Hello everybody.
I have been lurking at this forum for about 3 -4 months now, and finally though it time I joined.
Being for the most part totally ignorant regarding macro/micro photography prior to finding this forum, I have used the months lurking to learn as much as possible.
I'm very glad I did, as I could see if I had rushed into this I could of made some expensive, and ultimately frustrating mistakes regarding gear selection; well I should say, as I amass my selected components, I'm still undecided on one or two aspects, which I will ask advice about in separate posts
The FAQ section has been a Godsend to somebody like me, and all who lurk.
The forum members gear thread, with all the different ways people have used a variety of assorted equipment to achieve basically the same end, has helped immensely.
I love how some of the set-ups have evolved over time to suit, "Bratcam" probably the most notable.
I've mostly decided to go along a similar set-up.
Currently the state of my Macro/Micro photographic station is this, heavily influenced by what I have read at this forum.
Nikon D800e [Had this already]
Nikon f4 200mm manual lens.
Nikon MRL00102 10X infinity objective
A reverse lens adapter to mount my 50mm 1.8G lens reversed onto the 200mm, giving me 5X
A Stackshot.
Two Magnetic arms to hold lighting [ As used by Bratcam Wink ]
Just ordered a 4 axis goniometric stage from this Ebay seller.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/XYZ-four-axis-6 ... OC:AU:3160
So far so good, even though I have yet to take a single macro/micro shot.
[Quite frankly I don't want to till it's all set up ]
I've a 20kg bag of cement ready to make a base for this set-up, plus some Sorbathane feet to suit . [Being a old HiFi nut, I'm used to vibration control]
The PC needs a upgrade [ I decided to get a GTX660] , I've been using Intel integrated graphics till now.
Also need to download and purchase Zerene stacker.
I'll leave it at that for the moment, I'm sure I've bored some of you senseless with what has unintentionally become a long introduction.
New member from Sydney Australia
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
-
Inseewincesee
- Posts: 70
- Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2014 1:08 am
- Location: Sydney, Australia
-
rjlittlefield
- Site Admin
- Posts: 23599
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
- Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
- Contact:
Re: New member from Sydney Australia
Nope, not bored at all. A bit red-faced to see no replies after almost a month.Inseewincesee wrote:I'll leave it at that for the moment, I'm sure I've bored some of you senseless with what has unintentionally become a long introduction.
We're usually much more friendly than this, honest! 
--Rik
New member from Sydney Australia
Oups.
Welcome.
Seeing your quite heavy list of equipment, I guess we will see some good results... Looking for it.
Welcome.
Seeing your quite heavy list of equipment, I guess we will see some good results... Looking for it.
Regards
Pierre
Pierre
Oops indeed! I'd particularly meant to reply, as Inseewincesee made kind reference to my rig. Fortunately, we have not been as remiss in replying to Inseewincesee's thread about LED continuous lighting vs. flash.
So Denis, belatedly, welcome! No doubt your experience in high-end audio will indeed help you with vibration issues. From conversations with other members of this forum, I've learned that a surprising number of us have also been significantly involved in audiophile-level audio (myself included). I doubt this is coincidence.
The Bratcam has indeed evolved over time, including some changes I should get around to posting one of these days.
I do hope the "4 axis goniometric stage" turns out to be all you expect, but from the pictures on eBay, I don't see that has goniometric movement. Two or three translational axes, yes. One rotational axis, yes. But the other two rotational axes--the ones that would be addressed by a matched par of goniometers, no. At least so far as appears to me.
Cheers,
--Chris
So Denis, belatedly, welcome! No doubt your experience in high-end audio will indeed help you with vibration issues. From conversations with other members of this forum, I've learned that a surprising number of us have also been significantly involved in audiophile-level audio (myself included). I doubt this is coincidence.
The Bratcam has indeed evolved over time, including some changes I should get around to posting one of these days.
I do hope the "4 axis goniometric stage" turns out to be all you expect, but from the pictures on eBay, I don't see that has goniometric movement. Two or three translational axes, yes. One rotational axis, yes. But the other two rotational axes--the ones that would be addressed by a matched par of goniometers, no. At least so far as appears to me.
Cheers,
--Chris
-
Inseewincesee
- Posts: 70
- Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2014 1:08 am
- Location: Sydney, Australia
I thought the same, in a retrospective sort of 'Buyer's Regret' way.
I was of the thinking "Oh great, you really have purchased some rubbish here"
But on receiving it, the unit actually works great.
And is quite solidly built.[apart from one slender screw that controls rotary travel]
You can adjust the travel a sensitivity of each stage via screw knobs [which you can't see in all the photos ]
These also work well, and smoothly.
Sure, they are no ThornLabs units of silky smoothness, but they work, well enough and are suitable for the purpose at hand.
OH, and the Tilt / Yaw stages are being added as I write this.
So it will end up being a 6 axis stage.
What I might do is, once I get the additional stages, make a video of them in action [It will probably be the ONLY time I ever use my D800e for video ]
What would you need to see to prove that the stages I have bought are not rubbish?
Design a Test for me to shoot a video of the movements.
I was of the thinking "Oh great, you really have purchased some rubbish here"
But on receiving it, the unit actually works great.
And is quite solidly built.[apart from one slender screw that controls rotary travel]
You can adjust the travel a sensitivity of each stage via screw knobs [which you can't see in all the photos ]
These also work well, and smoothly.
Sure, they are no ThornLabs units of silky smoothness, but they work, well enough and are suitable for the purpose at hand.
OH, and the Tilt / Yaw stages are being added as I write this.
So it will end up being a 6 axis stage.
What I might do is, once I get the additional stages, make a video of them in action [It will probably be the ONLY time I ever use my D800e for video ]
What would you need to see to prove that the stages I have bought are not rubbish?
Design a Test for me to shoot a video of the movements.
Hi Inseewincesee,
I'm interested in buying the same micrometric stage from this ebay seller. Can you tell me if your stage works as well as expected? Did you receive the goniometer stage?
Hope we will see some pictures of your rig soon.....
regards
I'm interested in buying the same micrometric stage from this ebay seller. Can you tell me if your stage works as well as expected? Did you receive the goniometer stage?
Hope we will see some pictures of your rig soon.....
regards
Nikon D7000 + stackshot + Mitutoyo x10 and x20
Underwater photography: www.bluesun.fr
Underwater photography: www.bluesun.fr
-
Inseewincesee
- Posts: 70
- Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2014 1:08 am
- Location: Sydney, Australia
The stage works well, and is worth the money asked for it.
It would need to be screwed down to some sort of platform, preferably one that itself had some additional adjustment in the vertical axis.
As a stop gap measure to the height problem, I made some boxes of varying height that can be stacked, the same footprint as the stage, out of KATO polymer clay, baked it until it was very hard [3X recommended time] and glued some neodymium magnet at each corner so the boxes would couple to each other.
I filled each of the boxes with left over cement when I made the base for the set up for mass/stability
Works well.
The additional stage I was looking at getting turned out to be not exactly what I thought it was [thanks Chris .S for giving me questions to ask the seller ] turns out it would have been a tilt stage, rather than a Thornlabs GN20 copy on the cheap.
So at the moment, that has yet to be sorted [depends if I find I really do need it or not, on if I do eventually get one]
Since this was my original post on my slowly accumulating equipment list, in the last 7 months things have progressed quite dramatically, but along a slightly different path.
While browsing for secondhand objectives on Ebay, I came across this Olympus Vanox microscope for sale near me, pick up only.
Turned out a very nice purchase
Read for full explanation and list of all the extras that came with it, quite a haul.
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=25293
So the goal posts have been moved, so to speak.
My intention is to use it in a similar configuration as Charles Krebs set up.
http://www.krebsmicro.com/microsetup2/index.html
Still need some bellows and a stand to mount the camera over the lens.
I eventually managed to source a V.good condition 2.5X photo eyepiece suitable for the old finite type objectives, still need to get a new model of the same if I want to upgrade the objectives to some newer Fluro or Apo infinity corrected ones ... a fair while away.
Knowing me, it's inevitable that the lighting will get upgraded to LED and Flash next ... that's not a real major expense, and will make the biggest difference at the moment.
Also since this original post I've bought a Mitutoyo 20 X infinity objective for the horizontal stackshot setup.
Also Schott KL 1500 fiber optic lighting unit off Ebay
The 20kg cement base has been made and rails attached [Tip- don't use cement coloring powder, it gets everywhere
]
I've also bought a HP 4th gen i5 based laptop to run the whole setup automatically, and tethered using 'Control my Nikon' software / Zerene stacker.
Since I shoot 14bit RAW with a D800e, image files are already big, so stacks are massive.
The laptop wasn't intended to process this, so a new PC designed specifically for this job has since been built.
Gigabyte H-97 gaming MB, Intel 4790 i7 cpu, 2 X Samsung 850 SSD's [one for OS & software, one for scratch disk ], 1 WD 2TB Black, 32GB RAM, Nvidia GT660 Adobe CC Lightroom & Photoshop, Zerene stacker
The biggest concern regarding all this gear is actually the most inane when you get right down to it.
What to put all this gear on?
At the moment I have to move one setup to use the other, not good.
When the Vanox weighs 25KG +, and the Horizontal stackshot setup weighs around 30kg with cement block/camera etc, plus I need room for the electronics....OH! and it has to look as inconspicuous as possible as it is going to be a permanent setup in my apartment ...... it does make selection and options limited.
Where there's a will there's a way.
It would need to be screwed down to some sort of platform, preferably one that itself had some additional adjustment in the vertical axis.
As a stop gap measure to the height problem, I made some boxes of varying height that can be stacked, the same footprint as the stage, out of KATO polymer clay, baked it until it was very hard [3X recommended time] and glued some neodymium magnet at each corner so the boxes would couple to each other.
I filled each of the boxes with left over cement when I made the base for the set up for mass/stability
Works well.
The additional stage I was looking at getting turned out to be not exactly what I thought it was [thanks Chris .S for giving me questions to ask the seller ] turns out it would have been a tilt stage, rather than a Thornlabs GN20 copy on the cheap.
So at the moment, that has yet to be sorted [depends if I find I really do need it or not, on if I do eventually get one]
Since this was my original post on my slowly accumulating equipment list, in the last 7 months things have progressed quite dramatically, but along a slightly different path.
While browsing for secondhand objectives on Ebay, I came across this Olympus Vanox microscope for sale near me, pick up only.
Turned out a very nice purchase
Read for full explanation and list of all the extras that came with it, quite a haul.
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=25293
So the goal posts have been moved, so to speak.
My intention is to use it in a similar configuration as Charles Krebs set up.
http://www.krebsmicro.com/microsetup2/index.html
Still need some bellows and a stand to mount the camera over the lens.
I eventually managed to source a V.good condition 2.5X photo eyepiece suitable for the old finite type objectives, still need to get a new model of the same if I want to upgrade the objectives to some newer Fluro or Apo infinity corrected ones ... a fair while away.
Knowing me, it's inevitable that the lighting will get upgraded to LED and Flash next ... that's not a real major expense, and will make the biggest difference at the moment.
Also since this original post I've bought a Mitutoyo 20 X infinity objective for the horizontal stackshot setup.
Also Schott KL 1500 fiber optic lighting unit off Ebay
The 20kg cement base has been made and rails attached [Tip- don't use cement coloring powder, it gets everywhere
]I've also bought a HP 4th gen i5 based laptop to run the whole setup automatically, and tethered using 'Control my Nikon' software / Zerene stacker.
Since I shoot 14bit RAW with a D800e, image files are already big, so stacks are massive.
The laptop wasn't intended to process this, so a new PC designed specifically for this job has since been built.
Gigabyte H-97 gaming MB, Intel 4790 i7 cpu, 2 X Samsung 850 SSD's [one for OS & software, one for scratch disk ], 1 WD 2TB Black, 32GB RAM, Nvidia GT660 Adobe CC Lightroom & Photoshop, Zerene stacker
The biggest concern regarding all this gear is actually the most inane when you get right down to it.
What to put all this gear on?
At the moment I have to move one setup to use the other, not good.
When the Vanox weighs 25KG +, and the Horizontal stackshot setup weighs around 30kg with cement block/camera etc, plus I need room for the electronics....OH! and it has to look as inconspicuous as possible as it is going to be a permanent setup in my apartment ...... it does make selection and options limited.
Where there's a will there's a way.
-
enricosavazzi
- Posts: 1475
- Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2009 2:41 pm
- Location: Västerås, Sweden
- Contact:
One possibility is housing the equipment in a deep cabinet, on a shelf wide and deep enough, placed at the same height as a tabletop. Close the cabinet doors and everything is hidden. Of course any other shelves remain available for the rest of the equipment. Leave enough space empty from shelves under the equipment, so that you can sit comfortably halfway inside the cabinet.Inseewincesee wrote:[...]
OH! and it has to look as inconspicuous as possible
[...]
A related solution is a fold-away cabinet made of wood panels hinged together. The equipment is placed on a table and the cabinet completely surrounds the table and equipment when they are not in use. Remove the cabinet, fold it and lay it against a wall when using the equipment. A variant is using a curtain sliding on a frame above the table.
--ES
Sigh! 
-
Inseewincesee
- Posts: 70
- Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2014 1:08 am
- Location: Sydney, Australia
I'm as old as you are if not older.
Let's do something different...unique.
Nobody has done it prior to 1990
Silver mirror printing.
http://phototechmag.com/chromoskedasic- ... revisited/
Create a 10 X 12 negative of you preferred image, then use the same base for a contact print.
Not easy.
if not older.Let's do something different...unique.
Nobody has done it prior to 1990
Silver mirror printing.
http://phototechmag.com/chromoskedasic- ... revisited/
Create a 10 X 12 negative of you preferred image, then use the same base for a contact print.
Not easy.