Stacks with Nikon CFI BE Plan Achromat 4x on 70-200mm: 200mm

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Bill Eldridge
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Joined: Thu May 23, 2013 6:46 am
Location: Richmond, Virginia, USA

Stacks with Nikon CFI BE Plan Achromat 4x on 70-200mm: 200mm

Post by Bill Eldridge »

All images were shot using a Canon 60D at ISO 100, with a manually-focused focus block moving the subject under LED lighting.
The captures were slab-scripted with Bugslabber and stacked in Zerene Stacker.

Image
Stink bug, 343-image stack, 1/4 sec.

Image
Small alligator clip, 160-image stack, 1/13th sec.

Image
Spring-clip tweezers, 189-image stack, 1/6th sec.
Last edited by Bill Eldridge on Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:05 pm, edited 4 times in total.

steveminchington
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Location: Bedford UK

Post by steveminchington »

Very nice images Bill

abpho
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Post by abpho »

Uhhh. Very nice. Such crisp detail. Love #1.
I'm in Canada! Isn't that weird?

johan
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Post by johan »

I'm finding the alligator clip quite intimidating.
My extreme-macro.co.uk site, a learning site. Your comments and input there would be gratefully appreciated.

Carmen
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Post by Carmen »

great work!

The LED lighting is convincing. Did you encounter vibration problems with the continuous lighting?

ASUndevil
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Post by ASUndevil »

Beautiful work! Can I ask what LED lighting equipment you were using?

Bill Eldridge
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Joined: Thu May 23, 2013 6:46 am
Location: Richmond, Virginia, USA

Post by Bill Eldridge »

Thanks, everyone.

Yes, that alligator is ferocious.

Lights: a pair of the ubiquitous Ikeas, sometimes supplemented with LED flashlights.

Carmen, these images seem fairly sharp, so I must have vibration fairly much under control (sandbags, etc.). I posted the exposure times because these are
in the danger zone, and an elsewhere-noted issue with the Canon 60D seems not to be a problem at 4x. Before I move up from 4x and 5x I'll be building a
more permanent rig, somewhat heavy and floating on go-cart inner tubes as described in Lefkowitz's Manual of Close-Up Photography.

But a key source of vibration I will no longer have to control is myself. Manual focusing is for the birds -- I shot these on a temporary rig on a hardwood floor
and had to sit perfectly still for the settle time after advancing the focus for each shot. This gets tiresome after the first few frames!

After daydreaming about having the time to build a DIY Arduino stacking controller, I've broken down and bought a Stackshot controller and motor to hook up
as shown here. I'm looking forward to starting a stack and leaving the room.

abpho
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Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2011 7:11 pm
Location: Earth

Post by abpho »

And the spring clip tweezers win. Congratulations.
I'm in Canada! Isn't that weird?

Bill Eldridge
Posts: 161
Joined: Thu May 23, 2013 6:46 am
Location: Richmond, Virginia, USA

Post by Bill Eldridge »

Thanks! An unexpected honor for a relative newbie.

abpho
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Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2011 7:11 pm
Location: Earth

Post by abpho »

Much is expected of you now. :)
I'm in Canada! Isn't that weird?

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