OK, here's the first tests with the 5x eyepiece (mounted inside the GT Vision tube) and the zoom set at maximum ("8.0x"): A full-size crop with a bit of levels & shadow brightening but no sharpening - stack of 10 images: http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/userpix/1967_20120424101128ZSPMaxfullsize...

Thanks for all that help guys - very very much appreciated. I will definitely push the supplier (GT Vision/GX Optical) to do what they can to help - they seem very helpful but a little lacking in optics specialists. They know their products but I think when they are pushed out of their comfort zone ...

Thought I'd share some quick photos made today with 2 objectives with widely differing price tags: the CnScope Plan 4x 0.10 160/0.17 and the Nikon Plan 4x 0.13 160/- . Rik has done similar, more scientific tests, but I am very happy with the CnScope so wanted to share. Both images are full-sized cro...

If I had that scope I would be very curious where the intermediate image was positioned "in space" when all the "added on" camera tubes are removed. If the intermediate image could be used directly onto the camera sensor I think you would be much happier with the results. Thanks for that Charles - ...

@g4lab: OK, here goes for a description of the photo column ... from the microscope upwards: - Leica part #10445930 1.0x "video/photo obj" (long black cylinder with optics) - Leica part #11541006 converter (1" - to C-mount?) (silver, no glass) - 2x spacers (no optics) - GT Vision camera adapter kit ...

Thanks seta - you may very well be right and if it really were 80x then the situation would be even worse! I might investigate the 10x WF eyepiece further and see whether that might be causing any issues ... not sure if there are better ones available though. @Charles: thanks for checking that - you...

At "80X", what is the field width seen by your camera? Good question ... not sure how to measure that but I can fit 3.75 of the above boxes across the whole image. By measuring a ruler I get about 1.25mm across the image. Does that mean that effectively (on the sensor) I am getting 17.76x magnifica...

Just for reference, here is a quick n dirty full-scale crop of a stack of a butterfly wing - taken with the scope set on 80x. No sharpening or other post-processing.

[/url]

What is the effective NA at this magnification? Good point. I haven't managed to locate the effective NA yet but I will keep looking. The maximum resolution is given as 300 lp/mm and the maximum NA is 0.1 ... not sure if that helps much though. That said, if the image to the eye is better than that...

@Rik: the image I posted was the best end result that I could obtain - after lots of PhotoShop sharpening - sorry for the confusion. I will fish out some single-shot full-frame crops. I take your point about comparing apples ... my understanding is that the objective produces a 1x image and then thi...

@seta666: Wow ... stunning images! :D I've had fairly good results so far using directly connected finite objectives, on bellows and with things like reversed enlarger lenses ... it's only this S8APO that seems to be the problem but microscopes are a completely alien world for me so I am sure that t...

Interesting, mirror movement wasn't something I had factored into the equation - I might try using Liveview to lock it up. Wouldn't the fact that I was using flash have frozen the image and made the mirror irrelevant though? @Cactusdave: The rack stand seems to be pretty stable - I haven't seen any ...

I've been fortunate enough to get hold of a Leica S8APO recently - a lovely microscope with exceptional resolution. The suppliers also provided a fine-focus stand and kit of bits to connect-up my Canon 1000D but the quality of the image stacks I am getting is much too soft for my liking at high magn...

Google search is incredibly powerful when you know some of the syntax - see here

The ones I use most are the minus/hyphen to exclude pages with certain words and the brackets to list OR'd words - like:

microscope (graticule|graticle) -25mm site:photomacrography.net

#2 is Tachinidae - possibly Carcelia sp. but I'd prefer to see more angles.

#6 is Calliphoridae - possibly Calliphora sp.

Lovely photos, as usual