Very DIY setup

Simonl · Post by **Simonl** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 7:54 am

Found a setup on Flickr that I thought I would try out.

It consists of 4 offcuts of wood I picked up for £2 screwed together with a larger back board mounted partway up the box (this enables a flash to be placed beneath to backlight - or place coloured card for easy backgrounds.)

A 6mm bolt with washers attaches the bellows and rails.

I managed to get hold of a Nikkor EL 50mm f2.8 Enlarging lens off Ebay for £29 which is reverse mounted onto the bellows.

Finally a sheet of glass sits on top of the box, where I plan to place the subject. Hopefully this will avoid the use of pins.

Unfortunately as there is still snow outside there are no insects anywhere!!!

It seems pretty sturdy, but a little concerned that the rail adjustment will be a little harsh for stacking - guess only time and better weather will tell.

Thinking I might be able to put subjects in the freezer - not sure how long for though. Wondering if I can keep them alive but motionless. Guess that question will be answered once I give it a go.

I appreciate this set up is far from perfect, but until I can afford that Microscope setup that many on this forum use - I'll have to settle for my cheaper alternative.

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:04 am

A tip:

If you want fairly thin and really flat, distortion-free glass, use that made for photo frames. If you have any contacts with labs where TLC plates are used, the uncoated ones are very flat and smooth.

Harold

lauriek · Post by **lauriek** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 6:59 am

Using the focus rail on my OM bellows I can stack up to 3:1 or thereabouts, beyond this it's nigh on impossible to move the rail by small enough increments. I've no idea how the movement on the OM compares to the movement on your setup, you'll just have to give it a go!

A cheap way to sort that out if it's not up to the job would be to source a cheapo microscope and hack off the top, mount this below the camera and use it's focus mechanism moving the stage with the subject on it..

Look forward to seeing what you can do with it!

Simonl · Post by **Simonl** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:26 am

Thanks for the tips - most welcome.

Have discovered that the movement is a little harsh, so have taken the plunge and ordered a Proxxon KT70 table. Will try it horizontally first I think (not sure if it will stay in place if mounted vertically).

Noticed a few people have one in their setups and got one for a reasonable price. Now have to decide whether to just mount bellows and camera (minus the harsh moving rail) on the Proxxon or whether to mount the subject on it instead.

Understand it probably makes more sense to move the subject, but I'm used to moving the camera instead.

I just downloaded a free program that allows tethered shooting. The script will fire the shutter and transfer the images to a folder of choice on laptop/desktop.

Seems pretty good and is free, which is always good!

It's from here if anyone is interested:

http://www.diyphotobits.com/download-di ... a-control/

Guess using this means I can view each shot on the laptop and not worry which end of the camera I am

Simon

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:15 am

Simonl wrote: Understand it probably makes more sense to move the subject, but I'm used to moving the camera instead.

Unless the subject is static and lies in the desired plane anyway, you are probably going to have to move it, maybe frequently, possibly +/- continously, if it is on the move. The downside of rotating the subject is the potential for hands, etc. blocking the light or throwing shadows.

Harold

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:27 am

Simon,

Have discovered that the movement is a little harsh, so have taken the plunge and ordered a Proxxon KT70 table

You should be fine then. I would suggest the camera on the KT70, and set up the current rails for positioning the subject.

On thing I strongly suggest is a more solid method of mounting the camera/bellows. As shown here it appears that the only connection is the fairly narrow base of the rear bellows standard. The camera is cantilevered out from the back and the lens and the bulk of the bellows is cantilevered out front. Unless you are using electronic flash with a short duration you will have a very difficult time getting images that are not degraded due to vibration (even with the mirror locked -up).

Can't be sure from the picture, but it looks like the back standard is "fixed" while the front needs to be moved for bellows extension. Perhaps it would be possible to take some hardwood and make a "base" that would "bolt-up" to both the camera bottom and the rear bellows standard. (Shim it carefully so that the camera mount remains parallel and the proper height relative to the bellows. You do not want to "torque" the body against the mount when tightening it down). A base like that bolted to the Proxxon table will be hugely more stable than what you have here now.

AndrewC · Post by **AndrewC** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:16 am

Harold Gough wrote:A tip:

If you want fairly thin and really flat, distortion-free glass, use that made for photo frames. If you have any contacts with labs where TLC plates are used, the uncoated ones are very flat and smooth.

Harold

Any other ideas on where to get some small (5x10cm ?) pieces of flat glass ? Actually, perhaps I should just sacrifice a small photo frame or pick one up at a flea market.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 9:14 am

Simonl, I assume that you intend to set specimens on top of the glass.

In that case, flatness of the glass probably is not a big issue, since anything seen through it will be very OOF anyway. With some lighting, small dimples in the glass can turn into bright specular reflections, but you can usually work around those by tweaking the lighting, or by moving the glass a little bit.

What may be a bigger problem, however, is reflections of the subject from the glass surfaces. Those are liable to appear as slightly OOF halos around portions of your subject, and you cannot make them go away by changing the lighting.

You can reduce the problem of reflections by using glass with an anti-reflection coating. In large sheets, this is very expensive. (It's called "museum glass", if you go looking.) But you may already have some small sheets of the stuff, in the form of UV or skylight filters. Surface reflections from a high quality coated filter will be 5 or 10 times less intense than from even the best sheet of un-coated glass.

Hope this helps. You're getting into an interesting field.

--Rik

Simonl · Post by **Simonl** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:30 am

Thank you so much to everyone for all their tips and advice.
Everything you said is pretty much spot on the mark.

The camera does need to be supported better.
It does suffer a little from vibrations.
The glass does give me quite a few problems. (Dust, marks, imperfections, reflections etc.)

My Proxxon milling table arrived yesterday and I have enlisted the help of a friend at work to construct me a stage from Galvanised Steel to support the milling table (This time horizontally). So far so good, it's definately sturdy!

As my bellows have a screw mount that can only be accessed from below - I, or rather someone at work needs to make a caddy to fix my bellows to the table.

Hopefully it should be sorted by the weekend and I can test it out.

It's amazing how I've gone from cheap off cuts of wood to large pieces of steel and precision milling tables. This photomacrography thing sure is infectious!! Hopefully there will be some insects at the weekend to do some tests. Will post the new improved setup when it is complete (sure someone will be able to suggest improvements).

Thanks again for a great forum with very helpful and knowledgeable members.

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:48 am

Something I forgot: Photographic framing glass should have an anti-reflection coating. This is a major consideration when photographing anything through glass. Even polarizers cannot always eliminate reflections of e.g. the camera/lens.

Harold.

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:47 am

I was just going to say before I scrolled down to Harold's post, try your local photo framer for a bit of none reflective picture glass then you would not need to buy a sheet, but could get a piece cut the size desired.

There is a photo framer on Mapperley Top that might have it Simon.

DaveW

Simonl · Post by **Simonl** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:28 pm

I've tried to take on board all the great suggestions and have come up with a new setup, which is a whole lot sturdier.

(1) Proxxon KT70 milling table mounted on 2ft long galvanised steel support. Ebay bellows with reversed 50mm EL Nikkor Enlarging lens.

(2) I had no real way of securing the front of the bellows properly so a friend at work constructed a clever 'L bracket' that was attached to a bolt through an existing hole in the front support.

(3) As the only way of mounting the back support of the bellows was from underneath, he drilled down the support on each side and bolted to the milling table before securing the centre bolt.

I must say I wouldn't have had a clue how to securely mount the bellows, so a big thanks to its creator and a big thanks to everyone who pointed out the flaws of my first setup. Also it's great to see other people posting their setups - from which I have learned (and borrowed) much.
With added extension tubes between the bellows and camera I should get around 5:1. Just need the snow to melt and the insects to come out!

Simon

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:50 pm

Simon,

Now we're talkin'

You just went from one of the shakier setups to one of the most stable!

Just need the snow to melt and the insects to come out!

Well almost. You are going to need to think about a subject platform. I've never actually measured the working distances with the 50/2.8 reversed, but it's only a couple of inches. Since your bellows has a fixed rear standard, you will need a way to position the subject so that it "clears" the milling table and the bellows rail, especially at lower magnifications when the front standard is racked significantly back. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out, and your other focus rail will likely be part of a good solution.

elf · Post by **elf** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 4:00 pm

Charles Krebs wrote: I've never actually measured the working distances with the 50/2.8 reversed, but it's only a couple of inches.

Roughly 67mm

NikonUser · Post by **NikonUser** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 4:20 pm

I picture an unsupported camera overhanging the forward-moving control handle - seems awkward and prevents modification of the control handle (see below).

The end control dial on the KT70 is small, I have mounted a 3" diam (1/4" thick) rubber disc over the foward-moving control wheel. This allows for greater accuracy in moving the table forward. .

IMAGE HERE

In my system, I support both the camera and bellows to a solid base and use the KT70 to move the specimen. This allows me to modify the forward-control wheel with a rubber disc.