If you're using a microcontroller it is very easy to take control of the Nikon flash duration. Put the flash in TTL, connect to a Nikon cable, sequentially pull the fire and quench signal lines to 0V with an appropriate usec pause. If you want a strobe sequence, delay and repeat as necessary. Really...

There is some really exciting work going on using the computational cores embedded in high end graphics cards. Nvidia (and perhaps others) have made available a command interface to access their cores. Why is this important - a high end card can have 16 or more fully parallel cores with supporting c...

Does anyone have any experience of Seben microscopes ? I'm looking for a cheap stereo scope for sample preparation and they might be a reasonable buy. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Seben-Incognita-New-First-Class-Stereo-Microscope_W0QQitemZ260234760511QQihZ016QQcategoryZ414QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewI...

.. that captures images from the scene prior to the moment when you actually press the shutter button ..

.. now that's what I call impressive. I just need to work on my coffee pot that knows when I'm about to need a boost !

I'm curious about solutions for height adjustment for a desktop rig. Good microscope base units are hard to come by. Scissor jacks are a bit uneven in their movement. Optical lab jacks are expensive. I'm planning to adjust height and position for the subject, not the camera, and I expect to have the...

Hi Danny, I've had a 6T for a few years so that's not a problem. I'm putting together a desktop macro rig so I'll be able to do some side by side comparisons with a a bellows and this combo. Mind you, at the current rate of progress I confidently expect the first image to be ready sometime early Oct...

Thanks for the reply - it is pretty much what I expected. I might see if I can get some light guides and illuminate them with a Luxeon led. Trouble is that this side of the pond there is much less availability of pretty much everything

When using a light source to illuminate a subject through fibre optic pipes, what is a useful power to make the subject bright enough to check focus ? I see powers ranging from 20W to 150W. This would be for macro/bellows type set up rather than a microscope.

thanks, Andrew

Thanks for the answer Rik, it seems like most of the lenses work best one or two stops down from wide open. I'll run my own series of tests once my current eBay shopping spree bears fruit but it is always nice to benchmark against others.

Andrew

When using a reversed lens (say an El-Nikkor 50mm f2.8 ) reversed on a bellows, what aperture setting do you use ? I know that most lens when used conventionally have a sweet spot at about f8 to f11 but I'm not quite so sure when reversing them.

Hi,

Anyone have any opinions or experience on working with a PN-11 + 200f4 + 6T diopter ?

I believe it should go up to 3.17x at 4.10in.

Thanks,

Andrew