Hi Ken... move in just a bit closer...closer....

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:51 pm

Not to worry though... this is really not that big. Left to right this scene covers about 4.5mm.

I pulled a chunk of moss covered bark off of a tree stump and this critter was on the back.

50mm EL Nikkor on bellows. Nikon D200. 30 image stack.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:10 pm

Very nice.

No sign of feathered hairs.

Also no sign of dessication. Live, dead? If live, how did you get it to hold still?

--Rik

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:50 am

Gad

!

You know many a year ago a photograph such as this would put me in a fit, maybe I have just gotten used to them.

Rarely do I run across spiders when examining clumps of moss through the dissecting microscope but when I do they tend to startle me somewhat. This little thing reminds me of a tarantula.

Great shot there Charlie, though I prefer your fantastic amoebae images much more.

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:31 am

Is it a spider or a mite? It does not seem to have enough eyes for a spider.

I have just bought a secondhand 50mm f2.8N EL Nikkor off EBAY Charles, with appropriate adapters to reverse mount it on my Nikon PB-6 bellows. What should be the maximum magnification I can get with my D200?

DaveW

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:13 am

DaveW wrote:It does not seem to have enough eyes for a spider.

Looks to me like the normal complement of 8. The two bright blue ones are the posterior median eyes (PME). To the sides from them are the posterior lateral PLE) and anterior lateral eyes (ALE), which in this spider are very close together and appear as two lumps on the same structure. Directly in front of the PMEs (below, in this photo), are the anterior median eyes (AME). All eyes except the PMEs are facing sideways on the spider, so we're looking at the sides of those eyes. That viewpoint, and the fact that those eyes don't happen to catch the light in this photo, make them hard to recognize.

--Rik

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 12:58 pm

Dave,

Most definitely a spider. As Rik mentioned the, angle of the shot make it difficult to clearly see all the eyes.

Don't have the PB-6 myself, but it should put you into the 4-5X range. I like to add a short extension tube at the bellows front to get the lens sticking out a little more so the bellows rail is farther back and less likely to get in the way of other items in the "set". (Although I must admit, after working with some of these microscope objectives on a bellows, the working distance provided with the 50 EL Nikkor makes it seem like I'm shooting across the Grand Canyon!)

Charlie

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:58 pm

I could only detect the big blue eyes Rik!

Thanks Charles, I have a full set of Nikon tubes I could stick on too (100.5mm in total). I gather the bellows at full extension is 208mm, so that would give 308.5mm in total

DaveW