Beetle - Natures Natural Jewels: There is a reason why beetles were once sought after for jewelry as well as being an inspiration of many artisans using precious stones and gold to...

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

There is a reason why beetles were once sought after for jewelry as well as being an inspiration of many artisans using precious stones and gold to emulate them.

This is one of my preserved Japanese Beetles that I staged for a focus stack session. They thrive in abundance on the vines that grow on our fence and many think of them as an invasive scourge. The way that they eat the leaves is quite fascinating for they devour all the green flesh of the leaf leaving behind what appears to be a delicate lacework of veins. A villain as far as a gardener is concerned although a beauty for the camera.

As always, thanks in advance to all who view and for your comments, suggestions, questions and critique.

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Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

I think you have captured this exceptionally well. Nothing too bright or too dark.
Parts of exotic metallic beetles are used for jewelry, and it would be good if someone mass-produces colorful trinkets made from these invasive pests!

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Mark Sturtevant wrote:

I think you have captured this exceptionally well. Nothing too bright or too dark.
Parts of exotic metallic beetles are used for jewelry, and it would be good if someone mass-produces colorful trinkets made from these invasive pests!

Thanks, Mark. After our chat about flocking yesterday I revisited my gear and tightened up where I thought some bright spots might be by sitting in the dark room with a light looking into the lens so I flat black painted a few spots on the inside threads of some of the adapters. Mostly just a dab or two and although they were black anodized I believe they are better now so time will tell.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

The lighting is great. You really captured that specimen well.

Mike

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Blenheim Orange wrote:

The lighting is great. You really captured that specimen well.

Mike

Thanks Mike, I made a few changes so I think that I'm on the right track although there are detours at times.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

sippyjug104 wrote:

Thanks Mike, I made a few changes so I think that I'm on the right track although there are detours at times.

Lighting is a real challenge with the magnification you are using. You are definitely on the right track.

Mike

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Blenheim Orange wrote:

Lighting is a real challenge with the magnification you are using. You are definitely on the right track.

Mike

Mike, I admire your work and you have mastery with the way you present your plantlife. Lighting is always a challenge as well as an adventure. I shoot with multiple lenses mounted in both series and in reverse configuration. Add my extensions and the light really falls off fast and the effective f/stop is far and away from shown on the dials of the lenses so you can't go by them at all. There's a saying that goes, "Flying by the seat of your pants" and that's about what it is.

I'm about a month away from the delivery of the 1X to 5X APO telecentric lens based on my recent correspondence with the manufacturer so perhaps things will be a bit more conventional for me then.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

sippyjug104 wrote:

Mike, I admire your work and you have mastery with... (show quote)

I am thinking that I am found the lens you are getting.

"The closest working distance at 5x magnification is 3.93" (10cm) and 10.7" (27.2cm) at 1x magnification."

https://www.adorama.com/mtk8528nk.html

Mike

newtoyou Loc: Eastport

Mark Sturtevant wrote:

I think you have captured this exceptionally well. Nothing too bright or too dark.
Parts of exotic metallic beetles are used for jewelry, and it would be good if someone mass-produces colorful trinkets made from these invasive pests!

When I raised tarantulas I caught and froze these for winter use. Crickets can hurt or kill a spider before it dies.
The bolus of crunched body parts had a 'sparkly green' look about it. Kind of pretty.
I was told I had a sick mind on that one.
Oh well.
Bill

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Blenheim Orange wrote:

I am thinking that I am found the lens you are getting.

"The closest working distance at 5x magnification is 3.93" (10cm) and 10.7" (27.2cm) at 1x magnification."

https://www.adorama.com/mtk8528nk.html

Mike

That's it and as a Nikon and Fujifilm user who shots manual I'm hoping that it is on-par with the worldclass Canon MP-E65 that so many others use.

I had the lens on order and I was informed that there was a miscalculation in the arrangement of the lenses which produced some softness. They gave me a choice of returning my purchase price or wait for the newly configured lens which is what I chose to do. The factory sent me current images produced by the corrected lens which are sharp, true color, and no noticeable chromatic aberrations through the ranges of magnification. I'm hoping to be as impressed with the lens as I am with the concerns and communications with the manufacturer.

But hey, it's only as much as fifty Double Quarter Pounders with Cheese, Large Fries, and a Large Drink with tax.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

sippyjug104 wrote:

Mike, I admire your work and you have mastery with... (show quote)

What is the practical effect of a telecentric lens for stacking?

Mike

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

sippyjug104 wrote:

But hey, it's only as much as fifty Double Quarter Pounders with Cheese, Large Fries, and a Large Drink with tax.

A lot healthier, too.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

newtoyou wrote:

When I raised tarantulas I caught and froze these for winter use. Crickets can hurt or kill a spider before it dies.
The bolus of crunched body parts had a 'sparkly green' look about it. Kind of pretty.
I was told I had a sick mind on that one.
Oh well.
Bill

Bill, I remember your earlier advice was to place them a folded piece of paper and step on it to make a Rorschach Test so I guess they must be good for several things. They must have a discerning palate for there are some vines and bushes they like and others they ignore in our yard.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Blenheim Orange wrote:

What is the practical effect of a telecentric lens for stacking?

Mike

Mike, a way that I can describe it in practical terms is this:

Take to childs wooden toy blocks while sitting at the table and place them alongside of each other however with one closer to you than the other. Although they are the same size the one looks to be smaller. The telecentric lens brings them to a point that they appear equal.

This is a huge advantage in machine tool microscopy where it would be difficult to measure things that are close and far accurately if viewed through conventional lenses.

For micro photography things get wonky fast when shooting flat depth of field and things like a leg may look slightly (or more) doubled. First impression is that perhaps it moved but the reality is that the camera moved with a fixed point of focus. Telecentric type lenses helps resolve that to a high degree.

Until now, telecentric quality lenses were way beyond my (my wife's) budget for a lens. The APO quality of glass is a big help also for diffraction at high magnification is always an issue to contend with when I use my modestly priced gear which is Achromatic not Apochromatic - huge difference of course. For example my 10X Achromatic objective was $40 new. A 10X Apochromatic objective is in the $1000 range. A 5X Telecentric APO objective is well over $2000 new.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

sippyjug104 wrote:

Mike, a way that I can describe it in practical te... (show quote)

Interesting. I wonder if this is related to the focus breathing issue in video. Filming dialogue between two actors, one close and one far, you don't want the framing to change when you focus back and forth between the two actors. DSLR lenses all have the focus breathing problem.

On edit - I found a good article at the Edmond Optics site.

The Advantages of Telecentricity

"Conventional lenses have angular fields of view such that as the distance between the lens and object increases, the magnification decreases. This is how the human vision behaves, and contributes to our depth perception. This angular field of view results in parallax, also known as perspective error, which decreases accuracy, as the observed measurement of the vision system will change if the object is moved (even when remaining within the depth of field) due to the magnification change. Telecentric Lenses eliminate the parallax error characteristic of standard lenses by having a constant, non-angular field of view; at any distance from the lens, a Telecentric Lens will always have the same field of view."

Mike