Before that, let me briefly introduce myself: photographing for more than 40 years, as an audio designer I was always leaning towards technically demanding photography categories. For the last couple of years I'm designing and using gear for shooting insects in flight. Naturally, this kind of photography doesn't reveal finest insect details which can be so astonishing. Obviously, stacking was the way to go.
It became clear soon enough that building a studio setup is a must if I want to do successful stacking. Resolution limit had to be established and I decided to accept 3x to 4x magnification as a goal with hopes for eventual 10x figure. With limited budget (two college students to support and jobless mrs.) I was condemned to Chinese components and lots of diy stuff. But when finished, it came out pretty neat and useful:
Pretty heavy base plate is 50" plasma TV stand holding twin L cross section alu profiles as a backbone holding no less than 4 different rails. On the LHS you can see modified "2 way rail" incorporating cannibalized micrometer:
On top of the first rail there is Manfrotto 357 Pro Quick Release Adapter (the only serious component here
) providing decent movement since the micrometer is good for 1" only. On top of that rail is another one in perpendicular orientation holding lighting and specimen fixture; Manfrotto 482 ball head, cut down plastic caliper in vertical orientation holding 2mm carbon rod with twin needles glued:
Object to sensor plane is adjustable thanks to multiple rail setup from 165 to 385 mm:
The weakest link is "4 way rail" on the RHS that has considerable play in vertical direction. Tightening internal construction screws helped a bit but it still moves a millimeter or so when tightening a blocking screw. That's why I move that one only when changing lenses.
The only part I'm really proud of is lighting. I've used 10W daylight LED chip (measured at 6250K color balance) glued to a PC chipset heatsink. A pair of those provide 1/500 to 1/800 exposure with ease. 2mm dia R/C model control rods shaped to fit provide support for small diffuser light boxes:
So far I have found two drawbacks: light spread is good only when placed very close to the object and one more critical; cooling fan vibrations influence sharpness above 1:1 magnification. This is the reason I'm designing completely new kind of LED lighting now and the one shown gets fanless heatsinks very soon.
A ready to shoot setup I'm currently using (including another Shenzen cheapo; a bellows unit) is shown here:
Couple of stacks done with this setup can be seen here: http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... 426#134426
Regards to all of you guys,
Miljenko
