Re: Nikon, Leica, or Zeiss?


Kevin Cunningham wrote:
You might be quite well to do but most amatuers buy used. Some used dealers
like Spectra Services (www.spectraservices.com), Martin Microscopes
(www.martinmicroscopes.com) and Nightingale
(www.microscopesfromnightingale.com) offer good products at a fair price,
you might want to take a look.

Kevin,

I'm kind of hesitant to buy used because I'm been burned many times
buying used camera equipment over the years, including several times
from well-known, established dealers such as KEH. Mostly, this seems to
be a problem of "condition inflation" where a dealer rates the
condition of the equipment much better than it really is. As an
example, I once bought a Nikon F2 that was described as "like new"
condition. When I received it, it had an obviously visible dent in the
body, rust spots, and the focusing screen was delaminated.

I don't know the used microscope market at all, so I'm kind of unsure
whether to take the plunge and risk the same problems I had with used
camera gear. One of the issues I have is with cosmetic appearance. Call
me vain if you will, but this is something that is important to me, and
wear and tear and cosmetic issues that probably wouldn't bother the
majority of people on this group do bother me. Beyond the cosmetic
issues, I know that the things that really matter are the mechanical
integrity and the condition of the optics, but I'm in no position to
really evaluate either on a used 'scope. How will I know if the lenses
in the objectives are delaminated, or about to delaminate? Of if the
optics are misaligned, or the focusing gears are almost worn out?

I'm not ruling out buying used--I'd love to get a mechanically,
optically, and cosmetically pristine Leitz Orthoplan or Zeiss
Universal--but don't know where to find one or how to recognise a good
one.

.