You never know. Thanks everyone. I should have at least mentioned the old lot of lens I do have on-hand (no extra budget required), mostly canon FD glass (thanks Dad!) el-Nik 50/2.8 el-Nik 80/5.6 (never tried pairing it w/ the 50mm) FD 28mm FD 50/1.4 FD 50macro/3.5 FD 100/2.8 FD 135/3.5 and a few F...

Gents, Maybe this belongs in a new thread (vice this "4x shootout"), but as you've already touched on a couple of aspects of my real question, which might be restated as: "for 1:1 to 2.5x max (not 3x, not 4x - already have those nicely covered with a CF N 4x objective), AND you only had say $200 or ...

Although I have high hopes for Componon-S, Mark Goodman has shown there are couple of better lenses at 4x: http://coinimaging.com/s50comp.html Thanks for this link! Can't speak for the accuracy of the testing but I sure like the same measurement for the many different lens! :o I'm not very experien...

My Nikon CF 4x N Plan gets me to 2.5x (and a little beyond) with no problem on a Canon T2i APS-C sensor. Can't speak for FF. That objective and the regular Nikon CF 4x Plan should likely be a bit cheaper and more common.

Miljenko wrote:a true suicidal, masohistic gold mine for lens testing photomacrographer

or how about item #130964437942? There you have a smaller "problem", but I see at least a couple J(you know what) brand.

Anyone know anything about these no-brand "LWD M 20/0.30" Objectives? http://www.ebay.com/itm/20X-MICROSCOPE-OBJECTIVE-LENS-LWD-M20-0-30-240-LONG-WORKING-DISTANCE-/161004391875?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item257c9c0dc3 I've seen a similar objective that had a WD of 12mm, which is nice for 20x, altho...

Thank you both, If I were to start fresh on a lighting setup, for this ~10mm working distance (and <4mm subjects), is there consensus or best-practice approach? Styrofoam cups and indirect/bounce flash? Pingpong balls and flash clusters? Does anyone (sane) achieve “excellent” results with continuous...

I see no obvious stacking problems. These two particular images show some flare, and the insect color is somehow "contaminated" with blue... perhaps from the background. Some color correction for the insect body and a quick levels or curves adjustment make a significant difference. The overall ligh...

Greetings, I do a lot of whole body beetle posts over on BugGuide, and attempt to apply some of the techniques I've read about here on Photomacrography. But I don't seem to be getting the same "wow" factor that I see, even in the 'my first stack' posts by others. While I'm unlikely to ever take the ...

As a cheaper option there are many 100mmm enlarger lenses Thanks Chris, Silly question but do I reverse those enlarger lenses, as I do when using the 50mm & 80mm el Niks directly for macro? (I assume not). That's gonna be a strange looking setup on the camera! :) And I assume to mount the enlarger ...

Hi Rik, I tried a Nikon CFI 10x Plan like yours on a Canon 55-250 f/4.0-5.6 lens and was seeing significant dark corners down at 100mm and even 135mm (but it sure rocks up at 200-250mm!). It's bad enough at 100mm that the field is effectively reduced by over 30%. I think I had the lens wide open. Wo...

I used to post all my BugGuide images with Powershot stacks and a reversed 50mm f1.4. (before I found this forum and "a better way" - Thanks All!!!) Here's one that seemed to turn out fairly well. I believe it was with a A650 (max zoom - 44mm). The setup is described here . It really is a nice compa...

Tim I don't know your camera but try a loupe on the live view screen, expanded as far as it'll go. It's fairly easy to tell which way the resolution is going as you click the aperture, without even saving the images. If from maximum it's "getting better at f/4" then "getting worse at f/8", - that'l...

If best happens before f/5.6, then what you have is probably very similar to an EL Nikkor and you haven't spent any more money. If best is down at f/8 or lower, then what you have is not very good and you should move up. The best lenses I personally own in the 3X to 5X range are an Olympus 38 mm f/...

First, thanks everybody! This Forum is amazing! For the FD lens, If that FD-mount 50 mm f/3.5 macro has a manual aperture (or can be hacked to have), then the first thing I'd try is just reversing it on tubes or bellows. how far should I stop it down? Even at 3x wouldn't it begin to challenge the di...