Product Review

Leica FS C Forensic Comparison Macroscope
by Scott Doyle

Operation

The field-of-view that you see when looking into the FS C was very bright and clear.  Leica is well know for making some of the best optics in the world.  The FS C will not disappoint those looking for a comparison scope with high optical quality. 

As I looked at the bullets through the FS C I started playing around with control module to see what it could do.  In addition to the stage movement controls all modifications to the field-of-view are controlled by several buttons and knobs on the top of the control module.  Below is an illustration showing the various controls.

The centerline in a comparison macroscope is a very important feature.  It allows you to vary the size of the field-of-view for each stage image.  The FS C does everything possible with four buttons and two knobs.  Normal view is accomplished by pushing the "LR" button.  This splits the field-of-view evenly between the two stages.  Pushing the "L" or "R" buttons causes a motor to gently move the centerline either all the way to the left or right.  The mix button causes the left and right images to overlay on top of each other.  The centerline can be manually moved left and right and the amount of overlay can be manually set with the two knobs.

The image above shows the left and right images in the "Mix" mode.  Notice no well defined centerline?  That's because there isn't one.  Since I've never had a comparison scope that does this I'm not sure what I will use it for but I suspect it will be good for comparing impressed breech marks.

**Edited 11/20/03**  See here!

To be fair, my FS C has not yet been inspected by a representative of Leica and I'm hoping that a technician can get this corrected.  I hope so!

Image calibration is another easy task with the optical bridge.  Located on the right side of the optical bridge is a knob that adjusts the calibration between the two images.  A LED located on the front of the bridge glows green when the two sides are calibrated and red when out of calibration.  This knob actually allows you to increase the magnification of the right image slightly if need be.

The last adjustment to the image field-of-view is a single button labeled 1.5x on the top of the control module.  Pushing this button increases the magnification factor by 1.5x bringing the 4x to 6x, 10x to 15x, 20x to 30x, and 40x to 60x.  It's a very nice feature that can be turned on and off with the push of a single button.

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