Another low cost studio setup

Have questions about the equipment used for macro- or micro- photography? Post those questions in this forum.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

Miljenko
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2013 11:53 pm
Location: Zagreb, Croatia
Contact:

Another low cost studio setup

Post by Miljenko »

After lurking for couple of months and gaining extremely valuable knowledge and experience you guys generously give away here, I'm ready to contribute with a modest one of my own.
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:
Image

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:
Image

On top of the first rail there is Manfrotto 357 Pro Quick Release Adapter (the only serious component here :lol:) 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:
Image

Object to sensor plane is adjustable thanks to multiple rail setup from 165 to 385 mm:
Image

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:
Image

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:
Image

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
All things are number - Pythagoras

Peter De Smidt
Posts: 233
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:10 am
Contact:

Post by Peter De Smidt »

Well done!

soldevilla
Posts: 684
Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:49 pm
Location: Barcelona, more or less

Post by soldevilla »

Nice DIY work!

Olympusman
Posts: 5090
Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:31 pm

Stacking rigs

Post by Olympusman »

Nice setups. Those cheap Chinese X-Y focusing rails are pretty handy to have around. Adorama sells those exact models for about $180.00!
Michael Reese Much FRMS EMS Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23561
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Post by rjlittlefield »

Very nice! I have added your system to the list in our FAQ.

--Rik

Miljenko
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2013 11:53 pm
Location: Zagreb, Croatia
Contact:

Post by Miljenko »

Thanks, Rik. It's nice to balance those real setups that you big boys have with something very modest like this $100 toy :smt031
My trigger setup for shooting insects in flight has pretty much same flavour; simple, cheap but effective.
But how really good this studio setup is we'll see soon enough when I start shooting 4x and over. Maybe it's just a waste of time and money. Not much but still a waste... :?
Last edited by Miljenko on Tue Sep 17, 2013 11:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
All things are number - Pythagoras

dolmadis
Posts: 899
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 1:51 pm
Location: UK

Post by dolmadis »

Miljenko wrote: My trigger setup for shooting insects in flight has pretty much same flavour; simple, cheap but effective.
Sounds interesting. Are you ready to share?

Thanks

John

Miljenko
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2013 11:53 pm
Location: Zagreb, Croatia
Contact:

Post by Miljenko »

No problem, John,
but I didn't say it works 100% as it should right now. Currently I'm fighting against shutter delay (50-60 ms with my D7100), finding the workaround.
When I solve the problem I'll publish the final release.
All things are number - Pythagoras

soldevilla
Posts: 684
Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:49 pm
Location: Barcelona, more or less

Post by soldevilla »

Miljenko wrote: But how really good this studio setup is we'll see soon enough when I start shooting 4x and over. Maybe it's just a waste of time and money. Not much but still a waste... :?
I'm just worried about how your system will prevent vibrations caused by the mirror and curtain of the camera. Above x4 I believe it is necessary to work with flash.

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23561
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Post by rjlittlefield »

Miljenko wrote:Currently I'm fighting against shutter delay (50-60 ms with my D7100), finding the workaround.
The standard solution to this problem involves a fast external shutter. See for example http://www.pbase.com/fotoopa/laser_system. I've never read of a workaround using the camera's internal shutter, so I'll be very interested to see what you come up with.

--Rik

Guido
Posts: 333
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:02 am

Post by Guido »

cooling fan vibrations influence sharpness above 1:1 magnification.
This could improve if you connect the lights separated from the specimen fixture

TheLostVertex
Posts: 317
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 9:55 am
Location: Florida

Post by TheLostVertex »

Very nice set up. I especially enjoy your DIY lights, they look very well done. Your description of their power makes me wonder about possibly controlling with a micro controller and turning them into some sort of quasi-flash. If the area you are photographing in is dark, it may be possible to open the shutter and let vibration disperse, then electronically turn on and off the lights quickly to expose. I do not know much about the characteristics of LED's operating at such a short interval though. But in theory it could give you rather sharp exposures and avoid mirror and shutter vibration. I do not know how dubious such an idea would be though.

Guido
Posts: 333
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:02 am

Post by Guido »

Or reduce the voltage on the fan's.

Miljenko
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2013 11:53 pm
Location: Zagreb, Croatia
Contact:

Post by Miljenko »

Sorry guys for not responding for two days, being busy with lots of stuff. Fortunately, found some time to do couple of tests. Here are the outcomes:
1) Turning off fans does help quite a lot. Sharpness improvement visible even at 1:1
2) Tried flashes instead, gives MUCH better sharpness. Obviously, very short flash duration solves both mirror slap AND curtain vibrations
So it seems I'll take a different route. Doesn't mean I'll quit on LEDs but I just might use them in flash mode. You might not be aware guys that LEDs can provide much higher output when driven for a very short duration and Manfrotto uses this trick with their top of the line LED lights: http://www.manfrotto.com/led-light-maxi ... els-ml840h Watch the quote: "...The ML840H has a flash setting, triggered by a sync cable, that emits a pulse of light four times brighter than the maximum continuous light it can produce..."
So I might try that approach. Designing a trigger electronics is a piece of cake so I might be doing that for the next couple of days. If I don't get satisfying results, I can always get back to good old flashes!
All things are number - Pythagoras

Miljenko
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2013 11:53 pm
Location: Zagreb, Croatia
Contact:

Post by Miljenko »

rjlittlefield wrote:
Miljenko wrote:Currently I'm fighting against shutter delay (50-60 ms with my D7100), finding the workaround.
The standard solution to this problem involves a fast external shutter. See for example http://www.pbase.com/fotoopa/laser_system. I've never read of a workaround using the camera's internal shutter, so I'll be very interested to see what you come up with.
Rik, I'm aware of Fotoopa's work from the beginning and his solution is top notch. I'm trying to achieve similar results with less sofisticated circuitry, not using external shutter. The latest idea is to use some sort of pretrigger when the insect enters wider trigger area. This would open the shutter and when the bug eventually gets exactly to the focus point, flash triggers and freezes the scene. Of course, the insect is supposed to do main triggering within relatively short period in order not to overexpose the scene with daylight.
All things are number - Pythagoras

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic