Between 10x and 20x redux

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kaiotaku
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 10:15 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Between 10x and 20x redux

Post by kaiotaku »

Hi all,

Been having some demoralising issues with my gear, as documented here:
https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?t=35514
Very dissatisfied with the results.

But on a semi-related matter, I posted a while ago about how to best achieve something in the order of 15x, since sometimes 20x is too much but 10x not enough for my samples (the failed example from that thread above is a good example). Here's the thread:
https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hlight=15x

However I thought this might be better off in equipment discussions this time.

I'm on the verge of losing faith in tube lenses, although I probably shouldn't be, but in any case I'm currently thinking what I will do if it turns out that the Sigma 150mm macro is a failure as a tube lens. I suppose I'll start to experiment with a bellows setup, which is something that I've not done before.

My main questions are, what do I need to connect a Novoflex bellows to the Mitutoyo? And secondly, how far can the Mitutoyo 20x comfortably go down in magnification without iq deteriorating? I'm guessing some out there will have experience with this.

I hope to do some mucking around later today to get a better handle on what is wrong with my gear, considering that I feel a bit less angry and frustrated than I did on Sunday when I last tried this. I took this week off work specifically to work on this project, intending to generate SEM and colour pairs for a multitude of samples, several of which are undescribed species. I've abandoned this and I'm analysing alternative samples instead.
Major crisis of confidence when it comes to my colour photography, I'm keen to get it back on track.

enricosavazzi
Posts: 1474
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2009 2:41 pm
Location: Västerås, Sweden
Contact:

Re: Between 10x and 20x redux

Post by enricosavazzi »

kaiotaku wrote:Hi all,

Been having some demoralising issues with my gear, as documented here:
https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?t=35514
Very dissatisfied with the results.

But on a semi-related matter, I posted a while ago about how to best achieve something in the order of 15x, since sometimes 20x is too much but 10x not enough for my samples (the failed example from that thread above is a good example). Here's the thread:
https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hlight=15x

However I thought this might be better off in equipment discussions this time.

I'm on the verge of losing faith in tube lenses, although I probably shouldn't be, but in any case I'm currently thinking what I will do if it turns out that the Sigma 150mm macro is a failure as a tube lens. I suppose I'll start to experiment with a bellows setup, which is something that I've not done before.

My main questions are, what do I need to connect a Novoflex bellows to the Mitutoyo? And secondly, how far can the Mitutoyo 20x comfortably go down in magnification without iq deteriorating? I'm guessing some out there will have experience with this.

I hope to do some mucking around later today to get a better handle on what is wrong with my gear, considering that I feel a bit less angry and frustrated than I did on Sunday when I last tried this. I took this week off work specifically to work on this project, intending to generate SEM and colour pairs for a multitude of samples, several of which are undescribed species. I've abandoned this and I'm analysing alternative samples instead.
Major crisis of confidence when it comes to my colour photography, I'm keen to get it back on track.
With the Mitutoyo M Plan Apo (and virtuall all other infinity-corrected objectives), you simply must use a tube lens, and it must be focused at infinity. IQ without a tube lens is simply going to be poor.
--ES

Macrero
Posts: 1166
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2011 8:17 am
Location: Valladolid , Spain

Post by Macrero »

Kaiotaku,

as Enrico said you can't use a infinity corrected objective as "bellows lens" without a tube lens, though I'm not sure if that's what you mean, if by "experiment with a bellows setup" you mean using a different lens mounted on bellows, then there are quite a lot of lenses that work very well as "tube lenses", Raynox DCR, Apo-Gerogons, G-Clarons, I've got excellent results with enlarging lenses as well, Componons, Rodagons, etc...

The lowest I used the Mitu 20 (I use the BD but it's the same optics as the M) is at about 13X using a Raynox 250 as tube lens. Here is a test stack at 13X approx, Mitu BD Plan Apo 20 + Raynox 250 on APS-C (Sony a5100), as you can see coverage is nearly perfect.

https://images.imgbox.com/40/8f/tmsb1P8a_o.jpg

Best,

- Macrero
https://500px.com/macrero - Amateurs worry about equipment, Pros worry about money, Masters worry about Light

Macrero
Posts: 1166
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2011 8:17 am
Location: Valladolid , Spain

Post by Macrero »

I just made a quick test-stack with the Mitu 20 + 105mm tube lens at nearly 10X. Coverage on APS-C is still more than acceptable.

https://images.imgbox.com/4a/af/WquHtAp0_o.jpg
Last edited by Macrero on Thu Oct 12, 2017 2:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
https://500px.com/macrero - Amateurs worry about equipment, Pros worry about money, Masters worry about Light

cube-tube
Posts: 107
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 7:50 am
Location: Durham, NC

Post by cube-tube »

Kaiotaku, I think it's worth asking, the Mitutoyo you're using isn't coverslip corrected, is it?

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