Nikon Measuring Microscope 5X Objective Section Just added

Robert OToole ·

After back to back trips this year, I finally have time in the office to catch up with my to-do list and this week I finished up a section on the Nikon 5X MM objective with lots of images.

Nikon MM 5X page:

https://www.closeuphotography.com/nikon-5x-measuring-microscope-objective/

The Nikon MM objectives are some of my favorites out of all the lenses I own. These objectives are made for Nikon industrial measuring microscopes that cost tens of thousands of dollars. They are very sharp, easy to use and are not very expensive, maybe $200-300 on the used market.

This pollen covered anther, sitting inside a flower, was made at 5X with a Nikon D500 and 5X MM objective and a single Nikon SB-R200 flash 1/60s ISO 100 manual mode.

This is a 100% crop of the image above showing details of the individual pollen grains.

The section includes lot of info about the objective but also an example on how set-up an installation for photography.

Nikon-Measuring-Microscope-5X-Objective-M42-installation-2017-Robert-OToole-Closeuphotography

Over the next few weeks I will finish up all the Nikon measuring microscope objectives and the Mitutoyo objects, hopefully getting to almost all the lenses I have listed already. My goal is to add a section for all the lenses that I recommend and use, and sections on how to set up and use them in the field or studio.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

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.