Regarding the MP-E, wasn't it born long before digital, certainly before stacking? So the consumer was working with film at ISO 100, 5x, and lens set to f/16 for depth of field so he/she could see anything at all. How expectations change! Expectations do change and stacking has certainly emphasized...

More on a body design. I would like the mechanical stage to be fairly simple with X,Y adjust of the tray. The tray to be easily removable so more complexity can be added. Height to be fine adjustable over a range of, say 5cm manually and by a USB controlled stepping motor. Above that I would like a ...

ChrisR. I have never felt that the current 1:1 limit on normal macro lenses is easy. Set the aperture to maximum sharpness at perhaps f/5.6 (f/11 effective) and field depth drops to the 1 millimeter range. We should also remember that 1x magnification is a moving target. A lot more potential resolut...

Proper pixel binning with associated improved signal (image) to noise ratio. DSLRs have too many mpix for high power imaging these days. At 100/1.4, my 5d MkII is oversampling >10x, but the sraw2 mode doesn't work as well (to reduce noise) as I expect. I don't think it's doing true pixel binning. U...

And if I was really greedy I would ask for a focus stacking mode too.

An electronic shutter mode would do it for me. For use with 100% flash illumination.

I have certainly found it a good idea with microfilm lenses that are designed to project onto a screen. Minimum magnification is always going to be dependent on the lens's coverage. Drop too far and the corners blur or vignette. Beware that lenses used as tube lenses often vignette badly even if the...

Beware of pricing the camera rather than a full kit. Canon cameras are pricey but the available lenses are excellent. The Sony A6000 is an affordable option but compatible E mount lenses are limited in choice and not cheap. I use a Sony a900 but software options would be a lot more exciting with can...

Would you want to trust a long stack to WIFI? Better a cable.

Lots of questions before going for that one. Not just tethering. I worry about the the output. Is the RAW and JPG formats up to delivering the full dynamic range that such big pixels deliver? For that one I would like to see a 16 bit format. Also heat bothers me. That range of lightweight cameras wi...

Congratulations on buying that D800E. I think you will find it delivers more detail than your previous APS-c. Partly because of the additional pixels but I think its superb dynamic range is going to be the important bit. A full frame sensor has the area to store more and that one is the best going. ...

Well then, excellent job on the lighting. The Mitutotoyo 10x is a no-brainer. I do think you will get better performance with a 135mm tube lens delivering 6.7x than a reversed lens at 5.7x but the 4x is another matter. The mitutoyo 5x isn't quite so clear a deal. 0.14NA equates to f/3.5 which isn't ...

Very nice. Stacking software is always going to stack noise so the cleaner the input images the better. A monochrome sensor plus colored flashes should give the ultimate. Hmm.. Iso 800. Make that colored LED's. 3 exposure instead of one. But have I got the cash? There are bound to be some coins stuf...

With a 200mm tube lens giving you the full magnification of 10x and an objective rated at 1um resolution you should get 10um resolution at the sensor side. That objective should be capable of covering an APS-c with a 135mm tube lens and not a lot of corner blur. Your camera has pixels at about 4um s...

I dunno but it looks promising. Actual optical diameter of 35mm film is a little under APS-c so I would imagine field of view (Subject side) at something like 10mm. Big question is the diameter on the sensor side but it sort of looks like the sensor is built into it. Disassemble and you may just be ...