… in my world, there is Photography, Astronomy, Electronics, Software Engineering, 3d printing and much more
With perfect weather conditions, there is nothing better than colorful foliage. Here are some impressions of Leopoldsteinersee in Austria at later afternoon and in moonlight…
Just two days before Christmas, the sun went down on a mostly sunny afternoon. I did not expect the colors to be that intense. But here you go! A photographic Christmas present 🙂
High detail macros of pepper grains. Very interresting, what may be achieved with tele phot lenses and macro lenses
A friend of mine asked for high resolution images of pure gold. So I tried to push my camera setup to the extremes for stacked macros. Image width is approximately 20mm!
I was challenged by the need of more thermal power of one of my propane torches to melt higher quantities of metal. Furthermore, I needed to modify the characteristics of the flame, to have a neutral flame to perfectly balance the available oxigen levels as well as carbon levels around molten metal.
The first change was quite straight forward: To increase the possible thermal output of the torch, higher volume of gas has to pass through the nozzle. My nozzle had a 0.5mm hole for the gas to exit. So enlarging the size by drilling a 0.55mm hole was – apart from the rather delicate work – not so much of an issue.
The second change required to modify the air flow. My nozzles generated a somewhat carburizing flame. Therefore the available oxigen was a bit too low. When higher amounts of air may be sucked in by the gas travelling through the nozzle, the flame gets more reduzing. So I opened the air holes by small amounts from each test to the next, until my desired flame characteristics was met…
It has been a bit more than 6 years since I could see the total solar eclipse in Austria (11th August 1999), when I found an advert for an eclipse trip to Turkey for March 2006. The amateur astronomers from Viennese Astro-Station-Conrad organized this tour, where more than 300 enthusiasts and eclipsophiles participated and travelled to a hotel near Side. The holiday resort at the mediterranean sea was perfectly placed in the path of totality.
Since I first saw prominences through a telescope with hydrogen (H-alpha) filter, and results from the 1999 eclipse were mediocre (I only had a tripod and manual trigger), my dream was to capture prominences during the eclipse. For good results, a tracking mount is required. I onyl had a shaky EQ2 mount, which is built for telescopes with up to 4 kg. My initial plan was to use 2 cameras. Though I could further borrow a third camera as well as another mirror lens.
But how to mount these three cameras? I could not find a base supporting 3 cameras – especially none suitable to attach to the EQ2. I came up with an aluminium frame and pipe clamps from the hardware store. The contraption is definitely unconventional. The total weight put on the EQ2 is also way above the specified limits. Luckily, there were no major issues. Only the little motor struggled from time to time to keep the gear coupling.
The setup:
Here are a few macros of insects shot in the past. Most of them were taken in Croatia on the islands of Losinj, Cres and Krk
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