Question about vibration

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stevocem
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon May 01, 2017 3:44 pm

Question about vibration

Post by stevocem »

Hi guys

I use Nikon D800 with Mitutoyo 20x Plan Apo lens. As tube I use Nikon 200mm macro lens.

I noticed that my live view is good, sharp but every time I shoot an image, it is blurred. I tired quiet mode and also shutter delay mode, with 3 seconds mirror lock up. No noticeable difference, live view is sharp, images not. I tired to go up with ISO and to reduce the exposure time to extremely fast, still no luck. What is going on? Any ideas are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Stefan

mawyatt
Posts: 2497
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2013 6:54 pm
Location: Clearwater, Florida

Post by mawyatt »

Stefan,

Might be shutter shock caused from the shutter curtains moving. I use the D800 with the Mitty 20X and have been able to get good results.

This is where flash can help. For example in studio work sometimes, I'll set a long shutter exposure, say 1 second, but use rear curtain flash for the actual exposure. This needs to be done in an environment where the long shutter exposure won't expose the image with ambient lights, only the flash creates the exposure.

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
~Mike

stevocem
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon May 01, 2017 3:44 pm

Post by stevocem »

Thank you Mike! Sadly, my setup doesn’t allow flash. I am trying to snap micro images on varnished paintings, which reflect a lot. I need to setup special lights... Flash doesn’t work with this setup. Any other ideas? Many thanks.

Stefan

rjlittlefield
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Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Have you tried relatively dim light and long exposures, say 8 seconds?

The idea is to get the bulk of exposure in quiet time after the shutter vibration has died out.

--Rik

mawyatt
Posts: 2497
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2013 6:54 pm
Location: Clearwater, Florida

Post by mawyatt »

Stefan,

You might be able to use flash (strobes) with a highly diffused light modifier. I often image chips which have highly reflective surfaces and use a small light tent to diffuse the multiple strobe. Under extreme conditions like when these chips have many tiny solder balls (40~100um dia), which tend to be highly reflective like spherical mirrors, I may use two light tents a smaller one inside a larger one. This works very well for creating a highly diffused light source.

With this technique you can use the flash (strobes) but still get a highly diffused light source, and employ rear curtain flash synch mentioned.

These tents are not expensive, usually under $50.

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
~Mike

Deanimator
Posts: 870
Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2012 7:01 pm
Location: North Olmsted, Ohio, U.S.A.

Post by Deanimator »

mawyatt wrote:These tents are not expensive, usually under $50.
And easily duplicated using PVC pipe and fabric. This gives you easy customization, even on the fly, as well.

anoldsole
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2018 5:49 pm

Flash option

Post by anoldsole »

If you are worried about spectacular highlights with flash, one option might be to use cross polarization. Get some polarizing film and cover your softboxes with linear polarizing sheets (align the polarization), then put another piece of film in front of the objective with the polarization oriented orthogonally with your lights polarization. You'll lose a few stops of light but it will tone down the highlights of the flash so you can still utilize it's high speed vibration stopping power.

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