Flash Setup for Orthoplan

A forum to ask questions, post setups, and generally discuss anything having to do with photomacrography and photomicroscopy.

Moderators: MacroMike, nzmacro, Ken Ramos, twebster, S. Alden

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Mike
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Flash Setup for Orthoplan

Post by Mike »

Hello All & Happy New Year!

I thought I would post a shot of the D&D (down and dirty) setup I have for using flash with my scope. Image

As can be seen this was cobbled together from materials I had on hand and certainly doesn't display any great degree of refinement, but then again, it seems to work reasonably well.

One advantage of making rough 'mock-ups' is it allows one to try out various ideas and refine as one learns. This is the second version, and I will be making version III very soon, moving the flash to the other side and changing the angle of the beam splitter just a bit.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

All the best,

Mike

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twebster
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Post by twebster »

Hi ya' Mike :D

You are light years ahead of me in fabrication. :D You see, my adapter is put together with a glue gun, scotch tape, and cardboard. I'm afraid to post an image of my adapter for fear you all will banish me from the forums/galleries :!: :D Actually, Mike, this looks good. BTW, how does that magenta filter work :?: :wink:

All the best, my friend :!: :D
Tom Webster
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Phoenix "The Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA

Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!

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Mike
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Location: Northeast Ohio, USA

Post by Mike »

Hi Tom,

I really doubt your setup is nearly as bad as you make out, and from the photos you've been posting, who cares what it looks like? If it does the job......

You should have seen the first few setups I had, where I was using my granddaughter's modeling clay to hold things in place! Let's just say she has some interesting colors in her clay.

The magenta filter is working great - much better than one would have imagined. FYI, I didn't have any magenta filters sitting around after you made the suggestion, so using Photoshop, I made a new image with complete fill of several shades of magenta to magenta violet at different saturations, printed them on transparency film with my photo printer and it works a treat! Can't beat the price either. :lol:

I ended up using a very light magenta/magenta/violet at about 15% saturation - eliminates about 90+% of the green cast.

Best,

Mike

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twebster
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Post by twebster »

Hi ya' Mike :D

Now, I never thought of printing my own color-correction filters. What a great idea :!:
Tom Webster
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Phoenix "The Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA

Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!

Steve West
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Post by Steve West »

Hi Mike,

Looking great! What camera do you use? When you take flash pictures, what white balance do you set on the camera? The reason I'm, asking is that I don't get green with my flash setup when my camera is set for flash white balance. I did have a problem getting reddish colors due to the slow sync speed I was using and the contribution from the tungsten, but now that Charlie has set me straight on sync speeds, the colors seem normal.

As we are all finding out, it's amazingly easy to get flash setups integrated into our rigs, and they are remarkably effective. The tilted glass slide is particularly straight forward to implement.


Steve

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Mike
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Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 10:26 am
Location: Northeast Ohio, USA

Post by Mike »

Hello Steve,

Thanks - it is functional; the old Shaker concept of form following function.

I'm using Nikon Coolpix cameras, both 995s' and 950s' (have two of each - just in case!) As you know, I have been using the Nikon Speedlight SB-24 but recently changed to an SB-28 (flash duration of 1/11,000th vs 1/28,000th) and set the white balance to Speedlight.

I had been using aperture priority, but recently changed to shutter priority and set the shutter to 1/2000th; the aperture remains at ~5 and this eliminates the background light from the halogen modeling light.

Although I agree it is 'easy' to get shots with flash once it is integrated into the scope, integrating it effectively takes a wee bit of doing! :) I'd like to have the flash in the same optic train as the normal illuminator, to ensure Kohler illumination, but the way the Orthoplan is structured makes it difficult.

The basic concept I am using is outlined in Nachtigall's little book, "Exploring with a Microscope", (I believe on page 65) so I can't take any credit for the slide at 45°; that is his suggestion.

It does provide some amazing images once setup, and does make it easy to focus on the subject, not the equipment.

All the best,

Mike

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Mike
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Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 10:26 am
Location: Northeast Ohio, USA

Post by Mike »

Hi Tom,

It was a moment of inspiration (sure, believe that, and I want to talk about some land I have for sale in the swamps of Florida!)

Actually, it was simply an extension of what Frez had suggested with making Rheinberg rings.

With Photoshop, all one needs do is 'dial in' the correct RGB or CMYK values, set the saturation and you're off to the races. To get the correct values to dial in, just check out this site:

http://visibone.com/colorlab/

- if you click on a color in the chart the correct values for either RGB or CMYK pop up.

I expect one could also do ND filters the same way.

All the best,

Mike

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twebster
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Post by twebster »

Hi ya' Mike :D

That Visibone site is cool :!: :D I've put it in my favorites folder. Thanks for the link. I have 3 days off this weekend. My printer will be smoking before I'm done :!: :shock:

Best regards as always, :D
Tom Webster
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Phoenix "The Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA

Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!

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