Immature anthers in semi-dissected floret

[Beatsy]

First light test for my new 20x Mitty. Definitely the last one! I now have 5x, 10x, 20x and 50x for a sensible progression over a useful range. Phew - that turned out to be an expensive but thankfully short-lived obsession. Must. Not. Buy. Any. More.

Stack of 600 images, PMax stack with no retouching, FoV approx 2mm.

[Lou Jost]

Wow, beautiful! Darn, your obsession may be contagious.

[Davids]

Absolutely wonderful! Could you briefly discuss your lighting and diffusion?
Great work!

[Beatsy]

Thanks. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit I spent little to no effort on this. Just plonked the lighting in place, shot the stack (automated rail), stacked it in Zerene, cropped and tweaked levels in Lightroom and shipped it.

Anyway, lighting is a 10w LED panel on a gooseneck (Trond lamp) positioned above the specimen and slightly angled to one side. Half a ping pong ball is attached to the end of a Noga stand arm using a small magnet and positioned to prevent any direct light from the panel falling on the specimen. There's a piece of card covered in flocking propped up behind the specimen, but that wasn't a factor in this shot. White balance was set to 5600k in camera. Attached pic should help make this all clear.

Note: the specimen is held in damp cotton wool (to prevent wilting) in half a small centrifuge vial with some magnetic wire in the bottom. The magnet on the rig has a central "hollow" which holds that firmly in place but allows a little "manual tilting" if needed.

Edit: pic shows the 50x mitty but the shot above was taken with 20x

[rjlittlefield]

Thanks for the technical detail. The image is excellent.

Certainly no need for embarrassment! When the image needs no work, that's a sign of good equipment and technique!

--Rik

PS. There is still a Mitty 100X, and a 7.5X, and gift season coming up -- lots of possibilities here!

[johan]

What struck me about it is that it's very nicely dimensional. Stacks can 'compress' subjects, but not in this case, no sir

[Beatsy]

...There is still a Mitty 100X, and a 7.5X, and gift season coming up -- lots of possibilities here!

Get thee behind me Rik-an!

No danger of temptation though. 7.5x is too near 5x and 10x, a difference that can be simulated with tube lenses. 100x goes too far into oversampling territory for my taste and the step size requirement is likely beyond my kit anyway. I definitely don't want to be opening THAT can of worms just yet

[Sumguy01]

Very nice.
Thanks for sharing.

[dmillard]

Nice - I really like the color palette! And a 600 image stack needing no retouching is an enviable accomplishment.

David

[NicoVB]

Spectacular again., love this mitty setups.
Plain simple, effective and good.

[Olympusman]

Nice. Very arty.

Mike