Photographing myxo’s

Hi,

As you will appreciate, there are several methods that could be employed to give the sort of magnification shown in the linked article.

I think that the one common factor will be that anyone photographing small subjects such as these will be focus stacking, to get enough of the subject in focus in the final image.

As for equipment:-

Some people prefer to use such methods as a “Camranger” device, connected to a DSLR and Macro lens via an iPad (or similar).

Some prefer to use DSLR and Macro lens mounted on a focus rail.

Some will use a similar “focus rail” set-up, but using a computer controlled stepper motor to slightly move the camera between shots. (eg. check out the “Stackshot” system).

Personally, I like to keep things simple, and use just a standard (and somewhat ancient) Nikon D80 body, with a Sigma 180mm Macro lens, and a Sigma 1.4x extender, mounted between the camera body and the lens.

Since the D80 has a crop-sensor, and with that lens combination, I can get more than 2x life size straight out of the camera.

I simply put the camera on a rock solid tripod, (Manfrotto 055XB Tripod with 405 Head), and manually “tweak” the focus between each shot.

My focus stacks can vary between three and fifty shots, depending on the subject size, and how much depth of focus I need to give best result.

I never get involved with artificial lighting of any sort, preferring to use ambient daylight.

Often, each individual exposure in the stack can be several seconds duration, but if the tripod is solid enough, and since the subject isn’t moving, long exposures are not a problem.

I use CombineZM focus stacking software, which was downloadable as non time limited full working “freeware” program, from Alan Hadley (Hadleyweb).

That program has since been superceded by CombineZP, but there are many other such software packages that can be purchased. (Helicon Focus, Zerene Stacker, etc. etc.).

I’ve been using CombineZM for five or six years. It does everything I need, very easily, and very well – so I personally have no reason to change to anything else.

Some typical examples using the above method. Click on images to view at full size: –

[attachment=0]Arcyria denudata (1).jpg[/attachment] Immature Arcyria denudata.

[attachment=1]Arcyria denudata (2).jpg[/attachment] Almost mature Arcyria denudata.

[attachment=2]Badhamia macrocarpa.jpg[/attachment]Badhamia macrocarpa.

[attachment=3]Physarum album – immature.jpg[/attachment]Immature Physarum album.

[attachment=4]Physarum album (1).jpg[/attachment]Physarum album.

[attachment=5]Trichia decipiens var. olivacea.jpg[/attachment]Trichia decipiens var. olivacea.

[attachment=6]Trichia varia.jpg[/attachment]Trichia varia.

In actual fact, the image of immature Physarum album above was taken with a Fuji Finepix HS10 bridge camera and Raynox150 supplementary lens. So even what might be considered rudimentary equipment can produce good results with the right subject.

Obviously, If you need higher magnification, then the above techniques won’t be entirely suitable, as you are entering the realms of the Canon MPE-65 5x macro lens, or would need to be considering employing microscope objectives for the primary lens, or indeed, dedicated ( and very expensive) high magnification macro-rigs such as the “Zeiss Tessovar”, or “InfiniProbe” lens system.

Regards,

Mike.

I photograph a lot of fungi and slime moulds. The tiny size of many SMs required focus stacking to get pleasing depth of focus but this is impractical in the field (I am usually part of a half-day fungus survey group). Also, the expanded extruded capillitium of SMs blows around in the very slightest of air movement.

I use a “100mm” macro lens with a Raynox MSN-202 supplementary lens on the front. That gives me a field of view (on micro4/3) 5mm wide at the closest focus. As my “100mm” is a 50mm plus x2 teleconverter I can remove that for whole colony shots. My macro lens gives 1:2. Other macro lenses may give different minimum fields of view.

At such magnifications, even with a small aperture (f16) set on the lens, the depth of field is less that 1mm!

My macro images (all subjects) can be found here under the name e6filmuser:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/board/45

I photograph a lot of fungi and slime moulds. The tiny size of many SMs required focus stacking to get pleasing depth of focus but this is impractical in the field (I am usually part of a half-day fungus survey group). Also, the expanded extruded capillitium of SMs blows around in the very slightest of air movement.

I use a “100mm” macro lens with a Raynox MSN-202 supplementary lens on the front. That gives me a field of view (on micro4/3) 5mm wide at the closest focus. As my “100mm” is a 50mm plus x2 teleconverter I can remove that for whole colony shots. My macro lens gives 1:2. Other macro lenses may give different minimum fields of view.

At such magnifications, even with a small aperture (f16) set on the lens, the depth of field is less that 1mm!

My macro images (all subjects) can be found here under the name e6filmuser:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/board/45

I now use a Laowa 25mm x2.5 to x5 ultra macro lens, which gives me a field of view from 7mm down to 3.5mm wide on m4/3:

https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1574445/#14689153

Affiliate link:

http://www.venuslens.net/http://www.venuslens.net/product/laowa-25mm-f-2-8-2-5-5x-ultra-macro-2/ref/140/