The cheapest way to High Quality Focus stacking up to 60x

Francis Prior · Post by **Francis Prior** » Mon Jul 15, 2013 5:14 pm

Hi everyone

I'm new to this site but was referred by someone on facebook to come and share my techniques and work etc

My name is Francis Prior. I do a lot of Micro Photography, all with PLANs but sometimes use Prime lenses if I'm out in the field.

I'm going to share my setup that cost me around £40 to make in a day or two and thus help anyone new comers out in the field of Macro/Micro.

This first image shows the setup I built in 2012, when I first really got into the focus stacking flow of things...
This cheap and simple setup is what I use to this day and is all manual and capable of 0.001mm/1um quite easily.
Of course, it takes more patience as it is not run by electrics, but it pays off a lot when you get the final image.
If you look below you will see some simple 20x images and some lower magnification images as examples.

The setup consists of 2x LED IKEA Lamps for the lighting, diffused by a ping pong ball.
The Microscope Objectives I own are one 5x Nikon M PLAN, 10x and also 20x both Nikon M PLANs that have seen better days..

The bellows were cheap cheap off ebay, and the tubes from amazon.

I use a Canon 550D, cheap, yet does the job !

Now the interesting bit. That motor was £7 from maplin. I have connected it to the guts of CD Drive of a ps3 Blu Ray player with some string

and yes... it can get 1um...

It's as simple as that guys... hope this helps some people out wondering how I get my pictures

Stacking is done in Zerene Stacker, the best software for Macro EVER made, kudos to it's inventor/creator !

Post processing is in Photoshop and Photomatix.

Remember and keep in mind a quote from my biggest inspiration Thomas Shahan.

Equipment isn't what matters.... patience and persistence are key and are all that is needed in Macro Photography.

Thanks for reading, come visit my facebook page if you want to keep in touch or have a discussion ! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Francis- ... 9520823109

My setup as of 2012:

Smaller setups I am actually selling, you can contact me if interested:

Here's some image examples -

Female Horse Fly eye at 22x

Blue bottle at 4x

Black Ant with Mite - 8x

Jumping Spider - 10x

martincito · Post by **martincito** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 12:56 am

Amazing! To be clear, does the (manually-rotated) motor pull the slider away from the camera by winding in that bit of orange string around the pulley? Is the slider tensioned the other way by means of a spring or something? did the battery shown in the first photo provide a powered version??

Regards,
Martin

Francis Prior · Post by **Francis Prior** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 2:00 am

martincito wrote:Amazing! To be clear, does the (manually-rotated) motor pull the slider away from the camera by winding in that bit of orange string around the pulley? Is the slider tensioned the other way by means of a spring or something? did the battery shown in the first photo provide a powered version??

Regards,
Martin

Hi Mate

The motor is attached to the rail and as I rotate it it pulls the CD ralley away from the camera, bit by bit by bit.
The battery is just to get the slider back to the original position for each new stack, saving time, but not a necessity

Thanks for viewing !

canonian · Post by **canonian** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 3:08 am

Hi Francis,

We've met previous on Flickr (Bokeh BG)
Amazingly simple setup which does an excellent job , looking at the results.

Francis Prior · Post by **Francis Prior** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 6:53 am

canonian wrote:Hi Francis,

We've met previous on Flickr (Bokeh BG)
Amazingly simple setup which does an excellent job , looking at the results.

Hi mate, yeah I remember you

Thanks for the compliments, it can be improved, but finding the time is the key

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 7:31 am

Hi Francis
Looking promising!
We've had a couple of computer bits roped in to stacking rigs before, one is here:
Positioning subject with floppy drive head
though that one uses the stepper motor.

How much does your motor have to move to give one micron?
As you probably know, you could use a 555 project board also from Maplin, to provide measured pulses to the motor for even steps.
As you say, it's the time thing in the way

Francis Prior · Post by **Francis Prior** » Wed Jul 17, 2013 10:09 am

ChrisR wrote:Hi Francis
Looking promising!
We've had a couple of computer bits roped in to stacking rigs before, one is here:
Positioning subject with floppy drive head
though that one uses the stepper motor.

How much does your motor have to move to give one micron?
As you probably know, you could use a 555 project board also from Maplin, to provide measured pulses to the motor for even steps.
As you say, it's the time thing in the way

Hi Chris !

Indeed, there are many many ways to go about Micro photography, mine being the cheapest I have found anywhere so far.

My methods work for sure, but as I am really getting noticed now I need to up the game and make it more accurate. I can precisely get 1um from half a rotation of the cog, but it isn't accurate in the slightest.

I haven't heard of the 555 Project Board and would appreciate a link as I feel a summer project coming on before I go back to Uni and have no time to fiddle around with setups !

I think it's time to set aside my manual ways and go for automated methods using electronics... but where to start where to start is the question indeed... so many different methods and so little money.

If you have any suggestions on a setup that I can build ( Im pretty good with electrics etc ) for around £50-£70 then please let me know.
I will stick with the same idea of a cd rail and string as personally they work superbly together, all I would need to do is add a stepping motor in there and some flips and switches.

I hope to get up to 60x if I can ever afford the Objectives. For now 20x seems to do the job for almost every insect out there.

All the best,

Francis

elf · Post by **elf** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:34 am

EasyDriver stepper motor driver < 15$
Arduino Uno < $15
Stepper motor < $2
Assorted wires, breadboard, etc. $5

Francis Prior · Post by **Francis Prior** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 10:56 am

elf wrote:EasyDriver stepper motor driver < 15$
Arduino Uno < $15
Stepper motor < $2
Assorted wires, breadboard, etc. $5

When you list these things it makes it seem simple

Id have to research these and see how they fit together, thanks

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 11:55 am

Elf's suggestion is the nice digital way to do it. You'll find other posts here if you search on "stepper". You'll have quite a bit to learn about, programming techniques, programming the Arduino specifically, and controlling a stepper motor driver (cheap pcb module, pre-assembled) from the Arduino, if you want the full device to be clever.
You'll need to download software, get interface leads etc. There are good online forums for Arduino help.

What you have now though is a non stepping motor. If you supply it with a pulse of power, say 0.2 seconds long, it'll move some angular amount. If the load is constant it'll be a similar amount each time, though friction will play a part. It won't be linear either, because the thing will accellerate up to speed, so twice the (timed) pulse length won't give you twice the movement.
BUT, arranging the supply of a constant pulse length is a lot simpler to learn about and implement than going the stepper motor route, from where you are now.
A circuit which gives you (eg) a constant length pulse whenever you close a switch, is called a Monostable. The "555" chip was designed to do that sort of thing, supplies up to 200mA. If you're going to enter the world of electronics, it's a pretty good place to start. Monostables and other timers are useful for all sorts. (Chip only, http://www.maplin.co.uk/ne555n-timer-2704 )

If you Google search for 555 Timer you'll find masses of circuits, mostly with just a few components. I found a video here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn5-XiB8oJk
which shows the sort of thing you're in for. Starting at 4:50 he implements a monostable. He's making a pulse of several seconds, which is just down to the values of the resistor/capacitors. (Resistance x capacitance gives seconds).

Edit - I just looked at Maplin modules, and don't see quite the right thing, but I've used the "wrong" one before and changed a component or two to make what's needed. For a few pounds you at least have somewhere to solder things. (eg MK111)
You would need to read about a few 555 circuits to work out what you need. There are timer kits on ebay too.

Much of the hassle with DIY electronics is over once you've sorted out power supplies, & putting things into nice boxes. There are lots of help forums. The technical stuff is easy - once you've done it!

Bill Eldridge · Post by **Bill Eldridge** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:38 pm

You could use a 556 dual timer, which is a pair of 555's on one chip:

- one 555 running as an oscillator to control the motor speed
- the other 555 as a monostable to provide the step pulse (gating the oscillator)
- both adjustable by potentiometers

I once used a 556 to build a monophonic light-controlled synthesizer into a yogurt cup. A fast 555 oscillator was subdivided by a slower
555 oscillator to create subharmonic pitches: "Yogurt Music". The 555 has enough juice to drive a little speaker without amplification!

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:46 pm

Indeed - we used to do that to control model train loco's. It might not be necessary here - I was concerned about getting too complex too quick!

martincito · Post by **martincito** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 3:28 pm

Maybe the simplest way of getting started would be the Maplin £7.99 Monostable Switch Kit which closes a relay for a single timed interval of 1 sec to over 15 minutes when triggered. You could use the Astable Kit to switch on the motor for a fixed interval each time you press a button. I've never tried this but might have a go in the near future.

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:33 pm

Sure, I missed that one - searched the wrong term probably.
It would need a little altering; timing components C1 and R1 would need to be much lower values to get into the time periods needed, and iirc the input would need a couple of components (R + C + Diode) to make it Edge Triggered rather than Level Triggered.
Might be easier to do without the relay, with some more thought..
All that could be found with Google on general purpose/standard circuits, and soldered around the board only slightly tattily.

It's tempting to draw out a circuit but it's not really the right forum for that sort of thing

martincito · Post by **martincito** » Fri Jul 19, 2013 1:52 am

ChrisR wrote:It's tempting to draw out a circuit but it's not really the right forum for that sort of thing

Please....