Playing with a new Toy

Had a play this evening with my new toy.  A Cognisys-inc.com Stackshot extended macro rail.

I set up my lightbox and tripod.  My first subject was some sugar which I took with the MPE-65mm and a 1.4x Extender combination for the first time.

The first shot is 3x x1.4 = 4.2x Magnification by my reckoning.  I made the mistake of using the flash on this – which Helicon Focus 6 informed me in the stacking process resulted in a 22% brightness difference in the images – however it has stacked up fairly well.

Sugar at about 4.2x Magnification.  Taken on Canon 650D with Canon MPE-65mm and 1.4x Extender.  ISO 400 F4 x 19 shots using Stackshot.  Flash from MT-24ex Twin Flash. Stacked using Helicon Focus 6.

I then took the MPE-65mm to the extreme on the sugar – 5x, and again used the 1.4x converter.  So magnification I think is 7x.  This time I shot using available light – no flash.

Sugar at 7x Magnification.  Taken on Canon 650D with Canon MPE-65mm and 1.4x Converter.  ISO 100 F4 x 17 shots using Stackshot.  On Lightbox 1.6″ per shot.  Stacked using Helicon Focus 6.

Finally I found a deceased mantis food cricket.  Took this only on the MPE at just over 2.x magnification.  Taking 30 shots at 100 um on the stackshot.  It’s a bit of a dirty dead bug, but am very pleased with the resulting stack.

Pet food at 2 and a bit Maginification.  Taken on Canon 650D with Canon MPE-65mm.  ISO 100 F3.2 x 30 shots using Stackshot.  On Lightbox 0.8″ per shot.  Stacked using Helicon Focus 6.