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Nanoha Macro Lens AKA The Ray Gun!

rparmar

New member
This is insane, a new macro lens that goes to 5:1 and has built-in LED illumination. So accurate is the focusing it is paired with a holder to keep the subject at the exact distance required. Think of this as a microscope rather than a macro lens. Results look extraordinary.

Here is a translation of the Impress article on this lens. And here is the manufacturer's page on the Nanoha.

Projected price is 50,000 yen (about US$630).
 

photoSmart42

New member
It'd be a LOT cheaper to simply get a microscope lens and use it instead of this. The photos posted look very, very soft, which IMO defeats the purpose of a macro lens. Interesting concept, though! Wish they'd use a better lens.
 

RichA

New member
This is insane, a new macro lens that goes to 5:1 and has built-in LED illumination. So accurate is the focusing it is paired with a holder to keep the subject at the exact distance required. Think of this as a microscope rather than a macro lens. Results look extraordinary.

Here is a translation of the Impress article on this lens. And here is the manufacturer's page on the Nanoha.

Projected price is 50,000 yen (about US$630).
Problem is, (as can be seen by the images) a good high magnification system for photography costs about $3000 and that's just for the objective and the projection eyepiece. Good images at microscopic levels cost money and all these relatively inexpensive add-ons and USB electronic microscopes are pretty dismal.
 

Tesselator

New member
Umm,

The MP-E 65 does around 5x or 6x and costs about $800.

Most LWD microscope objectives worth using go for $50 ~ $300 the adaptor costs $10. These are objectives from 4X to 20X BTW and include three and four frequency correction (ie. APO & Super APO).

The Olympus 38mm f/2.8 dedicated macro was designed for 1.5x ~ 5.6x macro work and can be had for $300 and less. It's superb in the IQ department too!

Although the Nikkor 105/2.8 only achieves 1:1 (1X) for about $300 or under on it's own adding a $150 auto-bellows will get you superb results up to about 3X.

Likewise with the Minolta (Sony) AF 50mm macro lens. It's got a really nice 1:1 on it's own for $300 (or less) and set on a $150 auto-bellows 4X is still looking very good. And the Minolta colors are very rich! Worth some samples even! Here it is on my GH1 doing 1:1 (1X) hand-held while balancing a parrot on the lens barrel at the same time (really!):




























The last three were without the parrot and closer to 1:2 (0.5X) but were cropped enough to make the screen display appear to be about the same as 1:1.

For 1x to 5x magnification levels there's no need to spend thousands of dollars. It's not till you want 10x to 2000x that you need that kind of money - and even then e-pay has deals that with a little ingenuity and understanding can get you up around 100x for well under $1,000.
 

Shashin

Well-known member
For 1x to 5x magnification levels there's no need to spend thousands of dollars. It's not till you want 10x to 2000x that you need that kind of money - and even then e-pay has deals that with a little ingenuity and understanding can get you up around 100x for well under $1,000.
There are no microscope objectives over 100X--that is the limit to optical microscopy. While you certainly can mount a compound microscope objective on a camera, you are really making a hack--you won't get the stated magnification and without the tube lens you will have field curvature.

The hack may be worth doing for fun, but the results do not replace nor compete with a microscope.
 

Shashin

Well-known member
BTW, Minolta made a very nice macro lens that I believe worked from 1X-5X. That would be a great lens to convert to m4/3.
 

Tesselator

New member
Shashin... I wasn't saying there were objectives of 2000x. I said "It's not till you want 10x to 2000x that you need that kind of money". ;) I have several microscopes that do 2000x. This is easily accomplished with eyepieces and quite common.

On tube lenses, what about the objectives that were created for use without a tube lens? I have 40 or 50 of those myself. You really do get the full magnification they're marked at. I do when I shoot a scale at least. 4x for example shoots a 4.5mm to 5mm on my 18mm sensor. 18/4=4.5 so that's exactly correct. A 10x gets me almost 2mm and 18/10=1.8 so again, that's correct. That's using them at their proper registration distance (tube length) but you can also get more magnification out them (especially the ones marked infinity) by placing them on a bellows or tube which is longer than the tube length. :)

I think I recall a discussion in which it was revealed that objectives designed for a tube lens are extremely inferior because the TL does some corrections and without it ya end up with lots of CA. Also tube lenses exist for cameras - I have a couple - one for Minolta's MD mount and one for Olympus's OM mount. ;)

You can call it a hack if you like but in the same way you can call just about every device made for photography a hack. Flash, extension tubes, filters, mount adapters, even a digital sensor itself is a hack of film. We live in a world of almost nothing but hacks. Cars to hack horses, hacked animals like horses to hack walking, and etc. etc.. The only thing we really need to care about is weather or not it works and how well.

The results for some purposes can actually be much better than a microscope - or even make possible that which is impossible with the limitations of a microscope.

Can you find the model name or a link to that Minolta lens you're talking about? I'd love to check it out!
 
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Shashin

Well-known member
Shashin... I wasn't saying there were objectives of 2000x. I said "It's not till you want 10x to 2000x that you need that kind of money". ;) I have several microscopes that do 2000x. This is easily accomplished with eyepieces and quite common.
I hate to tell you this, but you just got ripped off. The magnification limit for optical microscopy visually is 1,200X. Beyond that you are making the image bigger with no gain in detail. BTW, I run a microscopy imaging lab.

Also, there are two types of magnification. Angular magnification, which describes what you see through a microscope, is the angular size of an object if that object was viewed at ten inches (for binoculars and telescopes, it is infinity). And then there is linear magnification, which is what is used in photography--object size/image size.

I have never known a compound microscope lens never to need a tube lens. I have a bunch of Olympus objectives at home and will see if I can connect them to my m4/3. What adapter are you using?

Here is a link for the Minolta lens (3x-1x--my memory is not what it used to be):

http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/detail.asp?IDLens=199

http://www.network54.com/Forum/151930/message/1124242892/Mini+Review+--+Minolta+3X-1X+Zoom+Macro

Here is an image from the same when I had access to this lens. The blue background is from a geled light box.
 

Tesselator

New member
Wonderful pics, Tesselator. Can we see the parrot sometime?

Keith
Thanks Keith, Sure, here a go:

He's molting right now so a little rough around he edges but...

His name is Cheep Peck Poopula and he's a little over 3 months old hatched from the egg. :)



This or on my shoulder is where he is when we ride.



Taking a bow.



His 24k gold Jesses I made special for him. :)

 

Tesselator

New member
The magnification limit for optical microscopy visually is 1,200X.
So a 100x objective with 20x eyepieces does not compute to 2000x magnification? Hmm, all my university professors need to be corrected. ;)

But it's not important really. The meaning of my post was that in photography, one can get up to 10x magnification with fantastic results for relatively cheap. It's not until you want over 10x that you really need to start using "expensive equipment". And that even then there are deals to be had on such equipment where 10x to (WHATEVER x) can be had very cheaply. I often see good lab grade scopes selling for around $150. Nikon's Labophot & Optiphot, and Olympus's BH and CH variants are both excellent examples of such.

I have 20+ such scopes. And a more recent Nikon Eclipse 80i fully loaded.



Ah, that, right... Thanks for the link man! very appreciated! I've seen them before but never used one. What's your opinion, any good?
 

Shashin

Well-known member
The 80i is a really nice scope. I have one at the lab.

The Minolta is very nice. A mini scope for the field. Working distance is a little tight, but it is also 3X.
 
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