• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

MacroPhotography: For the Off-Season?

All shots with the Canon 60mm f/2.8 EFS

Snowflake:
n9612126_36095506_3683.jpg

More at: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=36095506&l=84f6d&id=9612126

Frost on window:
n9612126_35886434_6783.jpg


Spider on arm:
n9612126_37475508_6311.jpg


Some casual bee/flower shots at this link from a few weeks ago:
http://people.aero.und.edu/~kennedya/HIKING/ITASCA-082408/index.htm
 
Is that a jumping spider, Doug? Those are a pain in the butt to shoot; They always jump on my lens!

Here's couple more of the fairly patient mantis...

The nice black background (I like it, anyway) comes from shooting into the sky with the twin flash. It turns the sky black for some reason. This guy was on the top branch of a shrub, so there was only sky behind him. I had to stand on two milk crates to reach him!

man1743small.jpg


man1843small.jpg
 
I posted this in another thread (unrelated to macro), but it applies better here, so I'm going to repeat it, with your forebearance...

I made a macro "lens" out of a classic 1930 Zeiss-Ikon folding camera (a 6x9cm format Maximar). The camera is completely intact, but I modified a film pack back and glued-in a modified dark slide that holds a Pentax K-mount extension. (Actually a cheap-o 2x teleconverter that I took the optics out of).

Images of the Zeiss-Ikon here:
2754888119_f064ddddce.jpg


2755721080_0f0d2950ba.jpg


It has a 105mm Zeiss Jena f/4.5 lens.
A couple of (handheld) examples taken with it:
marigold_sm.jpg


spider_sm.jpg

As will probably be quite self-evident, I have not learned post-processing yet.

I also just ordered a Macro Reverse Ring, 49mm-52mm from FOTODIOX (on eBay) so I can reverse mount a 50mm f/2 lens to the front of my DSLR's kit lens. Will be interested to see what sort of results I can get from that inexpensive setup (less than $10)
: )
 
I also just ordered a Macro Reverse Ring, 49mm-52mm from FOTODIOX (on eBay) so I can reverse mount a 50mm f/2 lens to the front of my DSLR's kit lens. Will be interested to see what sort of results I can get from that inexpensive setup (less than $10)
: )

I've run a similar setup with two 50 1.8's stacked face to face. You'll get some pretty good magnification, but the vignetting at the necessary f-stops (f8-f16) is extreme.

(This is cropped, too)
351998236_Uj4h2-L-2.jpg
 
I've got another off-the-wall DIY idea that just might work: I've got an old Beseler 23C enlarger that I really don't plan to use again. I've decided that it might make a nice adjustable macro platform.

First of all, it has sturdy twin girders that you can crank the whole enlarger head up and down with. Then, turning your attention to the enlarger head: It can be pivoted 90 degrees (to project at a wall instead of the baseboard). I'd like to rig something up so it could be tightened to hold any angle between zero and ninety.

Then, imagine your camera affixed to the enlarger lens stage. The lens stage has its own focusing rack (and knobs) which give you a fairly "fine-grained" macro stage movement. This allows you to rack the camera in and out for macro focusing.

Essentially, the enlarger (with little modification) can be a combination low tripod/camera stand & macro stage.

If you are patient, Beseler enlargers like this go pretty cheap on eBay. Even with shipping they would be a lot cheaper than a commercial macro stage alone.
 
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