You may have seen the recent articles in Micscape on The Poor Man's Photomacroscope (see http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/art ... scope.html).
I thought this approach might be worth exploring. CactusDave had some spare lenses and an old microscope stand and I had a spare trinocular head, so here are the first results:
This is the experimental macroscope which matches a Zeiss trinocular head with a reversed Pentacon 50 mm, extension ring and DOI HQ teleconverter (the latter to reduce the magnification).
To enable me to use the unmarked focus control, I stuck on a degree scale and used a miniature video camera and TV thus giving a scale suitable for measuring steps for stacking.
Finally, here is a test image of an old hoverfly sample. Lighting was from a microscope lamp and used an old weighing boat as diffuser. You can see this in the first and second photos above. I have also fitted an LED ringlight on the end of the lens assembly, but this was not used in these tests, as although it is great for manual observation, it is not so good for photos (needs a diffuser).
Here it is in action:
Experimental macroscope
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Experimental macroscope
Graham
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Graham,
Excellent projects, both this one and the gizmo outlined in the Micscape article.
Using the teleconverter to reduce magnification; this sounds similar to the method some members (and others) have been implementing with the Canon MP-E 65mm.
Craig
Excellent projects, both this one and the gizmo outlined in the Micscape article.
Using the teleconverter to reduce magnification; this sounds similar to the method some members (and others) have been implementing with the Canon MP-E 65mm.
I look forward to more reports/resultsGraham wrote:first results
Craig
To use a classic quote from 'Antz' - "I almost know exactly what I'm doing!"
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Looks interesting. I'm not sure that your teleconverter is the best you can use. Perhaps you have other plans for your final setup. I used such third party TCs in my early days of photography but Tamron SP are now the only ones I would consider. Perhaps it is not a significant issue as you are reducing magnification in this instance, not something I have tried.
Harold
Harold
My images are a medium for sharing some of my experiences: they are not me.