Beware the Shallows

[jedimasterben]

reverse mounting a lens, magnification depends on what length of lens you are reversing. A 18mm wide angle magnifies more than a 50mm when reversed I forget the exact amounts though. For reef photography a reversed wide angle is probably too much magnification anyways plus the working distance sucks and getting light to a fully stopped down aperture is rediculously hard (it's fully stopped down due to the aperture mechanism not being engaged to the camera body. Just to focus you have to hold it open manually so enough light comes in to be able to see the subject at all it's so dim.

 

For a size reference this image was taken on a super tiny moss... focal length was a reversed 18-55mm lens at about 22mm if I remember correctly. The water droplets are about the size of a little plastic pin head.

Sexy. So some sort of reversal jiggabob should be on my shit list lol

 

OMG! I only take pics of my tank, cat, and flowers too!!

 

That's why I spent a ton on my macro lens - for flower pic taking.

[kimberbee]

 

[MikeTR]

Scape is looking better.. for a minute there was contemplating having to drive up there and do it myself.

[hey]

Sexy. So some sort of reversal jiggabob should be on my shit list lol

 

 

that was my first forray into lens reversal I just held the lens on with rubberbands. The kit 18-55 was perfect for it lol. Also, like I said the focusing is stupid difficult and I do believe that was a 30 second exposure lol. A remote would also be on the list if you don't already have one haha.

 

search lord v on flickr, his macro setups and images are perfection.

[jedimasterben]

that was my first forray into lens reversal I just held the lens on with rubberbands. The kit 18-55 was perfect for it lol. Also, like I said the focusing is stupid difficult and I do believe that was a 30 second exposure lol. A remote would also be on the list if you don't already have one haha.

 

search lord v on flickr, his macro setups and images are perfection.

The problem is that I do 99.9% of all photography freehand, so anything over like 1/60 of a second exposure is out of the question lol.

[GHill762]

Ben, I've got a question for you since you run hybrid..

 

if you were adding 2 t5's to a reefbreeders unit, what bulbs would you add? fiji purple/purple plus? some variation of white? actinic?

[jedimasterben]

Ben, I've got a question for you since you run hybrid..

 

if you were adding 2 t5's to a reefbreeders unit, what bulbs would you add? fiji purple/purple plus? some variation of white? actinic?

All depends on what look you prefer. If you like a bit more blue, add Blue Plus, bit more white (or just run your white LEDs down) Coral plus, or their Giesemann equivalents.

[hey]

The problem is that I do 99.9% of all photography freehand, so anything over like 1/60 of a second exposure is out of the question lol.

 

yeh you would need a very nice lens mounted flash to get good results from reversal at handheld speeds. the hotshoe mounted flashes just cast a shadow on the subject from the subject being so close to the lens. overall the 35$ reversing ring isn't too much of a bargain unless you have a mini macro studio set up to work with.

[GHill762]

All depends on what look you prefer. If you like a bit more blue, add Blue Plus, bit more white (or just run your white LEDs down) Coral plus, or their Giesemann equivalents.

I'm thinking one of two routes:

 

1. use t5 as whites and keep led white channel low/off

2. use t5 for purple hue, I always liked having one fiji purple when I ran t5's and I feel that is lacking in the RB fixture

 

is there any benefit in adding actinic to RB fixture? is that going to give any different effect than the royal blue and handful of violets in the fixture?

 

sorry, not trying to clutter up your thread with my questions..

[jedimasterben]

yeh you would need a very nice lens mounted flash to get good results from reversal at handheld speeds. the hotshoe mounted flashes just cast a shadow on the subject from the subject being so close to the lens. overall the 35$ reversing ring isn't too much of a bargain unless you have a mini macro studio set up to work with.

So probably not something i'd get myself into unless I want to get into trouble with the missus

 

I'm thinking one of two routes:

 

1. use t5 as whites and keep led white channel low/off

2. use t5 for purple hue, I always liked having one fiji purple when I ran t5's and I feel that is lacking in the RB fixture

 

is there any benefit in adding actinic to RB fixture? is that going to give any different effect than the royal blue and handful of violets in the fixture?

 

sorry, not trying to clutter up your thread with my questions..

No, I can't see any benefit from adding actinic T5 (as in violet, some misname blue fluorescent as actinic).

 

As for getting a purplish hue, the Purple Plus or Super Purple will do that for you, but can be overbearing. I don't personally like mixing two different bulbs (as you can see the separation if they're spaced out any).

[markalot]

Great pics Ben, but some of them are dark looking at them from my work computer. I had this issue with mine too and I *think* I solved it by removing color profiles from the created image so no "correction" was applied when viewing. I think anyway. Very frustrating issue with color profiles and photos.

[jedimasterben]

Great pics Ben, but some of them are dark looking at them from my work computer. I had this issue with mine too and I *think* I solved it by removing color profiles from the created image so no "correction" was applied when viewing. I think anyway. Very frustrating issue with color profiles and photos.

Most of it seems to occur when I change the RAW files to JPEG, I keep quality full but reduce the long edge to 1024, no other color adjustments come from Light room as far as I know on export, but I should probably look into. Usually just too lazy lol

[Paleoreef103]

True, but I still couldn't get great shots of anything in the tank that is in the back half lol. I also bought a set of extension tubes, let's me get some pretty damned good macro shots. The 12mm focal distance goes down to ~4-6", with the 35mm it brings it down to around 1/2"

 

I like it, doesn't need hardly any light to get sweet shots. I can finally get decent pics of my trigger lol. I haven't run into issues with it being 'too zoomed', but then again I've only taken pics of my tank, cats, and flowers lol

The light thing is huge. More light in = higher shutter speed = crisper movement shots. That's why a 35mm f1.8G is on my lens list. I have a 40mm macro lens which I love (wish I could afford a 60mm or 100 mm though), but I'm thinking a set of extension tubes might also be on my list.

 

Those shots were great by the way!

[jedimasterben]

The light thing is huge. More light in = higher shutter speed = crisper movement shots. That's why a 35mm f1.8G is on my lens list. I have a 40mm macro lens which I love (wish I could afford a 60mm or 100 mm though), but I'm thinking a set of extension tubes might also be on my list.

Those shots were great by the way!

The extension tubes were some of the best $30 I've ever spent (and actually, I don't think I spent that much, but these do have contacts on them so the lens can still talk to the body).

[RollaJase]

Sitting at work, last day before I'm on leave until the 9th Feb, time to catch up on some threads I have been neglecting . Things are looking good Ben, glad to see that you may finally have the upper hand on the Dinos. Love that trigger, such a cool fish, the molly is awesome as well.

[jedimasterben]

Sitting at work, last day before I'm on leave until the 9th Feb, time to catch up on some threads I have been neglecting . Things are looking good Ben, glad to see that you may finally have the upper hand on the Dinos. Love that trigger, such a cool fish, the molly is awesome as well.

Thanks! They're awesome fishies. Gonna call tomorrow about the marine betta that the LFS had. I told them if it's eating frozen, then I'd buy it.

[jedimasterben]

Bad news, one of my 2TB Samsung F4 hard drives (one of the best hard drives ever made to this date) died today. Good news, I was able to swap the PCB with one from a working drive and it started right up. Bad news, a replacement PCB is $40, while a new 4TB HGST drive is $130.

 

Well, at any rate, I have a 2TB external from work that I can use in the mean time until I can get a replacement PCB or drive. The three Samsung HD204UI drives were all made December of 2010 and have been powered on 24/7 since May 2011, so they're right at what I expected them to last. Paid $79 apiece for them then, back before the flooding in Taiwan destroyed most of the HDD factories and the prices skyrocketed overnight. 2TB drives are just now starting to come back under $100.

[jedimasterben]

For those wondering, my old server was an AMD E-350 dual core CPU, 4GB DDR3, and a the three Samsung drives in a Silverstone Sugo SG-05 modded to fit the three hard drives (I used the term 'modded' very loosely there lol). OS was Windows Home Server (OG). Loved it, awesome little OS, just outdated now, really didn't like these Samsung drives.

 

 

 

 

 

The new stuff is an Asrock Q1900-ITX with a Celeron quad core J1900, 4BG DDR3, and was going to use the same drives, along with a 128GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD, but I need to RMA that. Also decided to upgrade the OS to Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials. Boy is there a steep learning curve

 

 

[NorthGaHillbilly]

Nerd.

[jedimasterben]

Nerd.

F U

[Mariaface]

I think my soul just swooned a little. My inner computer scientist is pleased.

[NorthGaHillbilly]

F U

Such hostility... I was just makin an observation broski

[NorthGaHillbilly]

Yo, LED overloard, could one diy the actual leds to run off an apex lunar module?

[jedimasterben]

I think my soul just swooned a little. My inner computer scientist is pleased.

 

I also just figured out why I was unable to remote into the server after installed 2012 R2 Essentials, durrr.

 

Such hostility... I was just makin an observation broski

 

Yo, LED overloard, could one diy the actual leds to run off an apex lunar module?

Probably could, depends on how they power them. If it's a constant current driver, then it's as easy as solder and go, but if it's constant voltage, then it's a little more touchy-feely.

[teenyreef]

For those wondering, my old server was an AMD E-350 dual core CPU, 4GB DDR3, and a the three Samsung drives in a Silverstone Sugo SG-05 modded to fit the three hard drives (I used the term 'modded' very loosely there lol). OS was Windows Home Server (OG). Loved it, awesome little OS, just outdated now, really didn't like these Samsung drives.

I'm still running WHS (the older version!). Probably one of the best products Microsoft ever built until they stopped supporting it. I was thinking about taking the plunge into 2012 over the holiday break but like you said it's gonna be a steep learning curve.

 

Oh, and I've got some of those Samsung drives too. I've got two that are still hanging on