"I don't think a 50x HR 0.75 NA is going to fall (gently?) from the sky at me anytime for an unreal price "

Well, you already have something better than that (same NA and with a FOV more than twice as large), and for $100!
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... 07#p295907

Remember that the objective is stopping down the lens very much more than the camera thinks, and so the automatically calculated step size, based on the chosen step setting and the fully open tube lens aperture, is much too small for the actual optical arrangement.

I hope you have a lot of fun with it. I predict you will soon need to buy some new hard drives jejeje.

Chris S., this is great data, nice to have real numbers. And what a generous help you have been giving to forum members by vetting these objectives!

Was it this one Lou? https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41684#p262323 That one, and other diatom shots like it were done with a ,50x Mitty pushed down to 33x on a 135mm tube lens. Cheers Maybe that was it. That's a lovely shot, similar to the one I am thinking of. But I thought ...

Sometimes there are reasonably priced 10x 0.50 objectives on eBay. I found and bought an affordable Nikon 10x 0.50 S Fluor with a working distance of 1.2mm.

Steve, a long time ago I thought you had posted here a reflected-light photo of a singe diatom on edge, on a glass coverslip or slide, beautifully lit like a macro, using a 100x Mitu?? My recollection could be bad of course. I can still see the photo in my head, though....it was really nice.

Well, I dropped one from waist height onto a bare concrete floor. I think it is de-centered now, but still produces pretty good images overall.

Great additional information! Yes, the main constraint is the amount of focus throw available. The 45-175mm lens is particularly good for that, relative to other lenses I've tested. I have not tested most of the other zooms mentioned. And yes, this method does produce incredibly fast stacks, and is ...

Looks expensive and interesting.

I have noticed a recent change in behavior of notifications from the forum. Nowadays I do not get a notification of new replies to a post I have responded to. Maybe some flag got cleared by me accidentally?? It's also possible that some conflict has developed between the email servers used by you a...

Björn, Regarding your PM, see FAQ: There's a PM stuck in my Outbox. What's wrong? Most likely Lou is just away from his computer for a while and will see your message when he gets back. As for focus bracketing, I have no experience with that exact lens but perhaps some general info will help. A goo...

Hi Bjorn, I use flat adapters, not conical ones, which are prone to flare. A 46-52mm step-up ring plus 52-26mm step down ring should provide enough clearance between the objective and front element. Only the longer portion of the focal length range can be used without vignetting. The exact lower lim...

Only you would have thought of doing that! Brilliant.

Very nicely lit shots, hard to achieve in the field. That's a surprisingly colorful flower!