New Member

[Geopressure]

Hi All,

I'm a mineral collector from Tennessee. Recently decided to try my hand at macro and micro photography...bought a macro lens and a cheap stereo zoom scope and having fun with it. Results are not great so far but I'm hoping to learn!

[zzffnn]

Welcome to the forum!

Please take a look at member Ploum's mineral photos, if you have not:

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25139&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=120

Member Pau can probably help you too.

I have a small mineral (micro crystal clusters) collection, bought one by one from eBay, for about $250 in total (about $10-25 per piece). Where do you buy/collect your mineral samples?

For extreme macro photography at equal or more than 5x on sensor, you are better served by focus stacking with microscope objectives, either used on bellows/macro rig, or on a microscope. Zoom stereo microscopes are mostly for viewing only.

Macro lenses are usually good for equal or less than 3x on-sensor magnification.
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Selling my Canon FD 200mm F/2.8 lens

[Geopressure]

Ploum's micromount images are incredible!

Micro-minerals can often be found at well known collecting localities such as quarries or mine dumps. Mineral shows can be a good source though most dealers do not pay much attention to micros per se. Sometimes small, inexpensive specimens can have good micro potential if you are alert to it. There are a few dealers with websites that specialize in micromount material as well.

As you say I can already see that my stereo zoom scope is unlikely to yield the quality of photos I would like.