A closer look at Mum's 'lil ones...

[rjlittlefield]

Here's a closer look at the spiderlings that I posted yesterday under "Just Mum and the 'lil ones...".



This is about 4.5mm across the field. At this magnification, even f/8 is starting to get fuzzy from diffraction. We can pull out a bit more detail by cropping closer, but not much:



The setup for this was a bit cobbled together. It's the Olympus 38mm f/2.8 bellows rig that I use for stacking, but handheld and stopped down to f/8. Stopping down sacrifices some resolution compared to what the lens will do wide open (see the comparison here), but it gives more DOF in a single shot while still being sharp enough for the web.

Optically, the setup is similar to an MP-E 65 at maximum magnification. It's rather less convenient, but I already had this and I don't have an MP-E 65. Tradeoffs, tradeoffs...

--Rik

Canon 300D, Olympus 38mm f/2.8 bellows lens at f/8, crops from 5mm field width = 4.5X onto the sensor, strobe lighting.

[beetleman]

The pictures are just incredible Rik. The little ones are actually pretty cute if you ask me. It looks like their legs are just about transparent

[rjlittlefield]

They are kind of cute little things, aren't they?

I think you're right about them being transparent, the legs anyway. It's hard to tell for sure. Normally I'd wave something behind one and see if it showed through, but these things are inside a loose web, crammed in a pretty inaccessible space between the wheel and the barrow. I can see in, but I can't reach in.

A challenge for another day, I guess. (Where would we be without those? )

--Rik

[MacroLuv]

Looks like they were made of jelly.

[Ken Ramos]

Would you just look at those spiders! I think I will go out and buy a new pair of shoes...LARGE ones. Great images there Rik, thanks...I think.