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Super Macro 3D Setup
By sirsnapalot | January 14, 2010
In the Super Macro bit I wrote last week, I mentioned a bit about the setup I used to get that super-close-up of table salt, at 280x. Here is a photo of that setup.
Super Macro Equipment
From right to left above:
- 28mm wide angle lens, in my case- an old Canon FD mount lens (by Albinar)
- Adapter Ring- 52mm thread screws into filter ring of lens, other side is the old Canon FD mount
- Bellows- this is the key part. You can use just about any lens to get magnified results. This particular combo is what got me the salt picture. This particular bellows extends up to 15cm from the camera. I’ve had this bellows for many years.
- Canon FD-EF Mounting Adapter. This allows me to mount older Canon equipment to the newer cameras.
You do not, of course, need to use old Canon equipment. You can buy newer bellows that are compatible with today’s cameras, but it’s likely to be more expensive. You can probably find the above equipment for any older brand of 35mm SLR cameras on eBay for quite cheap, relatively. The only caveat I can think of is if you have a new Canon, buy old Canon equipment, or a new Nikon, buy old Nikon equipment. I don’t have any experience cross coupling manufacturer brands. The final piece, however, the lens, could be any brand as long as you have the appropriate size filter adapter ring (since it is flipped around backwards).
I checked around- you can find an old Canon FD 28mm lens for $20-40 dollars. I just checked on the bellows, and was surprised that the bellows above was going for $125 on eBay, but that is still cheaper than a new EF-mount bellows. Also, my bellows was a basic one- some have more bells and whistles (such as tilting) and mass (for stability). But still, you might be able to find one more cheaply. The FD-EF Mounting Adapter was $30 on eBay. And I found the FD Lens Reversal Adapter (52mm) for $9.99 on eBay just now. So this stuff is around. If I were to purchase all this equipment right now, it would cost me $20+$125+$30+$10=$185 + shipping, all from eBay.
You don’t need the bellows to get some magnification, but that will increase it dramatically. The above setup will yield, raw, 555x magnification. It is blurry though, so some reduction is needed to get it sharp. But the results (salt picture in previous article) are promising.
One other note in that table salt picture- I took 7 pictures, and combined them in Photo Acute, a resolution doubling application that uses wavelet analysis of multiple images to increase real resolution. Without that, I probably would have had closer to 150x, which itself is pretty impressive.
More articles on Super Macro will be forth coming, as well as the use of Photo Acute to push even further into the microscopic realm. And, I have bid on an old Canon 24mm lens, which should yield even higher magnification. My 28mm lens is an Albinar lens, and those were not known for high quality. I would like to have a Canon lens- at this magnification, quality helps.
And finally, you need a good tripod to stabilize the camera, as at these extreme magnifications, any shaking at all is amplified. I used mirror lock-up and 10s delay to minimize that. I have a Manfrotto (formerly Bogen) tripod on order- 055XPROB + 488RC2 head, a tripod that is good for macro as well as general use (it will go horizontal). More on that in a future article as well.
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