Raynox MSN-250 tube lens with MSN-150 for magnification

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Curious Fox
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Raynox MSN-250 tube lens with MSN-150 for magnification

Post by Curious Fox »

I did a quick sketch, is this combination possible?

Image

Raynox is an awesome tube lens, also it's awesome close up lens so it might be awesome result if the combination is possible.
Last edited by Curious Fox on Thu Oct 04, 2018 7:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

It would "work" in that you'd get a stronger result, a simple lens combo would give 78mm for the 208 and 125 together.

The threads are different, by the way.
I wouldn't be surprised if the quality took a serious hit.
Chris R

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

I don't see that Raynox makes an "MSN-150" or "MSN-250".

Assuming that these are supposed to be DCR-150 and DCR-250, then the diagram appears to indicate a 125 mm FL lens that is focused at infinity (the -250), with a 208 mm FL lens in front of it (the -150). That configuration would give magnification 125/208 = 0.6.

I'm wondering why bother, given the number of ordinary macro lenses that are already optimized for that range?

--Rik

Curious Fox
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Post by Curious Fox »

You are right about the wrong labels on the sketch, I just updated it.
I'm wondering why bother, given the number of ordinary macro lenses that are already optimized for that range?
Raynox macro lenses are amazing and not expensive so why not to try it.
That configuration would give magnification 125/208 = 0.6
Ok then if we replace DCR-150 with MSN-202 or MSN-505 we have around 4x magnification. Also if we simply switch positions of the lenses in the sketch we have longer tube lens and bigger diopter in the front = bigger magnification.

I am interested in ~5-12mm filed of view 4K recordings.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Curious Fox wrote:Ok then if we switch DCR-150 with MSN-202 or MSN-505 we have around 4x magnification.
Yes, that would make more sense. You probably also want to stick a "Waterhouse stop" (for example black paper with a hole in it) between the two lenses, so as to stop down the front lens to give just the sharpness you need. That will minimize whatever aberrations you would otherwise get from trying to run the lenses wide open.

--Rik

Curious Fox
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Post by Curious Fox »

I tried this idea and the result is not good. The image is blurry, that blurry that you can't recognize the color of the paper under the lens, until you are 1mm or touching the lens. Total blurriness.

Ichthyophthirius
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Post by Ichthyophthirius »

Hi,

Johan's website also discusses combining two Raynox lenses:

"Next: Stack Raynoxes"
http://extreme-macro.co.uk/raynox-adapter-techniques/

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

You might do better to reverse the DCR250, if you aren't using a "proper" camera lens as well.
Chris R

Curious Fox
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Post by Curious Fox »

Johan's website also discusses combining two Raynox lenses:
He is stacking two Raynox lenses on top of a regular lens. I tried something else, tried to use the first one as a tube lens focused to infinity, and the second one for actual magnification, in theory I can add one more Raynox in my sketch to get more magnification :D
You might do better to reverse the DCR250, if you aren't using a "proper" camera lens as well.
I tried that:

Image

It's simply not working, not even close to get something in focus.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Did you add that stop I mentioned?

The Raynox lenses are not designed to be used wide open. In normal use they are always stopped by something else in the system. When used with a microscope objective, the stop is typically about 10-11 mm diameter.

--Rik

Curious Fox
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Post by Curious Fox »

No! I expected to get something without paper and then to experiment with different apertures for a better results. I will try again and let you know.

Curious Fox
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Post by Curious Fox »

One more good idea is to try Olympus U-TLU as tube lens plus Raynox for magnification, I would like to try this too but I don't have dovetail adaptors.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Curious Fox wrote:No! I expected to get something without paper and then to experiment with different apertures for a better results.
That's a very reasonable expectation.

I just now tried stacking a DCR-250 in front of a DCR-150 focused at infinity, no stop. I get a quite soft but easily recognizable image, focused about 125 mm in front of the front lens, at magnification 1.71X versus 1.6 expected. Here's the image on full frame:

Image

Maybe your test target had only such fine detail that it did not register at this softness?

I'll be interested to hear your next results.

--Rik

Curious Fox
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Post by Curious Fox »

Actually I got some awesome results this time.

First I found my mistake in my last test. I totally forgot that DCR-250 is not that large magnification and that I need to search for focus that far away (125mm). Also I didn't have enough space in my setup, 60-70mm only to realize it.

This time I used DCR-150 with Raynox 24x diopter and result is.... very good for the first try. I inserted a black paper with 10mm hole.

Check the results and comment.

Image

Image


The field is curvy a lot, but it can be fixed to a better lever, I didn't pay attention to position tube lens to a perfect length, didn't reversed raynox and it is not MSN-202, it's an older lens.

Curious Fox
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Post by Curious Fox »

100% crops.

Image

Image

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