A Very Ornate Ambush Bug

[Walter Piorkowski]

Leitz Ortholux microscope
4X Leitz projection eyepiece plus 1/3x relay lens

Image 1- Face on view. Leitz 4X Plan Fluorite, 110 images at .002" increments.

Image 2- Side view. Leitz 4X Plan Fluorite, 79 images at .001" increments.

Image 3- Top side view. Leitz 4X Plan Fluorite, 100 images at .001" increments.

Image 4- Top side view. Leitz 2.5X Plan, 33 images at .005" increments.

Image 5- Bug in ambush. Afocal projection through Meiji EMZ-5 stereo scope with Sony NEX 5N and 18-55mm zoom.

Image 6- Face on view. Leitz 4X Plan Fluorite, 129 images at .001" increments.

Diffused Fiber Optic illumination
Canon 50D
Zerene PMax and Photoshop processing.


The exceptional ornamentation on this species of ambush bug made it a intriguing subject for me. I had to image it in as many views as I could get away with. The bug was found getting ready to pounce on a hapless victim when I ran across it as seen in image 5. According to my childhood insect book from the 1930's, "The front legs, with large spine covered femora, are adapted for capturing and holding their insect prey". The femora are seen open in Image 5 and in greater detail but closed in image 6.

The species is in the subfamily Phymatinae and has about five species similar to this one. I think it may be Phymata craipes.

Walt.

[NikonUser]

These really are strange insects. They are conservative in the fore legs, your bug has similar, identical?, fore legs as the male Phymata americana I photographed recently:
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=18153

[Walter Piorkowski]

Hello NU. Strange indeed. You may already be familiar with all the differant types, but check out the drawings on the wikipedia site for ambush bugs to see how many forms exist with the fore legs like our two examples.
Walt

[Baley]

Great images Walt. I have the same scope but I image from an ordinary 10x Periplan ocular in the trinocular tube to my Canon 5DII's sensor.

What is the benefit of the 4x projection lens?

Would you post some pics of your setup?

[Walter Piorkowski]

Hi Baley. Nice to know another Ortholux guy out there. I use the 4x projection eyepiece in combination with the 1/3x relay lens to reduce the size of the projection cone so I can get a lower magnification on the camera chip. Your 10x periplan may be ok with a 1/3 x relay lens if your camera is a full frame camera. My 50D is a 2/3rds chip. As you may already know, you are best to get your magnification from the higher mag. objective and not from the size of the projected image. I made a quick shot of my photo setup. By the way, glad you liked the images.
Walt
lt

[Baley]

Thanks for the setup picture Walt. Yes my camera is a full-frame; but with the 10x Periplan I can't get the full image on the sensor, so there's quite a bit of projection enlargement going on. I have a 1/3 adapter that I tried with a 4/3 Lumix camera which gave pretty good results but was a PITA to use because I had to use the shutter in the adapter and not the shutter in the Lumix (it caused vibration). So to take a shot I had to set the Lumix to a 2 sec (or more) exposure then I'd have to trip the shutter of the adapter while the Lumix shutter was open. I haven't a way to adapt the 1/3 adapter to my Canon, so I haven't tried that combo yet.

Could you explain what the projection ocular does differently than the normal eyepiece? Does it produce a sharper image for direct-to-sensor shots?

Thanks

[Walter Piorkowski]

Hi Baley.
1) The true projection eyepieces are superior for the purpose that they were designed for vs. eyepieces for use by the human eye. The best designs produce a flat field, apochromatic correction, smaller projection cones etc. They produce a sharper, brighter image for your camera.

2) My personal setup may be unique and is the result of much experimentation. The 4x projection eyepiece that I use is from an old Leitz projection unit designed to project a microscope slide image onto a large wall screen. Eyepieces from these units came in magnifications from 1x to 5x in 1/2x increments. I settled on a 4x.

3) With your photomicrographic efforts, you are running into the problem we all face of a smaller projection cone. Leitz in the era of the Ortholux never seemed to put any effort into solving this because they like selling their big 4x5 inch camera setups. Olympus addressed this with their older series of NFK projection eyepieces. These are now highly prized and so very expensive. Modern day projection eyepiece manufacturers making small cone units for small video chips sell off the shelf but are expensive too.

4) Regarding your experiment with the Lumix, my suggestion is to try what I have done. Set the Leitz shutter assembly to “bulb” and then permanently hold the shutter open with a locking cable release. This way you can make use of the cameras shutter. Regarding vibration. My camera is attached to the frame of an assembly that keeps it from touching the microscope.

Good luck with your efforts. Welcome to the forum.
Walt

[Pau]

Walt, thanks for posting your photo adaptation.
It's surprising for me to see a projective eyepiece used in combination with a relay lens. Usually this kind of adapters are designed to work afocal with an eyepiece of the visual type. Long time ago I bought a Leitz Mikas for 35mm Leica (very cheap but damaged ) that came with a 10X eyepiece under the 0.3X lens.
For later Leitz microscopes the standard configuration was based in a Periplan eyepiece like the 10X red dot with a relay lens over it, but I think the best adapter is based in the vario Orthomat zoom photoeyepiece.

In fact with my Leitz objectives I use 6.3X and 10X red dot eyepieces with a 0.25X relay lens:
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... hp?t=15607

[Walter Piorkowski]

Hello Pau. Very interesting set up you have there. I have used such camera lens afocal setups for many decades on telescopes to photograph bright objects like the moon, sun, and planets. Regarding my own setup, I don’t know if is the best arrangement but it works well for me. I have also tried a 1/2 relay lens but the magnification was too high.
As I mentioned to Baley my projection eyepiece was not designed as a photo-eyepiece but for projection. They have different focal lengths than those for the eye. I have heard of the vario Ottoman zoom photo eyepiece but never had an opportunity to see or test one.
Regards Walter

[Baley]

Thanks Walt & Pau for most informative posts. The explanation of the image cone was enlightening. That is why my camera is so much closer to the eyepiece than most setups that I see which image direct to the sensor. I haven't tried Pau's setup with a lens; but I think I'll experiment with that a bit. I assume the red-dot means high-eyepoint?

[Pau]

I assume the red-dot means high-eyepoint?

Not exactly, they are high eyepoint ones (this is marked with the eyeglasses symbol), but the red dot means that they are designed (or just selected?) for photography.
I've tried my red dot 10X periplan against an identical looking one without the dot and the results looked the same. My 6.3X Periplan doesn't have the dot nor the eyeglasses and works nicely, in fact it's my favourite because it provides the best match for APSC sensor with my 0.25X Zeiss adapter.