marisano 135mm is a decent choice of length and we played with a fair number of old camera lenses. It is very difficult to guess which ones will be best but the physically smaller do seem better. I think multi-coating is worth having so check it says something like MC. You will probably get a little...

Not looking so good. So is there a bellows that might work?

I am beginning to suspect that my current setup was the optimum approach. Start with a microscope and fudge from there.

Grease?

Might indeed. The knob that moves the whole contraption back and forwards would be the target. Use a worm gear set. Take off the knob and put on the cog. Then somehow (maybe with glue) stick the knob to the cog so you still have course adjustment. Get a stepping motor with a shaft that sticks out bo...

I was looking at a canon fd bellows on ebay and I got to thinking. Some of these bellows look as solid and as smooth as a stacking rail.

So has anybody though of using a stepped down motor to use one directly for stacking? And more importantly, if they tried it, did it work?

I can understand the lure of a studio strobe kit but why compare it with the 430EX or 580EX ? All you need is manual control and the 540EZ turns up on Ebay often enough.

If you cant find a flash tube that fits into that tight space then can you run a fiber optic tube to it and use an external flash? Also does the tube absolutely have to be strait? there are small ones that bend back so both terminals mount to a circuit board. There is also this that might contain tu...

Your camera is perfect for the job. Diffraction is going to be a major factor but every pixel adds at least a little more detail. More importantly the full frame sensor can collect a lot of light. Use all of it and at the lowest ISO it can honestly handle. Stacking stacks noise so every extra photon...

I dont think FF cameras work well with camera lenses as tube lenses. They vignette. Your best bet is almost certainly a reversed Raynox DCR-150. The aperture the tube lens sees is that of the objective times the magnification. As long as the tube lens doesn't vignette it's aperture has no effect. I ...

Selling your canon 180mm was not that bad a decision. If you need that focal length back the tamron 180/3.5 is every bit as good for far less while the Sigma 150/2.8 OS and 180/2.8 OS offer sharpness and stabilization at a price that canon is not going to match. Heavy though.

Well the top quality field of view is a circle of diameter of about 3.2mm. After that resolution slowly tapers off. So 9x at f/16 with a 180mm lens will stretch to the sides with just a trace of softening in the extreme corners. You can drop to as low as 6x with a 120mm lens. That would give you a t...

Um. Sharp is a relative term. The Mitutoyo is not going to stretch to the corners till you are up to f/16. like Rik says there are cheaper alternatives but that is roughly what you can hope for with decent corners. F /16 is significantly diffraction limited with a lot of cameras. There is a lot to b...

If you have the cash the mitutoyo 10x 0.28NA is going to be tough to beat with that camera at 7-10x. Not sure about the best tube lens. About 180mm at 9x and f/16. Probably closer the 200mm and 10x for no loss of corner sharpness but it is a trade between corners and extra sharpness over the bulk of...

Hi Blame. I believe it arrives today, so will keep any eye out for any obivous problems with it. ...Infinite lens+ tube lens = finite lens. So within limits the bellows would still allow some control of magnification. In that, do you mean "Camera->Bellows->Tube lens->infinite" setup ? If so, it wou...

That looks like a solid bellows if it is in good order. Watch out for those white bits just above the rail. I believe they are plastic and are the weak spot. Check them carefully when it arrives in case you have to send it back. You can use infinite lenses with a bellows if you use a short tube lens...