Super Macro Quiz Pic

OK Guys,

I said I would keep you informed when the little lens with the big kick arrived. Just got it a few days back, just in time for my impending 6 weeks of Indo macro bliss. Anyway I just took the lens out of the box it comes in two parts, the lens and the adapter ring. All I'm interested in at the end of the day is the magnification qualities. Well here ya go. I've posted an attached file of an 'everyday' item, or a part thereof. See if you can tell what it is. I'll post the answer tomorrow.

Then of course there's the quality issue. What do you reckon? OK the edges are a bit vignetted which I was kinda expecting anyway. Planning to use this mainly for night with one of the squid 250's so I'll be playing around with the lighting anyway. Hopefully it won't get too distracting. I could also blow up the image and crop the edges to an extent. Well I'm gonna dive the lens tonight and see what gives. I'll post the results tomorrow.

Cheers,

Mark.

It looks like a close up of a font, the letter A to be specific. But I don't recognize what it would be from.

As far as quality goes, the middle right of the picture looks pretty good but the rest looks, well, crappy. It seems that you might be able to blow up the center and get a fabulously tight macro shot, but nothing full frame. I am curious to your results...

Ryan

OK Guys,

I said I would keep you informed when the little lens with the big kick arrived. Just got it a few days back, just in time for my impending 6 weeks of Indo macro bliss. Anyway I just took the lens out of the box it comes in two parts, the lens and the adapter ring. All I'm interested in at the end of the day is the magnification qualities. Well here ya go. I've posted an attached file of an 'everyday' item, or a part thereof. See if you can tell what it is. I'll post the answer tomorrow.

 

Then of course there's the quality issue. What do you reckon? OK the edges are a bit vignetted which I was kinda expecting anyway. Planning to use this mainly for night with one of the squid 250's so I'll be playing around with the lighting anyway. Hopefully it won't get too distracting. I could also blow up the image and crop the edges to an extent. Well I'm gonna dive the lens tonight and see what gives. I'll post the results tomorrow.

 

Cheers,

Mark.

My guess is a shot of the letter A surrounded by a weave carpet, maybe foam, nah, weave carpet, final answer.

Quality, a real softness/blur towards the bottom point of the A. Odd.

Steve B)

is it a cola can ? ... the softenss from the curvature being bigger then the DOF??

and the winner is..........drum roll.....Lndr, yahhhhhhhhhh, rapturous applause, commentator "and the crowd goes wild...." OK let's cool the jets.

Take a Coke can, of the Classic variety. This shot is the 'A' in Classic written in the vertical underneath the main Coka Cola font. Pretty tight. The DOF is hardly anything. The focus issues arise from the DOF being less than the curvature of the can at that magnification. Good answer Lndr.

Sad fact is also that this shot was done outside the housing. The focal distance required by the lens even at the wide end is shorter than the distance from the front of the lens to the inside of the flat port. Bummer, it can't be used underwater with the Gates housing........Uh, just a minute.

OK so just for sh*ts n giggles I placed a Century Optics Achromatic Diopter +3.5 on the cam and then placed the Raynox on top of that!!! It works from inside the housing........

Q: OK so given the same can, where would you think this shot comes from, what anatomical part of the can?

Oh, well back to the drawing board.........

Best,

Mark.

A: Check out the size of the w's in the web site address above the Coca Cola main logo when held again horizontally. Shame I can't get this underwater. The can was resting on the glass of the flat port!!

and the winner is..........drum roll.....Lndr, yahhhhhhhhhh, rapturous applause, commentator "and the crowd goes wild...." OK let's cool the jets.

wooo hoo!

The DOF is hardly anything.

So is it sharp corner to corner with a flat subject?

Unfortunately not. Apart from seeing the amazing detail of interwoven fibres of a piece of cardboard boxing (the Century Optics container for the Achro) there is still:

i) The distracting slightly dark shadow vignette

ii) Quite apparent chromatic aberration at the extremities of the frame.

Well this is a $120 lens. Good I guess for certain applications. If there is a cam out there with a clearance of just 24mm or pretty much 1 inch between the cameras front end and the inside surface of the flat port then this will work. At those magnifications I would be more than happy to accept the image quality. Reckon you could get a very close profile of a Pygmy Seahorse with this arrangement.

Ahh well, back to the search for a super macro option.

Cheers,

Mark.

Mark, how much are you zoomed in there? I assume all the way.

Is the corner softness as bad at 75%?

Hey Mike, how goes it across the pond?

This is a specialized little lens so even at 85 to 90% you still get the tunnel vision as the camera peers down the lens. Maybe I should have mentioned it before but the lens is a 37mm fitting. It needs a step up ring to fix to the Z1. Hence you have to travel (zoom) the whole way through that reduced lens diameter before getting to the magnification end.

My bad!

Mark.

How would you hold the camera still shooting like that?

Wagsy,

I have a tripod system I use. I would also only plan to use this kind of lens for coral textures, spawning, tube worms and nudibranchs etc. All stuff that can be done with the housing on the sand. Steadiness is obviously paramount.

If all else fails I also have a staple gun

hahaha,

Mark.

No problem Mark, drill a 2nd hole in your Gates baseplate and shift the camera further forward. Then make a complete 2nd set of extended controls for the housing and swap them over before you jump in for a macro dive. Job done

I think the viewer makes allowances and accepts quite a lot of softness/distortion on extreme macro shots as long as the centre is pretty sharp. I noticed this on some of that great underwater footage that they're using to demonstrate Samsung HD TVs in the shops.

Welcome back Nick,

Good week? I've started with the drilling but think I may have used too big a drill bit for the baseplate, ahhh, not to worry I can bodge a new base plate out of some old sheet tin we have laying around here, bit of Bostik and Bob's yer Uncle, easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Mind you I'm getting some nice results now with the stacked diopters using one light head and lots of patience.

Cheers,

Mark.

From last night:

Now that is a nice shot, were you on the Gates tripod?

Steve B)

Yo Steve,

The good thing about these critters is they live very close to or on the sand. I just plonk down the rig with the lights on. That in turn attracts those pesky little plankton life forms that swirl into your ears and in turn the shrimp etc arrive for a free meal. Just a matter of having a wetsuit with a hood to avoid 'stowaways' and a bit of patience.

Same night, same shrimp posted below.

I've not really used the Gates tripod for much until now. I look more like a lunar landing module when all is rigged with the tripod. I've also slightly modified the tripod for added stability. I'll be taking it with me to Lembeh though as they have more sheltered areas for filming. I've had to modify the tripod to stop as much of the 'springing' motion I get with it seeing as it is fixed to a big housing using a small mounting plate. Water movement on the housing causes a lot of movement, or apparent movement, when at full telephoto with diopters on the camera.

Hope all is well. Regarding your eMail, no worries. I know exactly where you are coming from.

Cheers mate,

Mark.

Great shots!

Thanks Jonny,

Its always nice to get good macro. Mind you I'm spending my days editing something crazy and my nights hanging with the shrimp.

Cheers,

Mark.

Mark,

The only real problem that I forsee with you using the tripod in Lembah is that in most areas, the muck really is muck. Thus, just placing down the tripod and setting it into position could be a real problem with you stirring things up and ruining your own visibility. Since there is no pan or tilt control on the Gates tripod, this could be problematic for you

Steve B)

I hear ya Steve,

Time is on my side hopefully. I'll be there a month so will make a list of critters in the real mucky areas and basically spend an hour for one shot if thats what it takes. Stir it up as little as possible whilst setting things up, then stake out the critter, hope it doesn't sprout wings and fly off by the time things settle down (which wouldn't surprise me in Lembeh, some weird critters there) and then 'print to tape'. Job done!

Cheers for the pointer mate.

Mark.