 μm scale
Camera Sony NEX - 5N (APS - C)
Objective lens Olympus Splan 10
Relay lens Olympus NFK 2.5
Camera adapter for OLYMPUS Trinocular head
Micrometer of 10 μm scale
Camera Sony NEX - 5N (APS - C)
Objective lens Nikon 20
Relay lens Olympus NFK 2.5
Camera adapter for OLYMPUS Trinocular head
Olympus relay lens
FK 2.5x
FK 3.3x
FK 5x
FK 6.7x
NFK 2.5x
NFK 3.3x
NFK 5x
NFK 6.7x
PE 2.5 x
PE 3.3 x
PE 5 x
These relay lenses are on the market such as auctions.
FK is an old type relay lens, and the diameter of the lens mounting part is 23.2 mm for both FK and NFK. FK is for an objective lens with a focal length of 36.65 mm, and NFK is a relay lens for an objective lens with a focal length of 45 mm. However, these two relay lenses are used in a system with a 45 mm focal length of the objective lens, but both FK and NFK can be used exactly the same way. I never felt degradation of image quality. Strictly there may be something different, but it seems there are no problems in using it as a hobby. In addition, since the diameter of the lens mounting part is 23.2 mm, it also fits in the camera port of Nikon's old microscope. It was also attached to the camera port of the tri-lens barrel of AmScope's stereomicroscope. (It may be possible to attach to other AmScope microscopes.) Moreover, it can attach to the Zeiss microscope having a relay lens attachment part of 30 mm in diameter by attaching an adapter changing diameter 30 to 23.2 mm.
PE is a relay lens for the latest UIS, UIS-2 optics. Olympus is proceeding in a direction not to use a camera of a large sensor size so this relay lens will be the last model. The diameter of mounting part is 25 mm, therefore, PE is not compatible with FK, NFK because the diameter of the lens mounting part is different.
Nikon's relay lens
Nikon's relay lens has magnifications of 1x, 2.5x, 4x, 5x and so on. The 1x relay lens can be used for taking pictures with Nikon 1 with 1” type sensor. The Nikon relay lens of the OptiPhot generation is incompatible with the Olympus relay lens because of the difference of diameter of attachment port.
This is a shooting area of Nikon 1 with 1” type CX format sensor.
Green frame: Nikon1 using with a 2.5x relay lens.
Red frame: Nikon1 using with 1x relay lens. I do not have a 1 × relay lens, so it is speculation.
Zeiss relay lens
The old Zeiss relay lens can be found on eBay at a low price. It is unknown whether it can be diverted to other microscopes.
Full-size image can get on the APS-C sensor using a 0.71x reducer adapter, details are in
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