I just saw Levon Biss's beautiful prints on BBC Springwatch.
Does anyone know how bg (pixels) his images are, either as captured, or as printed?
I know he's using multiple Z-stacked-images to get multiple lighting effects.
Is he also using X-Y stacking (mosaic panorama AKA giga pixel) techniques to increase image size?
I can only see a single automated axis in the studio shots in this thread
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... light=biss
BugBear[/i]
Levon Biss - how many axes of stacking
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Further googling has shown a vertical column adjust (Y axis in the final image)
and a 2-axis horizontal slide table (X,Z in the final image), with concentric controls
So it appears he uses manually adjusted positioning for his mosaic, and an automated rack for his focus stacking.
(with apologies to anyone who already knew all this)
BugBear
and a 2-axis horizontal slide table (X,Z in the final image), with concentric controls
So it appears he uses manually adjusted positioning for his mosaic, and an automated rack for his focus stacking.
(with apologies to anyone who already knew all this)
BugBear
Omer,
These are studio strobes or monolights. They are AC line powered (some available are also battery powered), and have much higher optical flash output (as much as 10X) than speed lights.
Most have a continuous output called modeling light that is usually relatively low output power, and a higher flash output that can be triggered by a cable from your camera (sync cable), or optically or by RF trigger. Some even have TTL capability just like the higher end speedlight flashes, rear curtain sync, remote controlled output and just above very feature a high end speedlight has.
The cone shaped ends are light modifiers to control the output. Many light modifiers are available from soft boxes, to umbrellas and others.
These types of strobes are available in all sorts of price ranges, the better ones have a more consistent output, greater output control range, built in RF triggers, and much shorter flash burst time (similar to speed lights). They come with various mounts, Bowens is the most popular and what I believe Levon is using.
I use studio strobes for the various reasons mentioned.
Mike
These are studio strobes or monolights. They are AC line powered (some available are also battery powered), and have much higher optical flash output (as much as 10X) than speed lights.
Most have a continuous output called modeling light that is usually relatively low output power, and a higher flash output that can be triggered by a cable from your camera (sync cable), or optically or by RF trigger. Some even have TTL capability just like the higher end speedlight flashes, rear curtain sync, remote controlled output and just above very feature a high end speedlight has.
The cone shaped ends are light modifiers to control the output. Many light modifiers are available from soft boxes, to umbrellas and others.
These types of strobes are available in all sorts of price ranges, the better ones have a more consistent output, greater output control range, built in RF triggers, and much shorter flash burst time (similar to speed lights). They come with various mounts, Bowens is the most popular and what I believe Levon is using.
I use studio strobes for the various reasons mentioned.
Mike
Omer,
I should issue a word of caution though. The cheaper strobes can and will explode (I've had 2 explode). What happens is the energy storage capacitors overheat during the long stacking sessions where the time between flashes is short and the pressure relief valve on the capacitors opens. This sounds like a gunshot, and really startled me when it happened. I replaced the capacitors with better ones after cleaning up the mess inside the strobe, and haven't had an issue since.
I've had good luck with the Adorama Flashpoint DG-600 (limited capability, manual only, unique Flashpoint mount), AD600 (full featured and Bowens mount) and Interfit EX400 (manual only, but now discontinued).
The DG-600 can be battery powered with an separate battery pack, and the AD600 is battery powered and needs an separate AC power supply for direct AC power.
Best,
Mike
I should issue a word of caution though. The cheaper strobes can and will explode (I've had 2 explode). What happens is the energy storage capacitors overheat during the long stacking sessions where the time between flashes is short and the pressure relief valve on the capacitors opens. This sounds like a gunshot, and really startled me when it happened. I replaced the capacitors with better ones after cleaning up the mess inside the strobe, and haven't had an issue since.
I've had good luck with the Adorama Flashpoint DG-600 (limited capability, manual only, unique Flashpoint mount), AD600 (full featured and Bowens mount) and Interfit EX400 (manual only, but now discontinued).
The DG-600 can be battery powered with an separate battery pack, and the AD600 is battery powered and needs an separate AC power supply for direct AC power.
Best,
Mike
Omer,
With the cheaper strobes output can vary a lot (better ones less), as I found out.
The chips I use as subjects can show small variations in exposure, so I use multiple strobes to help "average" out the variations.
BTW it looks as if he's using Bowens strobes, these are very good and expensive strobes.
Mike
With the cheaper strobes output can vary a lot (better ones less), as I found out.
The chips I use as subjects can show small variations in exposure, so I use multiple strobes to help "average" out the variations.
BTW it looks as if he's using Bowens strobes, these are very good and expensive strobes.
Mike
Can you tell what his tube lens is? Looks hefty and not a legacy lens...
Edited: See my comment below.
Edited: See my comment below.
Last edited by Lou Jost on Sun Jun 11, 2017 8:13 am, edited 3 times in total.
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ray_parkhurst
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- Location: Santa Clara, CA, USA
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My own specimen of this lens is a bit of a dud. It does not shoot well on infinity, no matter what aperture. As a favor, a respected forum member sent me a near-infinity image shot with his specimen for comparison, and it was quite decent. As another data point, I recall a well-known online-reviewer saying that his specimen of this lens was useful at infinity only at some smallish aperture (f/16? f/11? My memory is fuzzy.) I think the takeaway is that there is variance in this lens (as there is in all lenses); it's likely to be acceptable at infinity--at least at some apertures--but is no stand-in for a telephoto lens.ray_parkhurst wrote:My 200AF Micro-Nikkor is absolutely superb at infinity, so it seems a good choice as a tube lens, though I have never tried it that way.
This said, I've used my micro-Nikkon 200mm/f4 SP-ED as a converging lens for Mitutoyo objectives and it works splendidly, with sharpness even to the pixel level. Note that this is the case even though my particular copy is not good at infinity--the point at which it is used when converging Mitutoyo optics.
After building my tube-lens assembly based on an official Mitutoyo MT-1 tube lens, I stopped using the 200mm micro-Nikkor for this purpose.
Our members have repeatedly observed that an outstanding converging lens need not look great at infinity. I'm not sure why this is, but it's been well-demonstrated. To my mind, lack of chromatic aberration is likely much more important. For those using FF or even larger sensors, size of the high-quality image circle surely also matters a lot.
--Chris
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Ultima_Gaina
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There are a couple of additional observations I can make based on the info he published on his website.
We can see him, in the video, using his stacker with 10 microns step size. Based on the my humble experience and specifications of "our" objective, this is too much. The max step size must be 5 microns.
The photos published on his site allow deep zooming! Check it out!
http://microsculpture.net
The first attachment is a snapshot taken at max zoom and it shows soft areas alternating with sharper areas, probably a symptom of that larger step size
Secondly, since his specimens are rather large, he is creating panoramas made of multiple stacks. The second screen shot, shows a very blurry area (on the right), probably coming from poor overlapping between adjacent tiles.
Don't get me wrong , I have no intent to diminish his success. I am his sincere admirer, a follower and I can only wish to reach his mastery. I only say that there is always room for improvements, even for the best among us!
We can see him, in the video, using his stacker with 10 microns step size. Based on the my humble experience and specifications of "our" objective, this is too much. The max step size must be 5 microns.
The photos published on his site allow deep zooming! Check it out!
http://microsculpture.net
The first attachment is a snapshot taken at max zoom and it shows soft areas alternating with sharper areas, probably a symptom of that larger step size
Secondly, since his specimens are rather large, he is creating panoramas made of multiple stacks. The second screen shot, shows a very blurry area (on the right), probably coming from poor overlapping between adjacent tiles.
Don't get me wrong , I have no intent to diminish his success. I am his sincere admirer, a follower and I can only wish to reach his mastery. I only say that there is always room for improvements, even for the best among us!