Pyrite Crystals from Sugar Grove, WV

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bralex
Posts: 129
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2018 11:34 am
Location: New Mexico, USA

Pyrite Crystals from Sugar Grove, WV

Post by bralex »

The shot is of 4 pyrite crystals, with 3 different crystal habits - 2 are elongated needles, 1 is a pyritohedron, and one is an elongated cube (oblong). The little vug that these crystals are in measures about 1 mm on a side, I don't have an accurate way to measure the size of the FOV or the crystals except that they are << than 1 mm! I only even noticed them because of the glint from the needles.

This specimen, for years, has been my white whale - I have simply been unable to get a good shot of it. This is leaps and bounds better than any of my previous efforts! Still a bit artifact-y in the background, I'll do a bit more cleanup there but I was very happy with it.

I'm using: Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mk II, Olympus 40-150mm PRO, Mitutoyo 10x objective

Cheers,
Scott

Image

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

Did you use the automatic focus bracketing of that camera and lens? With such a shallow depth of subject, it might work.

bralex
Posts: 129
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2018 11:34 am
Location: New Mexico, USA

Post by bralex »

Yes, I don't yet have an automated rail system - the internal focus bracketing works well for me thus far. I only wish I had a little bit more explicit control of the step size. There's a lot of trial and error involved for me.

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

I suggest using a step size of 6 or 7; with higher m the step size can be much larger than at lower m. This is counter-intuitive because it is the opposite of what you would do with a rail, or with a single lens.

bralex
Posts: 129
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2018 11:34 am
Location: New Mexico, USA

Post by bralex »

I’ll have to give that a try. With the mitty lens I was worried that even the 1 step setting would be too much (it wasn’t).

Lou Jost
Posts: 5948
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 7:03 am
Location: Ecuador
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Post by Lou Jost »

Yes, that's what I thought too at first. It's just the opposite of what you would expect. You'll save huge amounts of time by choosing a higher number.

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