Macro Setup - some additions.

[bobfriedman]

i have been adding to my macro setup... some rearrangements, digital micrometers and a goniometer with a rotation stage.. and i have been using my raynox tube lens for quite some time now (abandoned the nikkor 200/4 ai'd) for use with the Mitutoyo Infinity corrected M-Plan objectives..



the tube lens..

[pluton]

What is the purpose of the neutral-appearing filter mounted in the background?

[Erik Lund]

Very stable and steady set up! Looks like something Michael should set up for his flower stacks

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Impressive, but still room for improvements. The problem area is the long, unsupported lens assembly poking out from the camera, which itself is mounted on the Stackshot device. Now, as any user of Stackshot can testify, a running Stackshot creates a lot of vibrations and this means that the camera + lens needs a long pause between each movement to come to a standstill. However, there is a definitive risk of the position of the taking lens being ever so different from one shot to the next. This spatial positional error in turn lead to downstream errors in the stacking process. I have had that issue myself.

I suggest you should look into means of re-arranging or suppporting the lens so as to mitigate the vibration problem.

[Akira]

Impressive, but still room for improvements. The problem area is the long, unsupported lens assembly poking out from the camera, which itself is mounted on the Stackshot device.

I used to stack two PN-11's and mount the combo onto a long Arca-Swiss plate like Wimberley P-30 to avoid the camera with long extension rings being supported at the bottom of the camera.  You can also rotate the camera with no hustle with the center of the image frame unaltered.

[bobfriedman]

PN-11 was my thought when i introduced the PK-13's.. i did have a problem rotating the clamp on the rail.. will check into it

[bobfriedman]

What is the purpose of the neutral-appearing filter mounted in the background?

nothing.. it is a CP filter... and i placed it there as a sort of storage to get it out of the way... i tried using between the objective and the subject but was very difficult given the clearance.. i was trying to eliminate reflections in spider eyes.

[Akira]

PN-11 was my thought when i introduced the PK-13's.. i did have a problem rotating the clamp on the rail.. will check into it

Bob, when you mount the stacked PN-11's on the plate and tighten the mounting screws, you need to see to it that the colars are prefectly in line with each other.  Otherwise there will be too much friction to rotate the combo smoothly.

[bobfriedman]

Two problems actually. Forgetting rotating the cam as it hits the rear part of the rail but also rotating that clamp on the rail had a problem which I can't remember just now.

Also that extension and objective are a lot lighter than most lenses I own. Certainly lighter than the Otus. I chose the PK's because they were pretty rigid. Anyway, vibration hasn't seemed to be the major problem relative to sharpness. Those objectives operate at f/20

[Birna Rørslett]

Bob, I didn't imply vibrations during the exposure is the culprit, only that the position of the lens shifts back and forth during the stacking progress.

[pluton]

nothing.. it is a CP filter... and i placed it there as a sort of storage to get it out of the way... i tried using between the objective and the subject but was very difficult given the clearance.. i was trying to eliminate reflections in spider eyes.

Have you tried polarizing the lights combined with a pola on the lens?
Note:  I have no experience doing this, except I once purchased some pola sheet material with the intention to someday use it in front of lights.

[bobfriedman]

@Keith. interesting idea and no, I haven't tried it.

Although some folks have commented that the reflections give it the character of pupils looking back at you 😀

[pluton]

Right...eliminating refections and highlights can give a 'dead look'...like using a polarizer on a human face...often, it visually turns them into wax.

[Michael Erlewine]

Very stable and steady set up! Looks like something Michael should set up for his flower stacks

LOL

[rosko]

.

Bob, have you tried to attach the subject (spider ?) to the stackshot instead the combo which can rest on the stand ?

The subject is lighter and less prone to vibrate, I think.

Also, I wonder if you get rid of the glasses of an old 200mm lens wouldn't be more rigid than all these PK13 rings stacked together ?