Personally I use an Arca-Swiss Z1. Even got a friend to buy it and he also loves it, even with bigger lenses. I heard that Markins and RRS are good too, haven't tried them. None of the Manfrotto ballheads I tried were of similar quality, but I have not tried the hydrostatic ones. Still, their price ...

It would be interesting to see what a special-purpose macro-only DSLR would look like if this forum were to design such a beast. I don't think it would have the SLR-part at all. I don't know about those who do live butterfly macros in gardens, but for me the reflex viewing system is strictly useful...

I think the image would be somewhat soft and corners could get all sorts of wonky effects in macro. However, that might be what someone is after. I'm still learning how to use my Rodenstock 50/0,75 best.

One problem with smaller sensors is that they need larger apertures to reach similar level of resolution than larger sensors do and at some point it becomes hard to find fast enough lenses. This problem is alleviated in macro though, since less magnification is needed with a smaller sensor to cover ...

Brodie Foster wrote: Thanks again for all your help, I am sorry to have to tear it down but hopefully this thread will be helpful to someone else in future.

I didn't quite understand from your post what was the reason that made you decide to abandon this setup? The thing with the plate and clamp can be solved.

For method 1 I would need a relatively large filter that would be between the LED's and the subject. This would be about 3" in diameter. For method 2 a much smaller filter about 1" in diameter would work. I think it's correct and UV-pass filters are more exotic than UV-block, so trying out the seco...

Which LEDs were you using? Are you sure that you are seeing fluorescence and not leakage in the purple/blue part of the visible spectrum? Most UV LEDs don't put out a lot of light and what they do put out is at the edge of visible light. If you didn't do so, you could try filtering in order to make ...

Video? Looks like a cine lens from the age when Kodachrome was what serious people used for color shots :) Nostalgic kidding aside, your result doesn't look bad at all. I would assume that low contrast is a feature, after all this is no Zeiss. But a quite pleasing rendition, especially from an $8 le...

D you compare it to something or just like it without experience of other similar equipment? I believe it doesn't get so popularity in more experienced circles is that it's relatively slow and is restricted entirely to cropped sensor Nikons. The other Nikon macros are faster and can be used on full ...

This is a 4 elements, 4 group "process lens". (Similar to the Schneider Apo Artars and Rodenstock Apo Ronars). (Oscar, I thing the the Apo Gerogons were 6 element /4 group "widefield" process lenses). True, my bad, I'm not so familiar with the more exotic process lenses and which are 4/4 and 6/4 de...

It should be the eastern equivalent of an Apo Gerogon, a process lens that is. Should be entirely decent as a tube lens, maybe even quite good if you're lucky.

Hi, Came across an announcement of a successful prototype leading to a product early next year on a plug-in microscope for mobile phones. Unfortunately, they didn't bother to translate the article, but the links at the bottom are pictures which should prove interesting http://www.vtt.fi/news/2011/29...

Regarding Novoflex plates. I have a number of AS clamps from various makers and none of them will successfully lock onto a Novoflex plate or bracket, not even the Markins Q20Q ballhead which is a lever release with adjustable width. This is why I mentioned Novoflex specifically. Really? I regularly...

I'm sure that the P10 will work, even in the orthogonal direction, though it will obviously be more practical in the parallel direction. I have a very small plate with an anti-twist lip from a Chinese company called KangRinPoche, but I would assume that they are not so commonly available. Novoflex h...

Interesting idea. I see where you are going with this, but personally I would just prefer to have the AS mount became standard on the StackShot or maybe even substitute with an integrated clamp. My reasoning is that while putting a "plate" on the StackShot provides a lot of flexibility for attaching...