Some new equipment :) glass table mats

LordV · Post by **LordV** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 12:04 am

Bought the wife some new table mats. For reasons I'm not sure about it's very hard to get melamine surfaced table mats nowdays but whilst out doing some Christmas shopping I saw some glass table mats and my brain light came on

- What a great surface for sliding a camera on

Anway first shots using these as a camera slide for doing multiple shot focus stacks - 10 to 15 shot focus stacks using zerene of a Phalaenopsis orchid.

brian v.

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:19 am

Brian,

Bought the wife some new table mats..... (emphasis added)
What a great surface for sliding a camera on

I know how that goes!

Don't wax too poetic about the camera sliding capability in front of your wife or she'll start to wonder about the actual reason for their purchase!

(and I can't help but wonder who scratched up the melamine surfaced table mats)

LordV · Post by **LordV** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:41 am

Charles Krebs wrote:Brian,
Bought the wife some new table mats..... (emphasis added)
What a great surface for sliding a camera on
I know how that goes!
Don't wax too poetic about the camera sliding capability in front of your wife or she'll start to wonder about the actual reason for their purchase!

(and I can't help but wonder who scratched up the melamine surfaced table mats)

She was actually pleased with the mats
Brian v.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:52 am

I just saw these pictures and discussion. A lovely way to start the day!

Brian, please refresh my memory about how you use these things. I'd probably do something silly like tape down a ruler to guide the sliding of the camera. Do you run these completely freehand, except of course for the flat surface to slide on?

--Rik

LordV · Post by **LordV** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:50 am

rjlittlefield wrote:I just saw these pictures and discussion. A lovely way to start the day!

Brian, please refresh my memory about how you use these things. I'd probably do something silly like tape down a ruler to guide the sliding of the camera. Do you run these completely freehand, except of course for the flat surface to slide on?

--Rik

Thanks rik,

I do run them free hand after doing a little bit of propping up of either the subject or the camera or both. I normally do a slide through first to check the FOV then go back to the nearest focus point and take the shot sequence. Obviously I do get a little unwanted movement which shows up very nicely in sensor spot trails which often come out in little lines but does not seem to affect the stack. I suspect i do not always get the the movement absolutely perpendicular to the subject but again the error seems too small to significantly affect the stack.

Brian v.