Nikon 3X Measuring Microscope Objective

ray_parkhurst · Post by **ray_parkhurst** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 8:46 pm

Anyone tried using one of these for photomacrography?

...Ray

Chris S. · Post by **Chris S.** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 9:47 pm

Ray, the only test I'm aware of any objective in this series is my test of the 5x, which I summarized here.

Cheers,

--Chris

ray_parkhurst · Post by **ray_parkhurst** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 9:53 pm

Thanks Chris, sounds more promising than I expected. Other objectives intended for measuring and comparator work that I've tried are fairly poor in resolution and CA. Sounds like this might be worth a try.

Ray

Chris S. · Post by **Chris S.** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 9:57 pm

I think it might be worth a try, Ray. If you do so, I hope you'll share the results!

--Chris

ray_parkhurst · Post by **ray_parkhurst** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 10:02 pm

Certainly will. I have a bunch of these evaluations piling up while we are moving to our new home. We're just starting to pack, so all the projects are on hold. I owe the forum several eval results but won't be able to get to them until probably mid-Jan...Ray

ray_parkhurst · Post by **ray_parkhurst** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 6:17 pm

Well, I got the lens, and it looked interesting enough I decided to check it out in the midst of all the activities going on around here. And in the process I learned something about the limitations of my setup...

I used my standard reference, a toned 1957-D Cent. I could not figure out how to adapt the lens to my bellows, so ended up using the old "masking tape" method for this evaluation.

I use a Nikon D7000 for my photomacrography and have always suspected the camera was limiting my resolution, but until I tried this lens I could not prove it was so. This lens is so far the best lens I've ever tried at 3x, and yet my final images don't show it as much better than my Apo Componon HM 45 or other references. So how do I know it's good? The image in Live View is stupendously sharp, while the captured image is comparatively fuzzy. I compared the live 100% image to 100% captured image on-screen and the difference is night and day.

My setup is pretty stable, and bumping it while watching live gives very little movement and what little there is is quickly damped. What I am suspecting is the shutter is jostling things enough that at 3x I'm getting some slight blurring of the capture. Combined with the long working distance of this objective, the result is more obvious than in previous comparisons I've made.

I'm thinking of buying Canon and will ask the forum separately about Canon vs Nikon recommendations. Meantime, here's a crop at 50% from the 3x image:

ray_parkhurst · Post by **ray_parkhurst** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 8:11 pm

Hi...I've received PMs that the linked photo does not display. I see it on my browser when I refresh. Can anyone confirm aye or nay to seeing the image? Thanks...Ray

Craig Gerard · Post by **Craig Gerard** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 8:45 pm

Ray,

Image is displaying at my end.

Craig

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:22 am

Image shows fine for me.

naturephoto1 · Post by **naturephoto1** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:32 am

Craig Gerard wrote:Ray,

Image is displaying at my end.

Craig

ChrisR wrote:Image shows fine for me.
I've found this objective OK (though not as good as an APO) in the middle, but falling away as radius increases.

Image is displaying fine here as well.

Rich

ray_parkhurst · Post by **ray_parkhurst** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 8:58 am

Apparently the problems were browser-related due to Photobucket issue. All's well...Ray