Good to know. I'll give it a try. I still like the chart as I can get dead on focus to the millimeter.

Why use batteries, dominos or aunt Ethel's calico tablecloth?? There are many fine printable targets, with instructions, available online. Most are free: http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/focus-chart
This one has a nice tutorial and explanation of back/front focus and the principles involved and a printable target that I have found to work well with reproducible results. There are many others out there.

What you need to do is conduct a double blind study. Have someone print a bunch of Canon & Nikon photos and have them code the back of the photos with a symbol on the back that only he knows which id's Canon or Nikon. Have them mix the photos well and number them on the front. When you get the stack of photos, identify each photo you think is either Nikon or Canon on a sheet of paper numbered to correspond to the number of pictures. Do not look at the back of the pictures even though the symbol there does not tell you the origin of photo. When you're done, have that person reveal which symbol denotes which camera. Then you'll know (subject to printing technique & printer, lens used and a host of other variables). Other than that, buy a Sony a7xx and some GM lenses or a6500 and you can use all your old Nikon and Canon lenses and not get arm cramps and a sore neck hefting those Nikon & Canon beasts around.

l meant no disrespect to you but I have seen some horrific and costly screw ups due to misreading information due to lack of punctuation and capitalization. So, yes, punctuation is important.
By the way, your work is enchanting.

Have you tried using "punctuation"?

Many times an appparent lack of sharpness or resolution comes from low contrast or slightly soft focus.

A quick question: what do you all use to do your lens calibration and do any of you have a favorite AFTER using multiple methods. Thanks

You heard wrong. As long as you do not overwrite your RAW file it remains unchanged. If you make changes then save it under a different name or in a different format. NEVER overwrite your original RAW or JPG files.

Oh, by the way! Be very careful of the jumping Cholla. The spines are barbed, numerous and quite painful should they 'jump' on you. And they are difficult and painful to remove. (Refer to the pic of the hand being attacked by a jumping Cholla.

Short answer: Everything!!!
Long answer: Read all the replies. Explore. Be on the lookout for birds, reptiles, coyotes, spiders, snakes and other goodies. The sun illuminating the spines of the cactus in the Cholla garden can give your camera a workout. There are areas which attract rock climbers and you can get some awesome pics of the climbers during magic hour. The nights are dark and beautiful.

Got it, thank you!

Very helpful. The fact that it can be fired as a slave from my cameras will work with what I am trying to accomplish. Thanks!

I have submitted questions to the Lume Cube site and never received an answer. I can't find a copy of the User Manual on their site or via Google.
What I am trying to find out is:
Can the Cube be fired/synced by a camera (Sony NEX or Alpha) as a flash? I can't find any info on the use of the Cube.
What I am trying to accomplish is to use the Cube (ideal size, output, beam spread) as a flash source for photomicrography using a beam splitter. I am in the process of drawing up a diagram of what I am trying to accomplish.
Thanks

I am sure that all my DNG pics are raw because I only convert my raw files to DNG. I really don't care about what other people convert to DNG. I don't process their files. But I do know what mine are.

I meant that it was put out there with the "hope" that it would be adopted as a universal standard. Unfortunately none of the camera manufacturers have adopted it as a standard. I do believe that one camera manufacturer (I forget which one) has DNG as an option for its raw format choices.