Tanner, do I misunderstand, or are you using your reversed EL Nikkor as an auxilary lens on the front of your Pentax 135mm lens? All my experience with the EL Nikkor is in using it alone, reversed, on the end of a bellows.

Cheers,

--Chris

I can think of another problem--one I'm in the throes of dealing with in my own system. With my Nikon D200 DSLR, I get the impression that the viewfinder and sensor are not precisely the same optical distance from the lens. When an image is precisely focused in the viewfinder, the sensor is a bit to...

Very nice, Craig. Keep up the good work! I wouldn’t touch the saturation, unless the real moth actually looks more saturated to the eye. Your image looks appropriately natural to me, though I'm not familiar with this moth. Oversaturating in post seems to be a current fad, especially among landscape ...

I use x-pol almost every day. It is a very straightforward technique--not much mystery to it, once you try it. While there is distinct coolness in scrounging materials, as Brian is doing, the more boring among us can just buy what we need. For in front of the flash, I use Techspec Linear Polarizing ...

Although I got it for the cone adapter, I have also used it to line all my lens hoods and some extension tubes etc. Very strongly agreed. I can't imagine any photomacrographer living without Protostar or a similar flocking material. Those cone adapters are terrible without it, but very good once li...

Yep, looks great! Nice job with the lighting, background, and all else.

As Rik said, it gets easier. I sure have been there myself.

Cheers,

--Chris

Thanks, Rik. One of the things I like to do with the Bratcam is pull away from what I think of as the “tyranny of the flat.” Well-known microscopic approaches already reveal wonderful detail, so long as the specimen is kept perpendicular to the optics. However, with a number of small subjects, I’ve ...

Thanks for all the advice so far. It’s much appreciated. I should clarify that I’m not concerned about the reflections from my lights—those are pretty easy to deal with. What I want to avoid is reflections of the subject itself on the glass slide (or cover slip, if I place them on that, instead). Im...

I agree with Pau, the smoother and flatter you get the surface, the more reflective it becomes. But is this inexorable? The wavelength of visible light is measured in nanometers, while these subjects are measure in microns. Could there not be some substance whose surface irregularities stand betwee...

Thanks, Pau. As an example of what I'm thinking, carpet is not shiny because of its many surface irregularities. Similarly, sandpaper is not shiny because of its surface irregularities. But the surface irregularities in these two materials are differ in size by orders of magnitude. An ideal substrat...

Yep, very good deal on a good lens. A lot of us--myself included--cut our teeth on this lens.

Mine is also 40.5 for the filter thread.

--Chris

I'm guessing that microscopists have answered this question long ago; if so, perhaps someone can tell me what the answer is. I want to photograph mushroom spores with what microscopists would call "epi-illumination"--that is, not light passed through the spores, but light bouncing off the spores. A ...

I’m late to this party, but. . . . For folks who’ve never done a wet cleaning: Try it! Once you get used to it, it’s as mystifying—and necessary—as washing your dishes. Sensors—or really, the glass bits in front of them that you actually clean—are not all that delicate. Assuming a little common sens...

Phil, that's a very nice PC. I build quite a few machines myself, and looking around Puget Systems' Website, I get the impression that if one doesn't wish to build his own, or have access to a competent local builder, Puget seems a good bet. I see some things that look like mild upselling and modest...

Welcome, Will! Craig linked you to an excellent thread. Another really useful thread is this one: http://photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2825 In this thread, be sure to check out the various links in Charlie's post at the end. There is a ton of information in these links--don't be surpris...