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Description of this part for the microscope.

diffuser)
- blue
- yellow
- green

New (usually Chinese) microscope filters are sometimes not even made of glass. And even if they are made of glass - you may encounter scandalous examples where the glass is only surface-colored. Unfortunately, cheap colored glass filters may not be internally homogeneous and can cause light refraction distortions.

This filter set by PZO was originally sold together with the PZO Biolar microscope. It was manufactured in the 1970s (and certainly before 1977), so these are optical glasses that are about half a century old! They have never been used until now (this is so-called NOS - New Old Stock), therefore these are excellent old-class optical glasses of the highest quality.

Filters with a 32 mm diameter are used - and can be used - in microscopes from various manufacturers:
- Carl Zeiss Jena
- Zeiss West Germany
- Eschenbach
- Meopta
- Nikon
- ROW
- Leitz Wetzlar
- Wild
- Hund
- Kosmos
- and many others

Important - popular microscopes by Lomo (for example Lomo Biolam) have a 33 mm filter holder, so the filters shown here have too small a diameter and may fall out from some Lomo holders.

Description of this part for the microscope.

inside the microscope base. It includes a mechanism that allows these filters to be inserted into or removed from the light path using control buttons. Since more than one filter can be placed in the light path at the same time, the mechanism also includes an additional (seventh) button that removes all filters from the light path simultaneously. Because of this seventh button, some descriptions incorrectly state that the microscope base contains seven filters.

The following filters are installed in this filter cassette:
- NCB filter (blue conversion filter that transforms yellow incandescent lamp light into naturally white light), Zeiss P/N 46 78 50 (yellow stripe on the push button)
- VG 9 green filter, Zeiss P/N 46 78 05 (green stripe on the push button)
- two neutral density filters 0.5, Zeiss P/N 46 78 40 (light grey stripes on the push button)
- neutral density filter 0.12, Zeiss P/N 46 78 41 (grey stripe on the push button)
- neutral density filter 0.03, Zeiss P/N 46 78 42 (dark grey stripe on the push button)

Combinations of the neutral density filters provide stepwise light transmission values ranging from 1.5% to 100%.

Each of these filters can be removed from its holder, resulting in a standard 32 mm round microscope filter that can also be used in microscopes made by other manufacturers. In addition, any other 32 mm round filter can be installed in this filter cassette, allowing the filter set of the microscope to be configured freely.

This filter cassette with its complete control mechanism fits all versions of Carl Zeiss Photomicroscope microscopes (also known as Zeiss PM or Zeiss Phomi) as well as Zeiss Universal microscopes. However, there are also some less common variants of the Zeiss Universal that do not include this filter mechanism inside the microscope base. Importantly, the Carl Zeiss Ultraphot microscope does not use this component.

The last photographs in the gallery indicate with an arrow exactly which component is being offered and where it is located inside the microscope. This allows unambiguous identification of the part.

Description of this part for the microscope.

Photomicroscope microscopes.

In the base of Zeiss Universal / Zeiss Photomicroscope class microscopes there is a set of lenses that collimate the light beam. Together they form the collector of the Köhler illumination, even though they are not mechanically connected to each other.

Here I present a module consisting of:
- the second collector lens in the light path
- the heat filter (heat absorbing KG filter)
- the metal mount holding these two glass elements
- the screws used to fasten this mount with the lens and filter to the microscope base

The last photos in the gallery show the complete base of a Zeiss Photomicroscope III microscope, with an arrow indicating which element this is and exactly where it is located, which allows unambiguous identification of this part.

This lens-filter assembly fits the bases of the following microscope models:
- Zeiss Universal
- Zeiss Photomicroscope I
- Zeiss Photomicroscope II
- Zeiss Photomicroscope III / III RS

This is a service part for those who need to replace this component in their microscope. It is not a complete illumination collector.

Replacing this part can remedy, among others, the following problems:
- the KG filter is cracked or chipped, which often happens due to overheating or a shock during transport
- the collimator lens (i.e. the second lens in the Köhler system) is cracked, chipped or damaged by fungus
- one of the metal parts is bent or broken: the filter mount, the lens mount or the mount to the microscope base

Over the years, Carl Zeiss microscopes of the Photomicroscope series have acquired various names that users commonly call them by. These include, among others:
- Zeiss Photomikroskop
- PM, e.g. Zeiss PM II or Zeiss PM III
- Zeiss Phomi, e.g. Zeiss Phomi II
It should also be mentioned that Zeiss Photomicroscope microscopes were also sold under the Opton brand.

Description of this part for the microscope.

catalogue number: 46 78 36 (also written as 467836)
Colour: blue matt
Diameter: 32 mm
Material: glass

This is a filter that combines the functions of a blue filter and a ground glass diffuser:
- the blue filter is used to convert the yellow, warm light of the bulb into light closer to white light
- the matt filter (called a diffuser or ground glass) is used to even out the light across the whole area of the specimen and to remove the visible filament of the bulb

This does, however, have one consequence: without a visible filament it is not possible to work with illumination set up according to the Koehler method - and Zeiss mentions this in the leaflet supplied with the filter.

Very often only one or two microscope filters can be fitted in a microscope, for example one on the illuminator and the second in the holder below the condenser. The fact that the glass filter offered here is a 2-in-1 solution makes it possible to save the possible second slot for another filter.

The diameter of 32 mm is a standard with many manufacturers, which means this filter can be used with microscopes of numerous brands. The "compatibility" section lists over a dozen such microscopes, but it is not a complete list.