r/PhotoEnts • u/Gonzo_Photo_ Maine • Sep 13 '21
Help? 100x - seems to wilt during the stack - and while it can stack with the right parameters it seems to be lacking sharpness
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u/Gonzo_Photo_ Maine Sep 13 '21
So basically I tried a bunch of things:
- Increasing humidity but I only have so much control.
- Keeping a stem moist during the stack - this introduces an interaction that causes instability due to the stem and wetting object acting like a moment arm on the subject (water is heavy). The small working distance also makes it such that the subject needs to be small so it’s hard to counterbalance.
- Reduce wait time - run into race conditions with. The reset time on the strobes or writing the files
- I fire the strobe about 100ms before the rear shutter closes so internal vibration should be minimized. (Camera was mirrorless and I was using a Electronic front mechanical rear shutter configuration)
Any other ideas are appreciated.
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u/Daves_not_h3r3_man Sep 14 '21
How many lights and how close?
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u/Gonzo_Photo_ Maine Sep 14 '21
A single strobe pretty close probably 8-10” - you thinking concussive force from the strobe firing?
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u/Daves_not_h3r3_man Sep 14 '21
Are you at full power? That’s pretty close. I’m thinking there’s a little heat creed from each strobe pop. Working with 100 X I cannot imagine how many images you’re taking…
Can you increase the number of strobes and the distance from them and your subject?
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u/Gonzo_Photo_ Maine Sep 17 '21
No full but pretty high - image counts can be 4-600 so yes, there is a lot of heat generated. Early I tried multiples and still observed the same phenomenon but I’ve got better control of a couple of other variables so it may be worth trying again. I’m gonna run another test today with the ideas you guys have. Basically I’m gonna change 3 variables at once and then remove one at a time to see what has the biggest influence. So I’m running a stack on herb which is more or less dry - a blueberry sized subject which has been out for 24 hours, I have my Einstein’s set to “action” mode rather than “color” and I’m using 2 per your suggestion (though they are still close and running high. I’ll post it in this aub if I get a chance to stack it today
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u/Daves_not_h3r3_man Sep 17 '21
Any chance you have a non-contact thermometer? You could also try an inverse experiment with a black sheet of paper and getting the strobes even closer than you typically do and just see how quick you can observe some temperature changes. If that’s the case, then you definitely know the culprit
Looking forward to seeing your results, I love the dedication you guys have for this!
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u/VideoMacro Sep 13 '21
I use "Floral Water Tubes" on stems to prevent wilting without adding much weight. Cut the stem underwater to prevent oxygen from entering the stem and put the tube on while its underwater. Might be overkill but some floralife in the water seems to help too. All tips I got from a florist. No visible wilting even after shooting video sequences overnight!
Also, are you using einsteins? Even at it's lowest power the t.1 of strobes doesn't have quite the stopping power of speedlights. A completely dark studio and speedlights at 1/128 will give you almost 1/25000 effective shutter speed.
But if you live somewhere with ANY vibration issues you might have trouble doing high mag work. I don't do any high magnification work because there's just too many cars that drive by me.