5. Fitting the AF51 to an eyepiece
The basics of inserting an eyepiece into the camera’s eyepiece clamp were already given
in chapter 3. This chapter will give detailed information about fitting the camera to various
kinds of eyepiece and explain how adjust the camera on an eyepiece in order to get an
optimal image.
I have tested the AF51 and its standard eyepiece clamp with 13 different eyepieces that
span the generations from vintage classics to modern examples, mostly for microscopes
but also some 1.25 inch barrel eyepieces for telescopes (figure 5.1).
Figure 5.1 The 13 eyepieces tested with the AF51 and results of which are described in this chapter. Not
all these will be able to fit in the standard eyepiece clamp provided with the AF51.
Not all these eyepieces can be used with the standard AF51 eyepiece clamp and not all of
them provide a field of view that fills the camera frame sufficiently to give a high resolution
image. Details will be provided in this chapter. Of course I cannot test all possible
eyepieces so I will list the eyepiece measurements alongside the results so the reader can
use this data as a guide as to how their own eyepiece is likely to perform with the AF51
and its supplied clamp. In general, the results show that eyepieces with short eye relief
and small diameter exit lens do not give a satisfactorily large projection of the image to
make it useful for imaging with the AF51.
Eyepiece body diameters – limits of usability
The ‘maximum outer diameter’ measurements referred to in this section are the diameter
of the part of the eyepiece that does NOT go into the microscope tube. This measurement
OptArc AF51 Camera Page 49 of 99 User Guide v1.02
