Water boatman and moth

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Sat Aug 14, 2010 5:50 pm

I was looking at the insects that had gathered at an outdoor light in my backyard and was surprised to find, in addition to a few moths, a couple of water boatman. I'm aware that they do fly, but I'm 1/4 mile from a lake, and I didn't suspect they wandered this far.

These pictures were taken with a nearly completed "project". I took the Olympus Vanox head seen on page 2 of this post, and extended the eyepieces with 40mm extensions. This gave me a 200mm tube length to the eyepieces, and gave me another 40mm of working distance on the trinocular port. The increased image distance allowed me to make a parfocal rotating mount for my DSLR bodies. So I can do "direct projection" with my Nikon CF M Plans (210mm finite objectives) while simultaneously viewing through the eyepieces if desired. (This trinoc head has a 3 position slider... 100% light to view, split view/camera, and 100% to camera).

Two of the shots below were actually made with the Nikon 4/0.13 CF Plan Achromat (160mm finite). Since the actual tube length used was about 200mm I suppose I'm at about 5X (didn't measure). The third shot is with the 10/0.21 SLWD Nikon CF M Plan. (ZS stacks of 146, 104 and 137 images).

thartl · Post by **thartl** » Sat Aug 14, 2010 8:05 pm

Outstanding - I am extremely impressed. Both with the photos and the set up.

sonyalpha · Post by **sonyalpha** » Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:43 am

OUTSTANDING is the word I would use too ....to describe these wonderful shots:

The Water-boatman is indeed a strange looking creature, the detail you have captured is truly amazing.................just look at those combs and whiskers...never mind that unusual snout....not technical terms I know but you all know what I mean:

I took a close-up of a very fury moth the other day and honestly thought that those flat looking hairs/scales were a result of my poor focussing..now I know what they really look like:

Inspirational as always Charles:

sonyalpha

Craig Gerard · Post by **Craig Gerard** » Sun Aug 15, 2010 2:02 am

Charlie,

Most intrigued.

Looking forward to seeing some images of the setup

especially after seeing these images and reading the configeration details!

Craig

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Sun Aug 15, 2010 3:32 pm

Craig,

See here for the set-up.

NikonUser · Post by **NikonUser** » Sun Aug 15, 2010 4:41 pm

Charles wrote:
"I'm aware that they do fly, but I'm 1/4 mile from a lake, and I didn't suspect they wandered this far."

Up north, at least, these guys do more than just wander, they actively disperse (possibly migrate) over long distances.
Their occurrence in temporary bodies of water and isolated ponds is unlikely to be due to "transport on duck's feet".
I once ran a series of light traps above a forest canopy, with the lamp in a funnel such that it could be seen only from above.
One morning the traps contained hundreds (perhaps thousands) of water boatmen.

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 8:04 am

NU... Thanks for that info.

sonyalpha...

just look at those combs and whiskers...

Under a more powerful microscope the legs are extremely fascinating to study. Here's an old gallery I put together:
http://micropix.home.comcast.net/~micro ... index.html

Craig Gerard · Post by **Craig Gerard** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 6:22 pm

Charlie,

After revisiting the link in your previous post; I am now more curious about the blue background. Was there a filter over the condenser? Is there any Rheinberg Illumination happening with the images in this thread, in addition to reflected light?

Craig

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 10:07 pm

Craig,

Not in the images here. In the older gallery I did use a Rheinberg filter for some (most?... honestly can't remember!)

I never got into the highly colored ones. mostly used a dark blue center with clear periphery. When I started taking pictures I used the technique a great deal... in fact the very first shot I posted (over 6 years ago) was taken with a Rheinberg filter. It was actually easier to do on my older scope that had a filter tray at the base of the condenser. My current scope, where the condenser is held via a dovetail mount at the base, is harder to use with this technique. You can get an idea of the technique here:
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/tech ... nberg.html

sonyalpha · Post by **sonyalpha** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:13 am

Charles Krebs wrote:NU... Thanks for that info.

sonyalpha...
just look at those combs and whiskers...
Under a more powerful microscope the legs are extremely fascinating to study. Here's an old gallery I put together:
http://micropix.home.comcast.net/~micro ... index.html

Thank you for posting your Water Boatman legs gallery Charles..........................Spikes and hairs to make them better swimmers eh?

Perhaps our Olympic swimmers and regular divers should study them more closely?

sonyalpha