Raynox DCR-150 tube assembly with flocking

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santiago
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Post by santiago »

Lou Jost wrote:Yesterday swarms of colorful hummingbrids swirled around feeders a meter above my head during dinner...
That does sound like paradise :)

Great pictures and amazing research on orchids, so many different species in such a small area! :o
Santiago
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Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

Yes Santiago, that is the most interesting thing, the differences between neighboring mountains are surprising. I am in a cloud forest now and have just now spent the afternoon looking for four new orchid species I had discovered several years ago, before I knew about focuss stacking. This evening I will try to make some stacks of them here in the cabin I'm staying in. They are very small flowers, 2-5mm across.

This morning I watched a bird that was only discovered 20 years ago, the Jocotoco Antpitta. The reserve I am staying at was set up for this species.

hero
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Post by hero »

Okay so I'm having a really bad day for other reasons, so forgive me in advance if I am out of line....

I'm frustrated.

Here's what I have so far:

Mitutoyo BD Plan 10x
M40x36tpi to M52 (male or female) adapter
Raynox DCR-150
Canon EF mount camera
flocking paper

What I need at a bare minimum, as far as I'm able to tell, are:
Extension tubes
Step-up/step down rings that depend on extension tube diameter
EF mount adapter

What I may also need are:
Variable extension tube to adjust spacing between objective and tube lens
Additional adapters

My frustration comes from the fact that I don't know where to get the parts I still need. I am concerned that an M42 tube will be too narrow to provide coverage of the FF sensor, so I've been looking for something at least 48 mm diameter, preferably 52, but I can't find these. I see 2" diameter SM2 tubes on Thorlabs, but these are expensive and I am not sure about adapters for these. On top of this, I noticed yesterday that there are a lot of specks inside the BD Plan objective I bought from Robert. I don't know if it's dust or something else, and I hope it doesn't affect the image quality, but it is disturbing to me and all the more so because I can't test it out. I haven't had it long enough to think it's mold. I've barely handled it.

I also saw some 2" tubes from Astromania on Amazon, but again, no idea how these work in terms of thread pitch. I believe step-up/down ring sets might come in handy to adapt the Raynox. But other than this, I'm completely stuck and I need help. I've read through the FAQs, spent hours online searching for parts to no avail. All anyone ever seems to say is that these things are "on eBay" somewhere.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

hero wrote:I am concerned that an M42 tube will be too narrow to provide coverage of the FF sensor
M42 tubes will be no problem on FF if kept away from the camera, as shown in the first post in this thread.
I've read through the FAQs, spent hours online searching for parts to no avail. All anyone ever seems to say is that these things are "on eBay" somewhere.
They're also on Amazon (as mentioned in the first post). I've annotated the list from my first post, giving current Amazon links found by searching just now. Please double-check to see that these match the specifications. Many of the parts are available from multiple listings so you have some flexibility in trading off $$ against delivery time.
By the numbers, these parts are:

1. macro extension tube set with bayonet mount to fit camera https://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Canon-E ... B003Y60DZO
2. bayonet-to-M42 (42mm x 1.0mm thread) lens mount adapter https://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Lens-Mo ... B001G4QXN2
3. M42 extension tubes (two sets) https://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Macro-E ... B008BBI4DA
4. M42 to 52mm adapter ring https://www.amazon.com/Female-M42-M52-S ... B07F86GX33
5. 52mm-52mm male-male reverse adapter ring https://www.amazon.com/Pixco-52mm-52mm- ... B00G0JOJK2
6. 49mm to 52mm "step up" ring (49mm male, 52mm female, used in reverse to fit the 49mm female threads on the normal front of the Raynox) https://www.amazon.com/49-52MM-Step-Up- ... B00496G4KG
7. Raynox DCR-150 lens, reversed (you have this)
8. 52mm to 43mm "step down" ring (52mm male, 43mm female, used in reverse to fit the 43mm male threads on the normal rear of the Raynox) https://www.amazon.com/Fotga-Black-52mm ... B009T1CO0U
9. 55mm to 52mm "step down" ring with through threads, used here as a 52mm-52mm female-female reverse adapter https://www.amazon.com/Metal-Female-Cou ... B07FM3QDG7 (an actual coupler instead of step-down with through threads)
10. (optional) 52mm to M42 adapter ring (52mm male, M42 female) https://www.amazon.com/Female-M52-M42-S ... B07F8DV234
11. (optional) M42 to 52mm adapter ring (M42 male, 52mm female) https://www.amazon.com/Female-M42-M52-S ... B07F86GX33 (same as #4)
12. 52mm to objective thread adapter (52mm male, objective thread female) (you have this)
--Rik

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Update: since I posted the DIY solution, two Chinese suppliers have come out with off-the-shelf packages that provide elegant engineered solutions:

https://www.wemacro.com/?product=raynox ... e-lens-pro

https://www.mjkzz.de/products/variable- ... 0380164211

--Rik

mawyatt
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Post by mawyatt »

Rik,

I have both sets of tubes and clamps, but not the complete kits as I already had the Raynox 150 and 250. I've been using them for some time now and can say they both are very nice.

The tubes in the MJKZZ are the standard extension tubes but of higher quality than you can generally get on eBay unless you know the vendor. I already had a bunch of these and most were very sloppy fit, the Nikon F mount adapter & lens adapter were mostly loose and had to hand pick the better ones and toss the rest. MJKZZ are better tubes & Nikon adapters than I had generally found on eBay.

The Wemacro tubes appear to be custom designed and more inline with the Thor type tubes with a smooth surface and beautifully machined with a standard 42mm thread.

You can't go wrong with either setup IMO.

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
~Mike

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Excellent, thanks for the info. I have not held either set in my hands, so it's great to get confirmation from somebody who has.

--Rik

mawyatt
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Post by mawyatt »

Rik,

I don't use any of my older tube lens setups anymore, I've switched to these because they have much better lens support with the multiple clamps, which BTW are both beautifully machined. The MJKZZ clamps are ~12mm thick and the Wemacro are ~15.5mm thick.

The MJKZZ main body is comprised of standard extension tube sections in 28, 14 and 7mm sections. The Wemacro is based upon 50mm and 10mm sections of a custom tube (I think), but are very reasonable priced for additional extensions.

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
~Mike

cmagno
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Post by cmagno »

Hi mawyatt,
mawyatt wrote:I don't use any of my older tube lens setups anymore, I've switched to these because they have much better lens support with the multiple clamps, which BTW are both beautifully machined. The MJKZZ clamps are ~12mm thick and the Wemacro are ~15.5mm thick.

The MJKZZ main body is comprised of standard extension tube sections in 28, 14 and 7mm sections. The Wemacro is based upon 50mm and 10mm sections of a custom tube (I think), but are very reasonable priced for additional extensions.

Best,
You needed to do any extra flocking with any of the solutions presented here?

Best regards,
Carlos Magno

mawyatt
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Location: Clearwater, Florida

Post by mawyatt »

cmagno wrote:Hi mawyatt,
mawyatt wrote:I don't use any of my older tube lens setups anymore, I've switched to these because they have much better lens support with the multiple clamps, which BTW are both beautifully machined. The MJKZZ clamps are ~12mm thick and the Wemacro are ~15.5mm thick.

The MJKZZ main body is comprised of standard extension tube sections in 28, 14 and 7mm sections. The Wemacro is based upon 50mm and 10mm sections of a custom tube (I think), but are very reasonable priced for additional extensions.

Best,
You needed to do any extra flocking with any of the solutions presented here?

Best regards,
Carlos Magno
Hi Carlos,

The Wemacro tubes come with the flocking already installed in each section. I don't think the MJKZZ tubes come with any flocking, so you will need to add this.

Sometimes it's a good idea to flock in backside of the adapters mounted on the tube sections, especially the lens objective adapter which has a large flat reflective surface.

Anodized aluminum, even black, is very reflective and needs to be flocked if the surface can be "seen" by the camera sensor.

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
~Mike

Deanimator
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Location: North Olmsted, Ohio, U.S.A.

Post by Deanimator »

mawyatt wrote:
cmagno wrote:Hi mawyatt,
mawyatt wrote:I don't use any of my older tube lens setups anymore, I've switched to these because they have much better lens support with the multiple clamps, which BTW are both beautifully machined. The MJKZZ clamps are ~12mm thick and the Wemacro are ~15.5mm thick.

The MJKZZ main body is comprised of standard extension tube sections in 28, 14 and 7mm sections. The Wemacro is based upon 50mm and 10mm sections of a custom tube (I think), but are very reasonable priced for additional extensions.

Best,
You needed to do any extra flocking with any of the solutions presented here?

Best regards,
Carlos Magno
Hi Carlos,

The Wemacro tubes come with the flocking already installed in each section. I don't think the MJKZZ tubes come with any flocking, so you will need to add this.

Sometimes it's a good idea to flock in backside of the adapters mounted on the tube sections, especially the lens objective adapter which has a large flat reflective surface.

Anodized aluminum, even black, is very reflective and needs to be flocked if the surface can be "seen" by the camera sensor.

Best,
You have to hand it to Wemacro. They rarely let grass grow under their feet. Initiative like that is rare these days.

dhmiller
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Re: Raynox DCR-150 tube assembly with flocking

Post by dhmiller »

How did you insure that the flocking materials stayed bound to the inner walls of the tubes, and did you connect all the tubes first then insert the flocking material inside, or did you start with one tube, insert the material (with the end of it sticking out), then add each tube in turn?

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

dhmiller wrote:How did you insure that the flocking materials stayed bound to the inner walls of the tubes, and did you connect all the tubes first then insert the flocking material inside, or did you start with one tube, insert the material (with the end of it sticking out), then add each tube in turn?
The flocking material that I used has a heavy card stock backing. I carefully cut the two pieces shown in the illustration to be exactly the right size to fit tightly inside the tube assembly when the cut edges were butted against each other. I inserted the flocking by rolling it so the cut edges overlapped to make a smaller tube of flocking that would fit inside the metal tubes. Then I finished the installation by pressing the flocking out against the sides of the metal tubes, essentially forcing the flocking to be a larger cylinder, until the cut edges "clicked" into place so that they butted instead of overlapped. At that point the flocking becomes not quite a perfect cylinder, but rather an almost cylindrical shape that exerts quite a bit of side pressure against the tube. It won't fall out in normal use, but it can be easily removed if necessary.

The dot of flocking on the end of the little pin was glued. The flat circle of flocking at the far end was cut to size and pressed into the recess in the adapter.

In this case I first assembled the tubes that needed to be flocked, then cut and inserted the flocking. When I was flocking the M42 tubes, there was nothing screwed on either end of those.

--Rik

dhmiller
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Post by dhmiller »

Thanks Rik, Would self-adhesive flocking "tape" also work?

Smokedaddy
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Post by Smokedaddy »

Since I haven't dove into this sort of setup yet, will it work fine on a Canon APS-C type sensor instead of a FF?

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