I really like lithium bearing minerals..had to crop this one quite a bit and re-sharpen for posting. I believe the specimen is from California.

Stacked at 5X
FOV 2.5mm

Physicsmajor: As to the lighting..I was fortunate in that the crystals are somewhat parallel. This allowed me to use a diffused, but still rather directional LED light source oriented to minimize any specular reflections. This did create some shadows but it worked out OK. Nice uniform lighting tende...

Glad you liked it, PhysicsMajor. This is actually from a small agate nodule. When I sawed it open it happened to have a hollow center with the Goethite as a bonus. You are correct that this was shot using a 5X microscope objective with a tube lens mounted on a DSLR. It's always good to meet another ...

It's been a while since my last post..here is a spray of Goethite (tentative ID) with Quartz. They grew inside an agate geode from Argentina. Nothing like trying to illuminate something in a cavity. Under the scope these Goethite crystals tend to either look like silver mirrors or black, so this ima...

A pretty shot, and interesting..where is the specimen from?

Thanks to all for the nice comments.

For lighting I used flexible LED lamps with two nested plastic diffusers..this one was easy because the subject is not highly reflective.

(Cu,Zn)2Zn(PO4)2 · 2H2O

From Laochang Mine, Yunnan, China

Stacked at 5X, FOV 4.1mm

The image might have had more impact at 10X, but I liked the distribution of crystals in different orientations...

Thanks to all for the positive comments. I do love this material. As to over-sharpening, I didn't do anything unusual...not to say it's impossible.

I did not check it under UV but I will

From Tiger, Arizona

Matrix unknown

Shot at 5X
FOV 4.3mm
Healing brush used to reduce halos...

20X is challenging for me as well, but these are gorgeous!

Thanks for all for the comments. Actually I have been thinking that the reflections on the left side may be a little too strong..I guess it's a matter of personal taste.

Wulfenite from Kuruktag Mtns., Northern China

Shot at 5X, FOV 4.4mm

Some interesting inclusions and surface features...

A dandy shot of a rare mineral...do you know where it's from?

A nice image of an unusual mineral..how large is the field of view ?

I have a Canon T7i and pull up Live View on the PC by using the EOS Utility software and selecting Remote Shooting...it works great and does have a 5X or 10X zoom.

Hope that helps.