A bug taken on my homemade macro bench

[FRanck]

Hello everyone,

I share with you a bug taken on my homemade macro bench.
shooting:

Mitutoyo M plan APO 5x lens:

Mitutoyo M plan APO 10x lens:

Friends
Franck

[Peter T.]

Haha!

Great photo. Looks like a frog with blown up cheeks.

Impressive DOF (of course). This is simply the strength of your bench.
I hope this bug (in German named "Stinkwanze") hasn't ruined the smell of your bench.

[Spectrum]

Hi,
Impessive!
Really, would appreciate to learn from your workflow!!!
Especially how to avoid vibrations in building the Hardware, and how to prozess in software.
Your results are convincing.
Greetings Holger

[FRanck]

Hello everyone,

Thanks Peter, thanks Holger for your feedback.

@Holger: to avoid vibrations, you need a fairly heavy bench (about 10 to 15 kg), that's the most important thing regarding vibrations.
Regarding the different stages of taking photos:
1 - Shooting with in my case the EOS utility software because I am equipped with Canon cameras:

This Canon software allows you to control the camera via USB from your PC. Almost all brands allow you to control their cameras remotely but I think it's better to check it before buying.
You will notice the remote control of the motor installed on the macro bench to move the subject forward :

The more you enlarge, the shorter the subject's movements should be (a few 100ths of a millimeter depending on the enlargement).
You must start by photographing the closest sharp point and then finish with the furthest sharp point, which can make between 50 and 500 photos, or more, depending on the depth of field of your subject.

It is during this step that vibrations are absolutely to be avoided:
- use the "live view" mode of your camera to avoid vibrations due to the raising of the mirror in the case of an SLR like the Canon 1200D for example. If possible, it is better to equip yourself with a mirrorless camera like the Canon M6mkII for example.
- avoid supports that hold the subject such as gooseneck clamps:

because they are not rigid enough and generate too much vibration.
Prefer rigid clamps like this:

- avoid external vibrations to the bench such as someone walking next to the bench (mandatory at home because I have wooden parquet flooring).
- put anti-vibration foam under your bench, such as the protective foam found in storage cases, for example.
- and as I told you at the beginning, the macro bench assembly with its accessories must be heavy enough.

2 - Once the shots have been acquired, you will need to transform them from the native format* of the camera manufacturer (CR2/CR3 for Canon) into 16-bit tiff format.
I use Canon's excellent Digital Photo Professional software for this (I take the opportunity to put the "fine details" option in the "picture style" option found in the "tool palette" (Ctrl T to access the menu) of Canon's DPP software).
* I strongly advise you in all cases to photograph in the native format of the camera manufacturer when you take your shots, whether for macro or something else.

3 - You will then need to stack them using focus stacking software such as Picolay (free) or Zerene Stacker (paid) or HeliconFocus (paid).
You will find a multitude of tutorials on the internet that explain stacking methods and the different steps concerning stacking.
I almost always use the PMax stacking method from Zerene Stacker or Method C from HeliconFocus.
A little reading about focus stacking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_stacking

4 - Once the stacking is finished, you get a photo that you can (I recommend) work on with photo editing software such as Photoshop or GIMP which has the advantage of being free.
In general, we touch up the brightness, contrast, saturation of the different colors and add artificial sharpness.
This step is also very important because it will certainly improve the rendering of your image.
You will also find a multitude of tutorials on the internet concerning photo editing.

Kind regards
FRanck

[Spectrum]

Hallo,
Thank's a lot you for this nice insight-view of your workflow.
Great Tutorial!
Greetings Holger