What is a QV? The Mitutoyo Quick Vision unit is a measuring machine used in metrology. It is not a microscope or measuring/toolmakers microscope since it uses a CCD camera to output an image to a computer. There is no provision to view the enlarged image optically.

The QV weighs at least 10x what it looks like it weighs.

This QV project was started in 2018 when I was lucky enough to find this unit at a DVD manufacturing facility ( I wonder if they are still in business in 2021?). The original buyer backed out when he saw the size of the unit, so the seller accepted my offer of just $300 USD, in cash!

The QV was on my radar at that time looking for a QV-Objective HR 2.5x / 0.21 NA lens, which is similar to an HR M Plan 5x/0.21 but on a 100mm tube lens so the magnification is pushed down. This QV unit came with a normal QV objective, not a QV-Objective HR. I was able to sell the non-HR lens for $350 USD on eBay anyway.

Buying this unit saved something of value from being trashed since the seller planned to literally toss the QV in a garbage dumpster before I came along. Maybe I should have offered them $100 instead?

This bare QV scope would end up sitting in my garage for 2.5 years

To give you some idea what this QV weighs, just one plate from the XY table weighed in at 28 pounds stripped down, no motor, or bearings, just bare aluminum, and this is only one of the XY plates, there are two. The aluminum base, easily weighs over 100 pounds stripped down.

At the bottom of the above photo you can see the CCD camera attached to the top of the power tube lens turret housing with the Moritex light guide connected on the right side. This light feeds the beamsplitter for direct flat lighting. The cable system is attached a large counter weight in the tower.

QV 1x Lens and two part power ring light

My hope was to find an HR 2.5x QV objective but this was just the base model 1x QV unit. Still I was able to sell the lens for $350 USD. The power ring light has 4 selectable white lights.

The power ring light has two movable parts and is capable of 3 different light angles, with 4 separate lights.

Closeup of the power turret tube lens setup

Power turret and tube lens housing side view. You can see the beam splitter on the right

The 4 LED light ring light is only on the PRO-II model, this is the QV model with white light

The tiny size of the QV CCD sensor was a major disappointment. 1/2 inch sensor used in this QV means the system has very limited value for photomacrography due to the tiny image circle, the diagonal is just 8mm! This QV uses a Sony XC-75 1/2 inch monochrome CCD camera made for machine vision with a whopping 570 x 560 TV lines of resolution! The QV was used at the DVD factory to find errors on disk masters.

Any questions or comments, send me a message.

Links for more info on QV systems

QV section of the Mitutoyo e-catalog:

https://ecatalog.mitutoyo.com/Vision-Measuring-Systems-C102.aspx

Current QV PDF from Mitutoyo:

https://www.mitutoyo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/2118_Quick_Vision.pdf

New Nikon Industrial Lens Website

Mitutoyo QV Quick Vison Measuring Scope Teardown

Links for more info on QV systems

New Test: 12 Lenses Compared at 1.4x

LFOV Test Results Uploaded

Rodenstock Scitex S-3 5.0/110 Stacked Setup