Me and my gang was crazy with nightscape with stars since last year but too bad year end is not a good season for stars photography due to weather … so we stop for months and now we are back with full actions where we are thinking, dreaming of stars every moment .. and we also try to plan as much as possible stars chasing outing 😀
I am not sure how could I missed out this topic in my old and new blog …let me add this back to my share…
#### from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extension_tube
An extension tube is an accessory for cameras with interchangeable lenses, used primarily for macro photography. The tube contains no optical elements; its sole purpose is to move the lens farther from the image plane. The farther away the lens is, the closer the focus, the greater the magnification, and also the greater the loss of light (requiring a longer exposure time). Lenses classically focus closer than infinity by moving all optical elements farther from the film or sensor; an extension tube simply imposes this movement.
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other word, it allow us to shoot object closer (so it is bigger) but it do lost infinity focus (mean cannot shoot far) and some light lost ….
the magnification again simple can get by shooting the ruler to see what magnification you have e.g.
if you have crop body 40d, which mean yours sensor size should be 35mm/1.6=21.8mm
at 1:1 your wide of single frame short should occupy by 21.8mm object ……. so add on with ET if your shot is 10.9mm mean u get
21.8/10.9 = 2x magnification 😀
or we can use formula
X/focal length = magnification
Y = X + ET (in mm added)
e.g.
100mm L
X/100 = 1
so X=100
if we add on 12mm + 20mm Kenko ET s0 we will get Y=X + ET = 100+32=132mm
so new magnification should be 132/100 = 1.32x
… there is another thing we may concern is the MFD (minimum focus distance)
it is not easy to make this without the right tool but I think with handhold + some basic tripod we still able to shoot this … I am using Panaroma head , previously I was using Manfrotto 303SPH but very soon I make decision to change to Nodal Ninja due to the flexibility(dissemble to smaller part) & the weight (it is ~4 times lighter)
Compare the competition and avoid falling into the red.
Below are some full spherical panoramic tripod heads that achieve very similar functions. (below prices may not reflect current pricing)
Model
Approx.
Weight
Approx.
Size Closed
Approx.
Retail Price
Nodal Ninja 3 MKII
1lb 1oz.
7″x2″x2″
$209.95
Nodal Ninja 5Lx
1lb 14oz.
8″x3″x2″
$294.95
Manfrotto 303SPH
4lbs 4oz
11x7x6
$517.95
MK Panohead-II
2lbs 4oz
10″x4″
$780.00
Really Right Stuff (no click stops)
2lbs 9oz
12″x6″x4″
$800.00
Kaidan QuickPan Pro
(OUT OF BUSINESS)
4lbs 12oz
12″x5.5″x3″
$849.95
360Precision Adjuste
2lbs 4oz
8.2″x4″x2.2″
$1,175.00
source from http://www.nodalninja.com/
My original plan for this head is to shoot Panorama shot using UWA wide so I can get higher resolution and wider view of my Landscape shots e.g.
1. we need the tool , and for me Nodal Ninja, DSLR and lenses
2. then the only difficult part is to find the entrance pupil/nodal point, a point where it should maintain the center no matter how we rotate our camera
2iv. no matter how we rotate, the 2 stick should maintain at same position
at center
left from center
left from center
right from center
right from center
try to adjust as much as possible to get better result so we can can accurate entrance pupil so all the frame of the picture can stack without any distortion
3. with the correct reading and shoot the series (make sure every pictures have overlap area)
3i. with the software Photoshop or PTGui (pano software) all pictures can be stack together as below
with the reading above then we have the specify len Entrance Pupil which can use to create panorama or 360×180 pano with the setting just shoot with both A & B reading set on the pano head ….
I will keep this update, which mean I will do more pano using this head in near further .. so stay tune ………
and if you use Canon 5dm2
i. SIGMA24mmF1.8
ii. Canon 24105F4L
iii. Canon 1635L m2
iv. Canon 15mm F2.8
and need the entrance pupils … then drop me a message so I can share my reading to you
Me and my gang have a short discussion last week whether should we use the camera Long exposures noise reduction (NR) or not … as it normally produce hot pixel (red dots) after the long exposures shot especially involve a lot of dark area (black, dark grey ….). e.g. show below
Red dots appear … without the Long Exposure (LE) NR turn on camera body
But from my experience the noises and even the red dot can be reduce manually in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) noise reduction function …
here are few pictures capture
1. with LE NR turn on
2. no LE NR turn and no PP
2. no LE NR turn and with ACR NR
simple ACR Noise Reduction
a 100% crop of 3 pictures above
*** all the setting are the same and it look slight different due to the sky turning dark …
Canon 5dm2 + Canon 1635L
# Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 79/1 second ===> 79 second
# Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 11/1 ===> ƒ/11
# ISO Speed Ratings = 200
based on the 3 pictures compare
– picture with LE NR turn on body require double exposure time
– less noise especially the “red dot”/hot pixel
– the one without any NR with more details
– simple NR on non LE NR picture can reduce more noise and all red-dot (hot pixel) disappear. Even less details compare to the LE NR turn on picture. But this sure can be fine tune by some masking the foreground or main object
So if you ask me, is it worth to spend double the time while shooting ? my answer is no while I can reduce the noise in PP … so I will safe more time to shoot and remove the noise later …..
Every macro shot that I shoot, I trying my best to get few focus shot to increase my MACRO picture DOF which previously discuss how I stack it @ How I increase MACRO DOF . Because of that, I always shoot few shots before I stop and while I am shooting I will not leave the insect but keep monitor them… some time, they will so some action which may attract me to capture the action to make it as an animation to show …
Let me share how I make my gif file… there are many software can make that but I use only Photoshop to create the animation gif file …
1. load the file into stack
2. if you doing this with full size it need a lot of memory to work on .. so normally resize before load into single stack. it will align the pictures …
3. crop the main object so all the picture in same size and same location
4. from the left panel (layer) save file by file with the new orientation and size
5. after save all the file , load it again into a stack
6. click on Windows –> Animation
7. from the animation window, choose all the files, or re-order the files. highlight all then choose the time for each picture to appear
8. save as web, choose gif file … then the gif file animation is ready
I am working on 2 pano MACRO shot … and think this is quite important especially for MP-E65 user.. so just have a quick copy and paste over
Why I need to Stitch ? I start stitch my macro due to I have my MPE where only do minimum 1:1 (1x life time) and any object that >22mm will not fit in single picture frame … and how I get the whole object into a single picture …… hmmm I am thinking a stitch it …. and I have my very 1st try while outing to Fraser Hill 21 Nov 2008, where I saw plenty of BIG moth and I cannot fit it into a single picture e.g.
[shot with 1:1] , and this is too big for me and I am thinking how I got the whole moth view .. and I finally did something for a smaller one
[stitch picture]
[picture 2:1]
How I do Stitch ??? 1. for start, how we shoot
We need to shot picture at same level of view so I normally shot at standard angle where esily to shoot another e.g. face direct view, side view …….. e.g.
How I do Stitch ??? 1. for start, how we shoot
We need to shot picture at same level of view so I normally shot at standard angle where esily to shoot another e.g. face direct view, side view …….. e.g.
i. face focus on left eye
ii. focus on right eye
iii. focus on face
2. use Photoshop “Photomerge” option
3. i use “interactive layout”
4. select the file you wish to stitch
5. this will take some time depend how many pictures to stitch and your PC power 😀
– if this is not auto merge then try to move around the picture to try manual to merge the pictures ….
6. click Ok after #5, then it will come out like standard JPEG with multiple layers
7. for the non-cover area, either crop it away or clone it 😀
8. normally I will use multiple shots again to stack the focus area by using method discuss in
