Another Crazy Project.
 

Experimental tabletop macro set-up Part 1

I have been a bit slack on the picture taking front so far this year. Lots of other stuff to do and then I got involved in another workshop project that is photography related, the results of which may be of interest to some. So here goes.

It all started in early June when I picked up a dead bumble bee in the garden, and had a good look at it with a workshop magnifier. Saw lots of detail I had never seen before like the hairs on its tongue. So the obvious question was how to photograph at sufficient magnification to show that level of detail without spending on more kit. A net search came up with a dedicated forum for this type of photography ........ Photomacrography.net. I found a thread detailing several set-ups ....
Link http://www.photomacrography.net/foru...pic.php?t=2825
Eeeek !!!!!! some serious cash has gone into most of those setups. Generally those guys are primarily using microscope lenses, also the final images are stacks between 50 and 100+ frames. All pretty daunting stuff, but even at lower magnifications a challenge I just had to pick up. Especially as I was not looking at spending anything like their budget. I was not sure how I would get on but I thought it would be an interesting exercise anyway. Last year it was Infrared on a budget, so this project could be this years photographic 'never done anything like it before' challenge.

I set an initial buget of £10 and make use of whatever I had around just in case the whole thing turned into a total disaster.

Starter was the base and that is from my old Phillips PCS2000 enlarger. To this I could attach stuff as I went along, and it could sit on the workshop bench as I cobbled bits together. First up was a precision slide for stacking and for this I picked on part of a swivelling vertical slide from my lathe. A mod to make the slide lockable and bolts to attach it to my Manfrotto sliding plate and I was off to the races.

Next up the subject table. I was looking for movement in 3 orientations, so I used the compound table from my bench drill ( workshop steadily being dissmantled :rolleyes:). To save the compound table scratching the enlarger base it is mounted on 4 rubber feet I bought in Maplins. Bolted to that is a vertical rising table to sit the subject on. This is the focus stage from my enlarger topped of with a bit of aluminium held in place by electrical tape.

I had to do a mod to my 1980's Panagor Auto bellows. In its native form this is not stiff enough to resist vibrations at high magnifications. So the front standard was drilled and tapped and the bellows attatched to a length of aluminium. The rear standard has the main fixing point and a groove was cut in the ally base to allow the front standard a degree of front rear movement before it is locked down. The bellows gave 150mm extension to which I could add a further 94.5mm using my Nikon PK12, 13 and PN11 extension tubes, and of course I could add a teleconverter for even greater magnification.

Next up was lighting, and for that I spent the last of my buget on a gooseneck microphone stand also from Maplins. As bought this was not stiff enough to support the flashgun so I inserted 6 lengths of fencing wire to stiffen it up. This is topped off with a ball head taken from an old Jessops mini tabletop tripod.

To test it I used a ballpen tip as the subject and a few things came out of that shot.
1) DOF is so thin that lots of frames would have to be taken for focus stacking and the micrometer collar on the slide did not have fine enough graduations as I might need to get to 5 or 10 microns.
2) Vibration. A major issue at these magnifications. My setup fell down in two areas. a) The Manfrotto Micro plate just did not tighten up sufficiently so would have to go. b) The bellows mounts are a cheapy aluminium jobs so did not provide adequate rigidity.
3) Getting the lens lined up and focused on the subject was another issue to be solved.

The story will continue as soon as I take some pics of the latest version ( still not quite finished ), but by now the spend has gone up to the dizzy heights of £117. Still I have spent so much time in the workshop I have saved more than that in petrol money. :D

Don

Carry on Don, this is very interesting - I wonder what the final budget will be though. :)

Don £117 is a hell of a lot of blu tack, tin foil, card board and paper clips ;)

But it sure look great - explains the long silence

Welcome back Don. Good to see you haven't lost your spirit. Excellent project, keep it up.

facinating read and project don! keep up the good work and i look forward to the next installment. Great looking rig by the way...;)

MkII part one
 

:D Good one Rob.
This part shows where the money went.

Used Nikon PB-5 bellows + Nikon M2 ring, another Manfrotto long sliding plate, a shorter Maplins gooseneck microphone stand, one of two mini ballheads, ( taken from Hama mini tripods ) from London Camera Exchange in Norwich 'make us an offer' bin, and a bit of aluminium from the auto jumble at a steam rally.

Courtesy of Nikons statement that the PB-5 is not compatable with any digital cameras, and the fact that the mount was seized and slightly damaged I got this for a really good price :). The M2 ring was thrown in with the bellows as I intend to permenantly sort the bellows mount problem by attatching it with bearing seal. As I cannot mount the D2X without it on the bellows as a spacer, its not a problem.

I guess Nikon declared the PB-5 as incompatable due to all the digital cameras having the handgrip which was absent on the Nikkormat's, F's, F2's and F3's so mounting can only be done in one orientation without the addition of a PK ring. The D2X just like any of the pro cameras, F5 through to D3X cannot move down the rail as the D100 can, due to the extra height from the battery box. In this case incompatable is not the same as useable with some additional extension. Ha,ha :rolleyes:. To make up for some of that lost adjustment with the D2X I added an aluminium base and Manfrotto long sliding base.

Four pics attatched
1) D100 + PK12 ring mounted on the bellows to show available movement
2) D2X + M2 ring + PK12 mounted on the bellows. This shows how the camera cannot move down the rail. Also that the mount is now free to rotate for vertical orientation.
3) Closeup to show the damage to the lens locking pegs groove.
4) The head assembly including the new flash mount.

Don

MkII part 2
 

Precision dof stacking guide.

To overcome the problem of precision dof stacking I resorted to using workshop clocks otherwise known as dial guages. I have two of these. One with a max travel of 10mm with face graduations marked at 0.01 mm. The second unit is an imperial one with max travel of 1/2 inch with face graduations in 1/1000 inch. I just know my computer will struggle with massive stacks so they will do.

The clock stand is just a weighted steel base. The base is heavy enough not to move in use but easy to slide out of the way to set up focus on the front point . The base is then moved into position and the clock zeroed. A simple matter then to determine far focus by moving the whole camera/bellows/lens assembly forward using the chromed handle on the Myford slide. The total depth of the zone of required sharpness can then be read off the dial and some calculation made as to a suitable increment for each exposure. Move the slide back to the start position as indicated on the clock and snap away. The major advantage of using a clock as opposed to the micrometer dial on the slide, is that you do not have to take backlash in the slides leadscrew into account. Any movement of the slide will record on the clock.

Don

MkII part 3
 

:D :D

This is probably the only area where I may spend a few bob. As can be seen in this shot of the reversed 50mm enlarging lens, it would be nice to have a 40.5 to 52mm adaptor rather than the electrical taped up job in this pic. Of course if I can get a couple of 40.5mm filters I will take out the glass and make my own adaptor. So I am not looking at spending that much ;).

For lower magnifications I have 105mm, 75mm and 50mm enlarging lenses, which when reversed should be excellent flat field objectives, while also being a lot smaller than camera lenses. Lots easier from a lighting front due to the smaller diameter as well. For larger magnifications then I will be into reversing 28mm and 24mm camera lenses.

Don

MkII part 4
 

The subject table.

This comprises the compound table used in the first version but makes use of the Manfrotto micro positioning plate for vertical movement. That is attatched via a ball head to a magnetic clock base. Lots of possible movements available there, even though I have added the second LCE bargain bucket ball head to carry the subject platform. Atop the mini-ballhead is a spigot to accept various holders so almost any subject orientation can be achieved. Albeit not expensively micro driven movements. Mounted to the table is the origional swan neck mic stand with a section of poly milk container for additional flash diffusion, and a device to hold a background card.

I have no idea of magnification factors so before the question is asked, I mounted a ruler in the subject position an checked how much will fill the frame on the long end with various combinations of lens and extension.

1) Maximum bellows extension plus the M2 ring = a total extension of 210mm
Reversed 50mm lens records 4mm
Reversed 28mm lens records 2.25mm
Reversed 24mm lens records 2mm

2) Adding PK12, PK13 and PN11 to that gives an extension of 304.5mm
Reversed 50mm lens records 3.25mm
Reversed 28mm lens records 1.75mm
Reversed 24mm lens records 1.5mm

Pics attatched
1) Subject stand
2) Subject holders to date
3) The whole set up in a single shot

The next post is the one dealing with subject framing, and in doing that I discovered another use for this outfit. Well chuffed with that one. :)

Don

This is absolutely fascinating stuff Don. Please keep the instalments coming when you find time.

MkII part 4
 

Another to keep you happy Peter.

Aquiring the subject.

This was a bit of a problem when I came up with the MkI. As magnification increases above 1:1 this becomes an ever greater problem due to the ever lessening depth of field.

Option one was to put a spike on a mount to bayonet on the front of the bellows, but that idea was discarded as unless sthe subject distance was within the coarse focus movement of the bellows sliding plate it could still take time to aquire the subject.

Next up I found what looked like a good optical solution. Back in the 1980's I bought a 'lens scope converter' from Jessops. Quite a handy bit of kit before the age of decent small bins. Simply attatch to a lens and you can use it as a monocular. So in use, a 50mm camera lens becomes a x5 monocular, 100mm lens x10 and so on. Sounds impressive, but in reality the exit pupil is only about 2.5mm so the image is quite dim unless used with lenses with an aperture greater than f2.8 or in bright conditions. Image quality also does not compare with any half decent bins or scope. But anyway I dug mine out and even at the least bellows extension magnification was too high. However cranking the bellows out and using good light on the subject, magnification was really impressive.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ...... Probably quite obvious to some, but it took me a day to think about it before I had my eureka moment. :rolleyes:

How about using a spotting scope optic. OK it would not be an erect image ( upside down ) but never the less worth a go. Quick toilet roll and black tape job and it worked. The image was far brighter than the lenscope. So next up I made a proper bayonet mount for the bellows and it worked brilliantly. For general use we had a 20x-45x zoom that Stevie got as a freebe when she got her scope. So I nicked that. With that mounted and set to 20x and the bellows at minimum extension I found the subject would be dead on when the bellows was at full back extension using a 75mm lens. As the reversed 50, 28 and 24 have only a few mm between them in terms of lens to subject distance, problem well and truely solved. Use that with a reversed lens and you have a seriously good bench magnifier. All very good and a major advance on the dim lenscope, but using a 20x widefield scope eyepiece, or for more magnification, a 38x widefield, gives a huge exit pupil and so a really bright image.

If Dave Smith was about I am sure he could try out an astro telescope eyepiece with a diagonal, on a long lens, as that would give an erect image.

NO Andy, I am not going down that route for this before you suggest it as a further spend. :D:D

Some pics attatched.
I am not a photoshop buff so I was unable to give a circular aperture to the frame edges to give a view similar to that you would actually see looking through it, as all birders would recognise, but the magnifications are accurate. Oh, and to be true to form I should have turned all pics through 180 degrees so please excuse that.

Don

I'm actually gonna have to print this lot and sit down with it one rainy afternoon. So much in there to absorb it's like a masterclass in kit building. Lots of the references you make and take for granted need work on my part to take in but it does prompt further study.
In a way it reminds me of the days of my youth when I spent more time fettling (ie bodging) the old motor bikes than riding 'em - so apart form coins what will you actually manage to paralyze long enough to shoot Don?:)

Peter,

I guess I just really enjoy bodging too.

I got into photography in the 1960's when kit as a proportion of salary was considerably more expensive than now, and as a lowly airman in the RAF cash was seriously limited, so through lots of trial and error and through that I learnt a lot of photographic basics. There is a thread on the forum where Christine and Rob as the main contributors were posting shots of insects in flight. Well to use that as an example, my first attempt was in the 70's and I was handholding a reversed 50mm and chasing hoverflys. ........ No money to spend on proper kit but willing to have a go at anything and learn from it. Some things like reversing lenses I discovered by accident and as viewed by knowledgeable folk I would probably have been seen as reinventing the wheel.

In photography I see things that people spend a fortune on, and almost by implication it is access to large funds that is required to do that particular thing. Just like you and your motorbikes, your knowledge allowed you to get great enjoyment from doing things that others would struggle with due to their lack of mechanical knowledge. So with me I like the challenge of doing things for as little as possible. This particular exercise is a bit of an oddball, as I am probably the only forum member with access to a workshop to make things, however in most cases tests on bits and pieces have been done with cardboard, wood, black tape, in fact anything to hand, before I have done a workshop job on it. For interested parties its all about ideas and then when it comes to kit probably quite a bit can be cheaply bought on e-bay or at boot sales or camera fairs.


What am I going to take with this lot ???? Well the whole thing was fired up by finding dead bugs in the garden earlier in the year. There do not seem to be any around at the moment and I am not into killing or disressing anything just for a pic, so I will keep my eye open for a suitable subject.

You mention " Lots of the references you make and take for granted need work on my part to take in but it does prompt further study. " Well that is down to 45 years worth of playing around in quite a few areas of photography so I would hope some of it has stuck :rolleyes:. When posting in threads like this I cannot anticipate the knowledge or lack of it, by any interested parties, so can only rely on the posts prompting questions. If I know the answer then I am happy to help. If I don't I will say so. I pride myself in not handing out duff info as that always comes back to bite.

Nobody was born with the knowledge, and whatever they have, was gained through others, and personal experience. There will always be someone more knowledgeable than you, and someone less so. So any questions you have do not be afraid to ask.

Now we have digital cameras, so can experiment for little cost, and have forums like WPF to share our experience and pass on some knowledge, we are all gainers.

Don

One thought that might help with aligning your subjects.

If you get hold on a cheap laser (I've seen them for a couple of quid at boot sales) & can engineer a mount for it to replace your camera on the bellows (it will have to be properly centralised/parallel but with a lathe that shouldn't be a broblem) you should get a nice red dot shining at the centre of the field of view.

Align subject, mount camera in place of laser & you just have to focus.

The spotting scope attatchment works well but that is good thinking as an alternative method Mike. As you say, easy enough to make an adaptor to mount on the bellows.

Never having used a laser pointer I am wondering about the size of the projected dot. Any ideas??

Don

I hadn't thought of that - With the lens removed the bright portion of the dot would be of the order of 1mm diameter.
I guess with the lens in place it could get rather dispersed, but should be small enough to be usable if the lens is near focus.