Is it possible to get 20-40:1 macro @ home?

[CuriousOne]

I need large magnified macro, so far I've tried:

Cheap +1+2+3 etc lens in front of telephoto lens. Works, but only kind of, also, gives high CA.

Wide angle lens mounted on bellows, better, but still not enough magnification.

Wide angle lens mounted on bellows+reverse mounted lens in front of it, even beter, but I want more

Basically, my goal is, to make small (0.2x0.2mm) objects to appear as large as possible on cropped sensor, and ideally, fill up the frame.

I have various microscope parts, which I can adopt, but so far no luck, they require very close distance to objects to be filmed.

[Alex H]

Look for LWD (long working distance) microscope objectives. Some have "Ultra Long" and "Super Long" designations in their names.

[marcusBMG]

This guy is doing a good job putting together a lot of info, something may be pertinent to your quest.

http://extreme-macro.co.uk/

addendum Steen Bruun has some interesting stuff using plossl eyepieces

http://www.gyes.eu/photo/photostart.htm

[kds315*]

This is about the area where cheap michrofiche reader lenses are optimised for (24x, 48x etc).
Controlling vibrations is key at those mags, so using a Xenon flash lighting system is advisable.

[DahakaNishoba]

photomacrography.net

browse forums there

[Ray Parkhurst]

Best way to do this is with a microscope objective, but short working distance is always a problem. The LWD objectives will get you 20mm of WD at 20x, and you can get a little more if you use a measurement objective.

Problem with any system working at these magnifications is extremely shallow DOF. I mean REALLY SHALLOW. You will need a stand capable of adjustment accuracy of a couple microns. It can't be done handheld.

[CuriousOne]

DOF and lightning is not a problem, since I need this setup to investigate fungus inside lens. Distance to object is most important.

[Ray Parkhurst]

Best lenses for this kind of inspection work are the Nikon MeasureScope objectives. If you are looking for 20x, I'd suggest using a 10x MM objective (working distance is 49.5mm) and a 2x teleconverter. This will give you 20x but will also result in a reasonable NA for the work you're doing. It's hard to get that kind of working distance any other way...Ray

[ZoneV]

[duckrider]

[philslizzy]

I made a microscope, take a look and see if you can adapt any of my ideas.

http://forum.mflenses.com/nex-and-home-made-microscope-t57144,highlight,%2Bmade+%2Bmicroscope.html

[kds315*]

[sceptic]

Swedish Nature Photographer of the year 2012, John Hallmen, has a great blog in Swedish about macro photography www.makrofokus.se. Here is a Google translated section on various options for getting in (really) close:

http://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmakrofokus.se%2Fblogg%2F2011%2F12%2F29%2Falternativa-makroobjektiv.html&sandbox=1

[CuriousOne]

Thanks everybody.

I want to get detailed pictures of fungus to investigate it's nature (determine the type), since certain types of fungus may permanently damage lens coating, while others - not, so it may not be reasonable to disassemble lens just for that. Also, sometimes, what you consider fungus, is not a fungus at all, as shown on this picture (the object dimension is about 0.4x0.15mm) it is on the inner side of rear lens of hexanon ar 135mm/3.5

[ZoneV]

Sounds like a very interesting project!

[uddhava]

[Pancolart]

Just see what Leeuwenhoek done at home already in the year 1670. 500x optical magnification: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonie_van_Leeuwenhoek
And the story of Delft, Holland was born .

[CuriousOne]

He didn't had camera attached

I do have good quality lab grade microscope, but it is unusable for lens diagnostic.

[Ray Parkhurst]

The image quality you're showing could probably be achieved with a 4x or 5x objective with NA=0.1. You can either crop what you're interested in, or get a bit higher quality by using a teleconverter. I have a lens with fungus on inner surface (between elements, cannot be fixed) and would be willing to take a pic of it if you are interested. I'd probably just use a Nikon M5 objective for this as the quality is quite good...Ray

[uddhava]

[CuriousOne]

Yes, photos of fungus are welcomed.

[Ray Parkhurst]

To demonstrate a couple different techniques, I took pics of a Tominon E36 MC 48mm f4 copy lens that has fungus growth between the first two cemented lenses in rear lens group. I used three lens configurations, and three processing techniques:

1. 3x Microscope Objective
2. 3x Microscope Objective with 2x Teleconverter
3. 10x Microscope objective with 2x Teleconverter

A. Full Sensor image downsized 4x
B. 100% Crop
C. 50% Crop downsized 2x

Here are the images:

3x Objective, full sensor downsized 4x


3x Objective, 100% crop


3X Objective with 2x Teleconverter, full sensor downsized 4x


3x Objective with 2x Teleconverter, 50% crop downsized 2x


10x Objective with 2x Teleconverter, full sensor downsized 4x


10x Objective with 2x Teleconverter, 100% crop


Compare the 3x Objective, 100% crop to the 3x Objective with 2x Teleconverter, 50% crop downsized 2x. The latter image is far superior due to the reduction of sensor distortions at pixel level.

This lens appears to have 3, possibly 4 different types of fungus. The purple color is delamination occurring around the fungal colonies, presumably due to chemical action from the waste products of fungus eating the cement holding the lenses together.

Note that the 3x objective required an 11-image stack; the 3x with 2x teleconverter required a 26-image stack; and the 10x with 2x teleconverter required a 36-image stack.

[AMDBill]

hello

could you post a photo of your set-up for macro fungus shooting ? please

[CuriousOne]

WOW, impressive!

But what you mean by "stack" ?

stack photos due to bad illumination to increase the brightness, as astronomy guys do?

[Himself]