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Almost exactly a month ago I posted a photo of a sow bug (order Isopoda) on my blog that I created from a stack of 57 separate images. But I was really unsatisfied with the photo and decided it was time to invest in more equipment. I ordered a 4X microscope objective off Ebay and started building a precision focusing rail out of a Zeiss Microscope Focus Arm.

The focusing rail is now functional. The trickiest thing was figuring out how to provide soft, even lighting to a tiny specimen positioned only 14mm from the front of the lens while simultaneously avoiding lens flare. I also needed to find a suitably photogenic subject. Given that it was snowing on the day I took the photo below, a trip to the garden to look for tiny insects wasn’t an option!

I had an epiphany yesterday morning while eating a small tub of yogurt and a banana. I finished the yogurt and realized that it was made from thin white plastic and was the perfect size and shape to fit over both the microscope lens and a specimen. All I had to do was to cut a hole in the bottom to insert the subject. Meanwhile a couple of fruit flies started to buzz around my banana...”aha” I thought, “my specimens have arrived!”

Below is one of the photos resulting from a meeting of yogurt container and fruit fly.


fruitfly 1 edit copyright ernie cooper 2012_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr

Below is a lateral view of the lens (covered by a paper lens shade) and fruit fly specimen on the tip of a sewing needle. I removed the outer barrel of the lens and added the shade to reduce the chance of lens flare.


bellows and lens shade_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr

Below is a lateral view of focussing rail built from a Carl Zeiss Jena Laboval 4 Microscope Focus Arm (on its back). An Olympus e-volt 620 camera is mounted on a vintage Olympus OM System auto bellows. The lens, a Cnscope 4X plan achromatic microscope objective is concealed by the yogurt container flash diffuser.


bellows and yogurt container_filtered by ernie.cooper, on Flickr

I assume that the fly was D. Melanogaster but I’m not an entomologist. If anyone can confirm the identification I’d appreciate it.

Cheers,
EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com

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Very nice indeed - a great choice of background and perfect lighting! :) Those CnScope lenses really are superb value for money :)

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Thank you! You are right about the value of Cnscope lenses...this one cost me $20 (Canadian) and that included free shipping! Amazing!

Cheers,
EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com

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I have tested my CNScope against some much more expensive Nikon objectives and the difference really is very marginal indeed. They are a great introduction to using microscope objectives for stacking.

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The objective I used for the photo above was the Cnscope 4X plan. Which lenses have you used for photostacking? I was considering trying their 10X metallurgical, although the working distance is only 3.5mm.

EC