Got it. Basically you're using a low-power microscope objective like a closeup lens. Put it as close as possible to the camera lens, by taking off most of the microscope, then zoom in to avoid vignetting. That works. It should work even better if you could get the objective closer to the camera. Bor...

Keyence seems to make nice stuff. I looked at their writeups a year or so ago, in this thread . Interesting note there was: The Keyence system is very impressive -- not just the technology but also the density of offices in the US, considering that this is a Japanese company. They seem to be doing v...

I'm sure some will say its incorrect but I worry about the results and not really how they get there. I love unusual setups that produce good results. They often make great learning opportunities, 'cuz I do puzzle over how the results get there. (Hey Danny, remember that odd combination of telephot...

I'm getting them as depressed plates, surrounded by ridges. The reason I think plates instead of empty holes is because I can see texture in their middles, plus Frez says he can't see through them and also focusing indicates plates. I think depressed because of the appearance along the edge of the s...

I guess that bit in the middle is the stamen, is that correct? (Been a while since I was taught flower anatomy at school!) Learning is easier & more fun now -- just Google "flower anatomy" and look at the pictures! 8) :D What you've imaged is actually the "stigma". It's the receptive female part wh...

Are you sure you are shooting at 1/8000, thats certainly fast cannyman, this is an old thread and George may not be around for a while, so I'll barge in here. 1/8000 really is the minimum shutter speed on a Nikon D200. I believe that some of the Nikon cameras use an electronic shutter at high speed...

"Her" job, actually -- the swallowtail is definitely a female.

I can't tell about the spider.

--Rik

Yes, excellent -- sharp, pretty, and interesting -- great fun!

--Rik

Always hoping to see breathing subjects though. Me too. But I haven't figured out how to pull that off except for a very few subjects -- eggs, of course, and pupae, and some caterpillars, and a moth or two, one very cooperative spider, some anaesthetized critters, and so on. If I ever do figure out...

Base iron. The handle at very top.

Steps needed for microscope objective are much too small to do with bellows.

0.0002 inches = 0.005 mm = 5 microns !

This is 1/5 of one tick mark on the dial, 100 tick marks per full turn.

--Rik

http://www.janrik.net/MiscSubj/2008/CarpetBeetle20080301/08-03-05_004022_MA_R8_S4_crop.jpg http://www.janrik.net/MiscSubj/2008/CarpetBeetle20080301/08-03-05_004022_MA_R8_S4_underside.jpg Here's what the underside of this specimen looks like. These are from a short stack, 49 frames, 4 minutes to sho...

http://www.janrik.net/MiscSubj/2008/CarpetBeetle20080301/IMG_3178_fp.jpg http://www.janrik.net/MiscSubj/2008/CarpetBeetle20080301/IMG_3179_fp.jpg OK, I relented and took a picture of the setup I used to shoot the unmounted carpet beetle . Some old-timers will notice that I've disconnected the illum...

Always best to reduce it yourself. There are no controls on the upload software, and if you don't like what it did, there's not even any way to delete the bad image. If the file is smaller than 800x800 and 200 KB, then the upload software just makes a bit-for-bit copy, no changes at all so you can b...

Hah! I love these new internet indexing facilities. :D I was about to joke that you'd get a lot more hits by fixing the typo, but when I tried literally copy-and-paste from the posting, Google fixed it right up for me: cryptomonad falgellates [Search] Did you mean: cryptomonad flagellates Very cleve...

Looks like what's called the "Gulf Fritillary", Agraulis vanillae . See for example this article in Wikipedia, or search Google for a zillion more images . The Wikipedia article also has a picture of the pupa (chrysalis). Notice that in these butterflies the pupa hangs head down suspended only from ...