DIY, Build-up, Macro Stand

Vertical Macro Stand Project

Robert OToole ·

The Zygo NewView 200 Microscope Stand with bottled water for scale.

Last week I came across one of those unbelievable deals where you can't seem to press the buy-it-now button fast enough. How good of a deal was it, well I spend over $150 on fuel and had to drive 763 miles round trip to pick up my gently used $50 microscope stand.

It turns out the Ebay seller, was getting rid of the stand, from a Zygo NewView 200 Interferometer (surface structure analyzer) microscope, since he no longer needed it, having purchased it, just for the special XY stage that came with it.

Luckily, the fine and coarse focus movements are in excellent condition, so over the next weeks and months I will cover the build-up to setup the stand for macro photography. This project will be easy for someone to do on their own, since I will be using only easy-to-find low-cost parts for the build, and when I say low cost, I mean really low-cost.

Before anyone goes out, and starts looking for a hard-to-find used Zygo microscope, I would recommend instead to look for the same stand used by Nikon for the MM-11 Measurescope. These are very common (there are six used MM-11 units on Ebay as I write this), so with some patience you can find them for really good prices on the used market. There are things to look out when looking for one of these, so I will be covering in the next part of this build-up series.

The $17 Plan 4x Objective for Macro Photography: LARGER THAN LIFESIZE FOR A LOW PRICE

Robert OToole ·

The Big Surprise
A couple of weeks ago I picked up a new objective on eBay that had all the right specs but I was really doubtful about the image quality, just how much sharpness and correction can a buyer expect for $17? I felt lucky so I ordered the lens anyway and took the risk. Once I had a chance to make a few images with the lens, as you can see below, it turns out that $17 buys a hell of a lot of image quality in 2017.

Multicolored pencil tip at 4X. Uncropped 5 image stack handheld. Plan 4x Objective on Nikon D810 1/60s manual mode ISO 100 single flash at 1/32 power.

Why a microscope Objective?

For magnifications of 4x and higher I prefer to use to microscope objectives. They are a great cost effective way to move into high magnification macro photography. They are designed to cover a certain magnification range and a small field at the highest resolution where normal lenses must cover a bigger range and larger field but at a lower resolution. The downside to using objectives is that they have a very shallow DOF because of their large apertures and lack of an aperture so they are best used for flat subjects or for 3D subjects you would want to use image stacking best results.

Image Quality

Amazingly this objective produces clean sharp details across the frame. Chromatic aberrations, purple and green fringing, are almost unnoticeable and very well controlled. The CAs or chromatic aberrations are better corrected than some expensive objectives that I have tried and easily removed using post processing software. Flare is very well controlled thanks to a deep barrel and recessed front element.  Corner performance is decent. Field curvature was flat as it should be for a Plan objective. Excellent results overall.

FYI most finite type microscope objectives are designed to be used with eyepieces that correct for chromatic aberrations.  Nikon CF, CFI and a few Olympus finite objectives are corrected for CAs within the objective so they make great lenses for macro photography.

 

More information

If you would like to see more images made with this lens and get a lot more information, follow this direct link:
 

https://www.closeuphotography.com/seventeen-dollar-plan-4x-objective

Or its easy to follow the navigation on the column on the left: Equipment > Objectives > then click on the Generic Objectives thumbnail

Young sub-adult green Aphid. Uncropped handheld single image.  Plan 4x Objective on Nikon D500 1/200s manual mode ISO 100 single diffused flash at 1/32 power.

Top and bottom view of the Plan 4x Objective supplied by Amscope.

Top and bottom view of the Plan 4x Objective supplied by Amscope.

Enlarging lenses: Why You need one and what makes Them so Good

Robert OToole ·

If you are not familiar with enlarging lenses they are an excellent way to get into high magnification close-up photography for larger than life-size or beyond the 1X range images. Macro lenses normally work up to life-size or 1X but a 50mm enlarging lens can give you good, even great image quality up to four times life-size or 4X . The best part is that you can pick up a very high quality enlarging lens for very little, just a fraction of the cost of a new macro lens. For the 50mm Componon S lens you see below, I paid $98 new and still in the box, and it is one of the sharpest enlarging lenses out there. Good clean copies of this can be found easily on Ebay for about $50-60.

For more information on the Componon-S and how to get the most out of it see the links below.

For the 50mm Componon S enlarging lens:

https://www.closeuphotography.com/schneider-50mm-componon-s

For the Componon S Industrial version: 

https://www.closeuphotography.com/schneider-componon-s-50mm-v-mount/

Schneider Componon S 50mm f/2.8 and Nikon D500 at 2X, 1/60 s, f4.5, ISO 64, single SBR-200 flash, MM-11 microscope stand.

Schneider Componon S 50mm f/2.8 and Nikon D500 at 2X, 1/60 s, f4.5, ISO 64, single SBR-200 flash, MM-11 microscope stand.

This image was made in the studio on a vertical Nikon MM-11 microscope stand with a single flash and lots of diffusion. I shot this at f/4.5 since this is the lenses sharpest aperture and to avoid losing sharpness to diffraction.

The same shell in hand to show scale.

The same shell in hand to show scale.

Welcome to Close-up Photography

Robert OToole ·

This is a very young female variable wisp damselfly, Agriocnemis femina femina, on fern frond. The males of this species are green and back with an orange tail turning all white with green eyes as they age. Eventually this female will turn to green and black as an adult. Chiang Mai, Thailand. Sigma 105mm macro, Nikon D810, 1/200 second, f/8, manual mode, single SBR-200 flash, Acratech ballhead, Berlebach ash wood tripod. 2017 Robert OToole Photography

Thanks for stopping by my brand new site!

Soon the site will feature lots of new image galleries, all kinds of equipment reviews, and lot of useful information like set-ups, how-to guides, and FAQs all easily accessible with navigation menu on the left. Also I will have up to date information on my workshops and presentations. Please contact me if you have an opportunity or idea for workshop or presentation near you.

To receive the latest updates and to stay in touch join the newsletter list by hitting the newsletter link on the navigation sidebar on the left or by following this link: https://www.Closeuphotography.com/newsletter/

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For my wildlife photography please visit my main site: www.RobertOToolePhotography.com

Also I run a wildlife photography Facebook group that you can join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/170108613467190/

My goals in creating this site:

Help you to see really good photos and find ways to capture what they see out in nature
Challenge you with macro techniques to stay creative and to help you to try to keep seeing things differently
To help you find answers to any technical questions you may have
To help choose good close-up equipment
To help you avoid getting frustrated with close-up photography
Expose you to expose you to new professional techniques
To help you have fun doing close-up photography

100% actual pixel crop of the image above.

The equipment that I used to make this damselfly image can produce an amazing amount of detail but there is no way to appreciate with with a 1500 pixel web file but these 100% crop samples will at least give you an idea of what the quality you can expect from modern equipment. 

Tail details, 100% actual pixel crop of the image above.

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