Butterfly wing close up at 20X. Make sure to click on the image to see this image at 1024 pixels. Nikon D800E with Nikkor 200mm f4 Ai lens and microscope objective at 1/40 sec, f/4.0 ISO 200, Manual mode. Image copyright 2013 Robert OToole Photography
Exactly how big are the wing scales in this image of the butterfly wing? To give you an idea, the entire frame measures about 1.5mm edge to edge. At magnification levels greater than 1X and especially when you reach levels like the image above shot at 20X the world looks very different, almost alien.
There are a lot of special considerations and techniques you need to use about 10X mostly due to the distance from the subject and the limited amount of depth of field. In the image above the working distance is 20mm, which may not seem like a lot but it is actually quite a bit at this magnification.
Looks for a lot more information coming soon including images of the set up and techniques I used to make the image above. Since late last year I have been spending a lot of time with updating all of my macro gear and putting together some new new high magnification gear up to 100X. So I have a lot of information and details to share over the next couple of months. My main goals in putting my set ups together are making sure all the gear is readily available and easy to get a hold of, also I have made sure that the set ups are non brand specific so both Canon and Nikon users can use the information to put together similar set ups. If you dont have a lot of experience with macro, dont worry I will show you what you need to know. Photography at his range can be very interesting, fascination and a lot of fun so I hope you can try it.
Actual pixel 100% crop of the butterfly wing image above. Nikon D800E with Nikkor 200mm f4 Ai lens and microscope objective at 1/40 sec, f/4.0 ISO 200, Manual mode. Image copyright 2013 Robert OToole Photography
The details in the 100 percent crop image above shows the kind of quality available with modern techniques and quality equipment.
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