Basic Microscope Objective Rig

Deanimator · Post by **Deanimator** » Mon May 08, 2017 5:48 pm

With any luck, I'll be working again in a few weeks.

With that in mind, I've been considering what it would take to do an elementary microscope objective rig.

My current equipment:

Canon EOS T4i
Tokina 100mm macro lens
ProMaster (Tamron) 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens
ProMaster extension tubes with contacts
Generic extension tubes w/o contacts
Generic two axis macro slider
Sigma EF500 DG Super ETTL flash
Table mounted camera mount
Three articulated arm lamps with 300w equivalent CFLs.
ASUS Zen 8 tablet
DSLR Controller software for Android
Combine ZP

Using conventional camera lenses, I'm using the tablet and DSLR Controller for focus stacking. Obviously, that won't work with a tube lens and a microscope objective. Clearly, manual focus stacking with the slider could quickly become very laborious (and imprecise).

Is there a basic setup that a beginner could put together, or is it something that's going to be a hefty investment?

What's a good basic setup for 5-10x for somebody on a tight budget? I've seen a lot of information, but not that much for somebody:

just starting out.
with limited resources.

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Mon May 08, 2017 6:56 pm

Your gear overlaps, but this is somewhere near, perhaps -
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... 233#203233

You can use your 100mm in place of the shorter (125mm) Raynox -you probably would get some vignetting. OK, crop the corners off!
300mm is a bit long, 200 is more useful. Your zoom might be OK, otherwise the 208mm Raynox is as cheap as other solutions.

You can use tethering and your tablet to a point, though the range it'll be good for may be limited.
Up to 10x, hand cranking the focus isn't too big a problem. It's a few minutes. If you're there, you can check the flash hasn't misfired, etc. It'll take you a lot longer to set up the shot.

the shorter Raynox on your 100mm should get you to 2x or so.
Combine ZP runs on a tablet?? Didn't know that.

Deanimator · Post by **Deanimator** » Mon May 08, 2017 7:16 pm

ChrisR wrote:Combine ZP runs on a tablet?? Didn't know that.

No, it doesn't.

I use DSLR Controller on the tablet to control the camera. I have a card reader on my PC. I pull the card from the camera when I'm done and process the images on my main PC using Photoshop Elements and Combine ZP.

Thanks for your other suggestions.

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Tue May 09, 2017 3:26 am

For studio work you can directly control the camera and download the images to the computer via USB with Canon Utilities (free with any EOS DSLR).
I find it very convenient

Deanimator · Post by **Deanimator** » Tue May 09, 2017 6:58 am

Pau wrote:For studio work you can directly control the camera and download the images to the computer via USB with Canon Utilities (free with any EOS DSLR).
I find it very convenient

I had considered that, but unfortunately, I don't have a Windows laptop and my PC is on the other side of the apartment.

Of the Linux compatible applications, one explicitly discourages use on 32 bit Linux systems like my laptop, and crashed without fail within seconds of trying to use it. The other was also unstable, albeit not nearly as spectacularly so.

Given the choice of buying a new laptop (which I do not otherwise need) or buying a tablet and using DSLR Controller, the latter was the obvious choice. Apart from the occasional temporary loss of connectivity, I've been extremely happy with the combination of DSLR Controller and the tablet. That ASUS Zen 8 has a much smaller footprint than a laptop would and was at least $60 cheaper than even a low end 64 bit Win10 laptop.

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Tue May 09, 2017 2:06 pm

?? Wireless SD card and OTG adapter??

Deanimator · Post by **Deanimator** » Tue May 09, 2017 3:36 pm

ChrisR wrote:?? Wireless SD card and OTG adapter??

The tablet is a much handier solution that can be used whenever the camera's on a mount or tripod. It's really the best, most versatile solution.

johan · Post by **johan** » Tue May 09, 2017 4:27 pm

I started with one flash, a 2nd-hand reversed enlarger lens from eBay and a Velbon slider. I was perfectly happy with that for the first year or so

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Tue May 09, 2017 4:52 pm

What I mean is, keeping the tablet, can you plug a wi-fi card & adapter into the tablet, and have it transmit the files straight to the stacking pc? (If not leaving it in the camera? )

Deanimator · Post by **Deanimator** » Tue May 09, 2017 6:33 pm

ChrisR wrote:What I mean is, keeping the tablet, can you plug a wi-fi card & adapter into the tablet, and have it transmit the files straight to the stacking pc? (If not leaving it in the camera? )

It's got WiFi built into it.

It's no problem for me to just pull the memory card and walk it over to the PC. I'd still have to go there to process the files anyway.

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Wed May 10, 2017 12:49 pm

Zerene will watch a folder for you I believe - I haven't used that.

Deanimator · Post by **Deanimator** » Wed May 10, 2017 3:27 pm

ChrisR wrote:Zerene will watch a folder for you I believe - I haven't used that.

My macro priorities:

permanent macro table
dual manual flashes and wireless controller
Zerene
Stackshot or something similar
microscope objective

gremlin · Post by **gremlin** » Sat May 13, 2017 6:42 am

I've been experimenting on the cheap. This Image was taken with a Lomo 8x £7.99 off ebay. The rig is a converted old Vickers microscope that had bit missing, £25 antiques centre. 2x Ikea lights and I can if required get 0.01mm increments. All manual of course but woks ok for me. still working things out

The top of a wasps head

Deanimator · Post by **Deanimator** » Sat May 13, 2017 12:35 pm

gremlin wrote:I've been experimenting on the cheap. This Image was taken with a Lomo 8x £7.99 off ebay. The rig is a converted old Vickers microscope that had bit missing, £25 antiques centre. 2x Ikea lights and I can if required get 0.01mm increments. All manual of course but woks ok for me. still working things out

That's very nice.

Can you post a picture of your rig? I'm not 100% clear on what you did.

gremlin · Post by **gremlin** » Sun May 14, 2017 3:26 am

here are my two microscope conversions. The first on was to use microfilm lenses, is a very old unit. The large round part is a dial gauge so i can get even increments. A M42 tube has been bonded on and this is what i have done to the lenses.
The second one has been left for microscope objectives. M42 extension tubes can be swapped out to change the magnification, control any vignetting. Just working on getting the base light unit to work as i think this could give some nice background lighting with some coloured glass filters i have.
It's all experimental but seems to be working. I just set the interval timer on the camera to 2 seconds, number of frames then move the fine focus dial after each shot, so it really doesn't take long and the microscopes are heavily constructed that i don't get any vibration.