I have now cracked the code for doing these images, and reached the limits of my setup. The amber itself is now the limiting fatcor for me. The most important improvent was, of all things, the floor. I found the only room in my house with a concrete floor (except for my basement that is), and that was the outer hall. It is now a macro studio, and visitors can hang theire clothes elswhere
Because of reflexes and bubbles in the amber, I do not like to use flash, because of unwanted reflecions in some of the images in the stack. I use continuous light, parly to check the stack through before I start to take pictures, and with shutter speeds of 1/10-1/20, the floor played a huge role. I also use a light table, so flash is not an option.I have also bought a new lens, the Pentax 50mm FA Macro 2.8. It was not as huge an improvement as getting a solid floor, but it shows in resolution and contrast.
I'm now reading about insects and amber and fossils, becuase there is very little help in ID'ing my inclusions. I'm a member of fossile forums, but I think the experts are on holliday or don't bother, and I have had no luck getting in toutch with the academics at my nations universities. They don't respond to mail. So, as per usual, I have to figure stuff out on my own, and it's actually great fun to learn about the little bugs!
The last piece of the puzzle is the refractive index of immersion fluids. Some of the best ones are harmful to amber, but I have some good candidates on the way in the mail. Proper fluid will give contrast a little boost, but VG for vaping is all right for now.
I have not gotten my rails yet, so focus stacking is done by pushing the camera in the Arca-Swiss mount a 0.05mm at a time with my two thumbs. (Pentax has a focus outline on the image on the screen, so once I learn my subject, I can follow fragments of legs and wings as they come into focus. Not as hard as it sounds).
So I present to you fine people the image of the day, a Diptera Nematocera from the Eocene period in Baltic Amber! ID'ed by myself
Pentax Q on bellows with FA 50mm Macro lens. The little midge is 2mm in size. Zerene Stacker and PS.
