Advice for Newbie

bones · Post by **bones** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:15 pm

Advice please. Have finally made the decission to get myself into macro/micro photography. After reading a lot of the posts on this site, I'm blown away with the help and comments particularly for "newbies". I'm a big DIY fan and have made a slider (hand operated) rail that will give me linear steps of 1.6mm. Are the steps too far apart for successfull stacking? Reading through the posts I see that .002 etc seems to be the norm. Can't afford a Stackshot yet. Thought I would play with my rail for a while and see how I go. Regards.. bones.

elf · Post by **elf** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 12:07 am

1.5mm steps would allow a magnification of .5 at f/8. 1.5mm steps seem to be reallly large. How are you making the steps, or what technique are you using in the rail? Even with a standard quarter inch by 20 tpi leadscrew, I'm able to get 10 micron steps. I made a 4 inch diameter wheel to turn the leadscrew in order to make the increments visible. Can you post a few images of your rail?

bones · Post by **bones** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 2:47 am

Elf. Thanks for responding so quickly. Being new to all this computer stuff, I will try to upload/download a couple of images of my diy slider. One notch on the micrometer scale moves the slide 1.6mm The slide has pretty course gearing. Only ever used it to photograph wildflowers and similar. (one shot) Wondered if I could use it for stacking. Maybe I could relocate the micrometer to the back end of the rail and "push it forward. I'd get steps of .0001" maybe. Thanks again..bones

bones · Post by **bones** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 3:59 am

PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 2:47 am Post subject: Advice for Newbie #2
Elf. Thanks for responding so quickly. Being new to all this computer stuff, I will try to upload/download a couple of images of my diy slider. One notch on the micrometer scale moves the slide 1.6mm The slide has pretty course gearing. Only ever used it to photograph wildflowers and similar. (one shot) Wondered if I could use it for stacking. Maybe I could relocate the micrometer to the back end of the rail and "push it forward. I'd get steps of .0001" maybe. Thanks again..bones

elf · Post by **elf** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:58 pm

It looks like you're using a rack and pinion drive, but it's hard to tell from the photo. Can you take some more photos from the sides and end and one to show the drive gearing?

bones · Post by **bones** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:42 am

G'day Elf. Yes it is a rack and pinion rail. Off an old tripod height adjuster. Today I relocated the micrometer at the back end of the rail. Now a clockwise rotation of .001" moves the carriage forward .001" ( .0254mm ) and a forward travel distance of one inch. Do you think that's enough travel for an attempt at stacking? Thanks Elf. Regards..bones.

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 6:32 am

bones wrote:...and a forward travel distance of one inch. Do you think that's enough travel for an attempt at stacking? ...

In the depth of the subject you want in focus is equal or smaller of 1 inch, it will suffice of course (and this is a lot for high magnification work)

elf · Post by **elf** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:37 pm

I think it will work well enough to give you an idea of what's needed for fast and efficient stacking in the field as well as how much DOF you really need for the type of images you're taking.

You can do a search of the forums for 'DOF AND spreadsheet' which will give you plenty of hits on how to determine the size of steps needed for different magnification ranges.

p.s. One inch of DOF would work for at least 90% of the images I've taken.

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