August 2019

[Birna Rørslett]

The summer "holidays" are drawing to a close and I'm back to normalcy, working up all the material I collected in the last weeks. It's a race against time and plant decomposition I'm afraid and I'm not likely the winner .

I put another Nikon Multiphot setup into daily use to ease the workload. This is a snapshot of it set up for 10X magnification. Camera is D810 and the objective is Mitutoyo 10X/0.28

[Akira]

August 11

The firebug, Pyrrhocoris apterus

D500, Voigtländer 90mm f/3.5

Wow, that is beautifully bizarre!

The summer "holidays" are drawing to a close and I'm back to normalcy, working up all the material I collected in the last weeks. It's a race against time and plant decomposition I'm afraid and I'm not likely the winner .

I put another Nikon Multiphot setup into daily use to ease the workload. This is a snapshot of it set up for 10X magnification. Camera is D810 and the objective is Mitutoyo 10X/0.28

Birna, how do you find those Mitsutoyo objective lenses you, Bob and others are commonly using these days?  Is the venerable Macro  Nikkor no more a must-have for the purpose?

[Birna Rørslett]

Akira, the Mitutoyo objectives are really good. Plus they allow a very decent working distance despite their high magnifications. However they are "infinity corrected" thus must be combined with another optical component to focus, and of course the magnification for all intents and purposes is fixed. I have the 5X and 10X Mitutoyo objectives.

I also use some Olympus macro lenses made for the OM system, 20/2 and 38/2, the latter being ruggedised to allow it being brought into the field. The vintage Macro Nikkors see some use, too. Mostly the 65mm f/4.5, on occasion the 35/4.5 Macro-Nikkor.

This season I have used the Laowa 25mm f/2.8 Ultra-Macro lens on a regular basis as it exhibits good quality, and is small thus making less demand for an extended support structure. It's not perfect, but nifty for my purposes and the 2.5-5X magnification range is spot on for most of my subjects. Putting a CPU inside helps secure EXIF data which is helpful for fine-tuning the setup.

[Nikfuson]

Personally I am not too fond of wind (being a cyclist) but this activity is dependent on it.
Z6/200-500.

[golunvolo]

Bif, La Línea de la Concepción.
Nikon d200ir, 80-200 2.8d @200mm f8

[Akira]

Akira, the Mitutoyo objectives are really good. Plus they allow a very decent working distance despite their high magnifications. However they are "infinity corrected" thus must be combined with another optical component to focus, and of course the magnification for all intents and purposes is fixed. I have the 5X and 10X Mitutoyo objectives.

I also use some Olympus macro lenses made for the OM system, 20/2 and 38/2, the latter being ruggedised to allow it being brought into the field. The vintage Macro Nikkors see some use, too. Mostly the 65mm f/4.5, on occasion the 35/4.5 Macro-Nikkor.

This season I have used the Laowa 25mm f/2.8 Ultra-Macro lens on a regular basis as it exhibits good quality, and is small thus making less demand for an extended support structure. It's not perfect, but nifty for my purposes and the 2.5-5X magnification range is spot on for most of my subjects. Putting a CPU inside helps secure EXIF data which is helpful for fine-tuning the setup.

Thank you, Birna, for the detailed explanation.  It's good to know that you don't need to hunt for premiered lenses carrying elevated prices to do some special stuff.

[Akira]

Personally I am not too fond of wind (being a cyclist) but this activity is dependent on it.
Z6/200-500.

In addition to the spot-on timing, the oblique flaring lines works nicely.  Well done, Sten!

Bif, La Línea de la Concepción.
Nikon d200ir, 80-200 2.8d @200mm f8

Paco, I love this simplified composition.  The IR color fits very well here.

[ArthurDent]

August 11

The firebug, Pyrrhocoris apterus



D500, Voigtländer 90mm f/3.5

The common name for them in the US is “ladybugs,” why I do not know.

[ArthurDent]

Today I was angry because so many people pled for crappy solutions like wind power just because they feel the real solutions like Thorium Reactors are wrong. They to not test their hypothesis and block progress.

I recorded a video and uploaded it to youtube: https://youtu.be/ME47yJIya7o

I read  somewhere, 1 ton of thorium will generate as much electricity as 3.5 million tons of coal. True?

[Fons Baerken]

The common name for them in the US is “ladybugs,” why I do not know.

these are not ladybugs!
Thank you for the responses Birma, Akira, Arthur

[Birna Rørslett]

Always prepared for the next foray into the Great Wilderness

[Frank Fremerey]

I read  somewhere, 1 ton of thorium will generate as much electricity as 3.5 million tons of coal. True?

It is roughly a 1:1 Million relation. True. Basic physics: the energy released is the binding energy. Nuclear binding forces are several orders of magnitude greater than molecular binding forces. C + O2 contains more energy than CO2. Thorium contains more energy than its fission products.

A handful of Thorium powers the whole life span of a European with a total energy consumption of 200 kWh per day as avarage. Total Energy consumption means: Cooling, Heating, Building, Food and all other consumption, Production, Electricity, Mining, all energy use a person causes. Further reading: http://www.withouthotair.com/

and, very good:

https://books.google.de/books/about/SuperFuel.html?id=lQm_BMnHNd0C&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y

[CE]

Lunch time 
D850, 200-500 f/5.6 @ 500mm, 1/320s, f/6.3, ISO 180, approx 50% crop.

[Frank Fremerey]

Lunch time 
D850, 200-500 f/5.6 @ 500mm, 1/320s, f/6.3, ISO 180, approx 50% crop.

yummy!

[Nasos Kosmas]

A big fire burns central Evia island Greece from yesterday and the smoke goes up to Athens 80km away
A heavy smoky cloud was everywhere , its like a filter for the sun , so the colors are very weird
iPhone panorama