Excellent point Charles -- thanks (I did forget about the sensor difference; I'm accustomed to an APS-C camera).

In regards to the Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 20x objectives, we should remember that there are two main types of this objective available for 'standard' (=brightfield) high-mag. photography: 1) M Plan Apo SL 20x/0.28 , working distance 30.5mm, DOF .0035 (Mitutoyo #378-810-3); and 2) M Plan Apo 20x/0.42 , w...

Thanks Rik; good advice!

By the way, a lens I really like -- which we don't see often on Photomacrography -- is the Canon Macrophoto 35 f/2.8. (Dave Millard showed some tests here).

Eric

Admin edits: Link corrected.
Chris R. 4 Dec 2013
Rik L. 18 Jan 2014

Rik, thanks very much for bringing this info and your excellent tests together for us! One question about the MP-E: ever since Charles' discussion on the best f-stop (at 5x) for this lens (Feb. 2007 - here ), I have followed his advice and happily used f/4; you are testing this lens at f/2.8...what ...

More great robber fly photos Kurt!

The orange flies are Clephydroneura sp. males and females (maybe 2 species?). The grey flies -- with the plumose antennae -- are Ommatius spp. females (definitely 2 spp.).

Cheers,

Eric

Amazing photos and animals Paul, as always! The last shot -- the robber fly with the brown insect prey -- is of a Notiolaphria sp. -- certainly the first field photo of this interesting genus of Asilidae. (Don't know the ID of the unlucky prey item.)

Chris -- I have no experience with Trinar lenses. However, the fact that they are very simple in construction, with only 3 glass elements, means that they should fall short of the best enlarger lenses (Componon, Rodagon, El-Nikkor, etc.) -- which all have 6 elements.

Fabulous shots Yousef!

Chris, I see you have the Canon EOS 1000D -- which does have the full Live View implementation, with EFSC (see here ). So, I believe that continuous lighting is worth a try with your setup (you can send me a pm for more info on the LED dome -- like Monty used). I have a Schneider Componon 35mm/4 tha...

Belated congratulations for your award-winning photo of the Camponotus and phorid fly: a fabulous action-field shot!

I brought this photo to the attention of Dr. Brian Brown (Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County), who informed me that the fly is Megaselia persecutrix.

Cheers, Eric

Very nice images Chris! Yes, a precision method for micro-positioning your specimen (or camera) is essential. I am very happy with using a Newport XYZ translation stage in my vertically-oriented photo setup. A large-diameter high resolution micrometer head here makes it especially easy to adjust sta...

WOW! Absolutely fabulous David! The second one is just an incredible display of striking and lovely color, with subtle shape variation! More photo details please.

Eric

John Koerner wrote:

I am pretty sure sure you wouldn't have the gonads to be speaking this way to me if we were face-to-face, and I am even more certain that you'd immediately regret it if you did.

Wow! That says quite enough for me. Jack: disappear from Photomacrography.net!

Eric

Chris: excellent start to your Tachinidae image project (though your first photo was of a giant Pantophthalmus with quite a nose)!

Cheers,

Eric

Looks like the anterior spiracles of a Drosophila larva.