Pete Askew
Admin
As a final part of the macro photography series, I wanted to use the same subject to illustrate the use of the 'heavy artillery' of macro photography - the Zeiss Tessovar. Although the units looks like a microscope, it is in fact a macro lens -just on a heavy stand and with a par-focal beam splitter for composing and focusing. There are a number of articles on the mechanics and operation of the Tessovar so I'm just going to provide links to those:
Zeiss Tessovar
The Zeiss Tessovar - a macro legend | Pixiq
Like Mr Harcourt Davies, I use our Tessovar with a digital Nikon camera these days and use live view for the final shot (mine has a Zeiss-made Nikon mount adapter and so is par-focal out-of-the-box). However, I do compose the shot and do the main focusing, adjustment of lighting etc using the periscope. I have just changed from using a D700 to a D3x and this gives a significant boost to image quality. I may be tempted to put a D800E on it when they have been released (and I've seen some reports on them).
This shows the unit in operation (although not in its usual place as we are still waiting for a new bench).
And this illustrates the lens in more detail. You can also see the leads and heads for the tungsten source, fibre optic illuminator being used (Schott) - I have an Elinchrom fibre optic flash unit that is compatible with it also. The large black knob at the back is for focus (it moves the lens nearer or further from the subject) and the silver-coloured knob controls the zoom. Below the main lens are 3 accessory, close-focus lenses that cam be swung into place (in this case the example images were taken either at the lowest magnification or at ca 3/4 zoom - no accessory lenses were employed).
This is a view of the front of the instrument.
So, this is the same subject as used for the illustration of using a copy stand and bellows unit but at higher magnification (but lowest for the Tessovar).
And at about 3/4 zoom without accessory lenses.
Both examples are lit as before from both sides at about 45°. This of course provides uniform lighting but does not always reveal a lot of detail especially where contrast is low (as here). To improve this, lighting angles can be changed, illumination can be done from one side only etc. Alternatively one can employ a technique known as dark-field where the light only reaches the subject and not the background. This Tessovar has the Zeiss dark-field unit and this can be seen in operation, again fed by the Schott fibre optic source, below.
Overview
Front
The way the light is 'fed' to the subject (all around from the side) can be seen in this close-up.
And this is the final effect.
All images were captured using a D3x in live view controlled by Nikon Capture NX2 as RAW files. Corrected for white balance in LR, frame added in PS and sharpened for output in Nik Output Sharpener (50% adaptive sharpening). Shots of the equipment were made with a Ricoh GR Digital III.
Zeiss Tessovar
The Zeiss Tessovar - a macro legend | Pixiq
Like Mr Harcourt Davies, I use our Tessovar with a digital Nikon camera these days and use live view for the final shot (mine has a Zeiss-made Nikon mount adapter and so is par-focal out-of-the-box). However, I do compose the shot and do the main focusing, adjustment of lighting etc using the periscope. I have just changed from using a D700 to a D3x and this gives a significant boost to image quality. I may be tempted to put a D800E on it when they have been released (and I've seen some reports on them).
This shows the unit in operation (although not in its usual place as we are still waiting for a new bench).
And this illustrates the lens in more detail. You can also see the leads and heads for the tungsten source, fibre optic illuminator being used (Schott) - I have an Elinchrom fibre optic flash unit that is compatible with it also. The large black knob at the back is for focus (it moves the lens nearer or further from the subject) and the silver-coloured knob controls the zoom. Below the main lens are 3 accessory, close-focus lenses that cam be swung into place (in this case the example images were taken either at the lowest magnification or at ca 3/4 zoom - no accessory lenses were employed).
This is a view of the front of the instrument.
So, this is the same subject as used for the illustration of using a copy stand and bellows unit but at higher magnification (but lowest for the Tessovar).
And at about 3/4 zoom without accessory lenses.
Both examples are lit as before from both sides at about 45°. This of course provides uniform lighting but does not always reveal a lot of detail especially where contrast is low (as here). To improve this, lighting angles can be changed, illumination can be done from one side only etc. Alternatively one can employ a technique known as dark-field where the light only reaches the subject and not the background. This Tessovar has the Zeiss dark-field unit and this can be seen in operation, again fed by the Schott fibre optic source, below.
Overview
Front
The way the light is 'fed' to the subject (all around from the side) can be seen in this close-up.
And this is the final effect.
All images were captured using a D3x in live view controlled by Nikon Capture NX2 as RAW files. Corrected for white balance in LR, frame added in PS and sharpened for output in Nik Output Sharpener (50% adaptive sharpening). Shots of the equipment were made with a Ricoh GR Digital III.
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