The Objective Lens Hood

Another week is upon us, and this is going to be another busy one. I am going to get right into  the meat of this week’s post and will put all the invitations and scheduling announcements at the end of this article. That is partly because I need to get all this stuff out of my head before it explodes and partly because I want you to read this first part. And why is that? It is because it falls in the category of “one of those things somebody should have told me about when I was little, but didn’t”, and it pertains to optics.

Under the civic center - Mobile, AL

Optics is a scientific discipline, sort of. It concerns itself with the behavior of a relatively narrow band of electromagnetic wavelengths and could, in some circumstances, be confused with some sort of physics. The reality is less clear. Let us say, for the moment, that you want to understand the inner workings of your Nikon D850. You would unquestionably be in a better position to grasp the arcane mechanisms of the mirror assembly, or the instantaneous precision of the autofocus firmware, if you were the holder of a doctorate-level degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or both. But to understand optics at a correspondingly advanced level, you should know several good card tricks, have read most of Douglas Adams, get right at least half the answers to the London Times’ Cryptic Crossword every day, and be willing to concede that Flat Earthers may be onto something. An advanced degree may come in handy from time to time, but isn’t mandatory.

A lighthouse in winter

On that basis, I consider myself 75%-qualified to talk, in vague generalities, about the use of microscope objective lens hoods in macro photography. I have decided to wade into this treacherous quagmire of quasi-optical speculation, random approximation, and dubious formulae, for one sole reason - because I have just spent three days trying to figure out the truth of objective lens hoods and misery loves company.

20X hood in action

If you are a macro photographer and fortunate enough to find yourself the owner-operator of a 3D printing machine, then you have already, or soon will, attempt to print a lens hood for a microscope objective. You will do this because you heard someone like me extolling the virtues of such an accessory, while tossing out terms like, “off-axis light”. “Cone of acceptance”, and “numeric aperture. In all likelihood you will design your lens hood lot look pretty similar to ones you have seen on YouTube, and give little or no thought to trivial considerations like, “how big should the hole be?” Or “how long should I make this thing?”. I know this because that is how I came up with my last ten hood designs.

5-100X

But this time it was different. I was asked by a friend to print up a full set of Mitutoyo M-Plan objective hoods, a matched set for the 5x, 10x, 20x, 50x, and 100x apochromats. I am usually asked to make a hood for a single objective, usually a 5x or 10x, and under those circumstances my “that looks about right” approach to hood design seemed sufficient. This was a different matter and it got me thinking about the physical characteristics of a properly designed hood.

5X prototype

What, for example, is the purpose of an objective hood? The hood is used to prevent light that is not needed to form the image of our subject from entering the lens. The idea is to block ANY light that doesn’t belong in the optical train and therefor does not contribute to the photograph, from entering the lens, while also ensuring that NONE of the light that does form the image is prevented from doing so, Why? When this off-axis light does make it into the lens it will bounce around, willy-nilly, eventually interfering with the light that forms  the image and and diluting its contrast to leave a soft and slightly blurry picture at the sensor.

It should not take a Feynman-sized leap to appreciate that designing a system that is described by a term like, “just enough to cause A, without causing B”, requires that we find the precise coordinates at which these conditions are met. We should begin, then, by identifying and defining our goals and I would propose three:

1. To create an obstruction to the passage of all off-axis light

2. To ensure that #1 does not impinge on any “image light”, while also ensuring that

3. There is sufficient physical space to properly light the subject.

20X with no hood

Examining these basic ideas we can quickly see that the factors influencing the ideal size and accurate positioning of the hole in the lens hood include the Numeric Aperture (NA), which defines the “cone of acceptance” and the size and position of the hood’s opening in relation to the lens and the subject.

No lens hood with axial lighting

When we are in “object space” (in front of the lens), a vignette forms when the material of the lens hood protrudes into the acceptance cone of light. The cone is defined by the NA of the objective. Assuming we are working in an air environment, we can further assume that the index of refraction, n is 1.0. The half angle of the light cone can be expressed:

ϴ = arcsin (NA)

The distance between the front element of the objective and the subject  is known as the working distance and this can be further subdivided into the distance between objective and lens hood aperture (the Standoff - or s) and distance from the hood opening and the subject, the Clearance, or c.. At distance “s” from the front of the lens, the radius of the marginal rays can be expressed:

Image Radius (r) = s x TAN(ϴ)

And from that we can determine the minimum size of the opening in the lens hood, at that plane, and we can write that as follows:

Diameter of opening (d) = 2 x s x TAN(ϴ)

It is recommended that we add a margin of 1.0mm to allow for any manufacturing or assembly inaccuracies, which we call “m”, making the formula:

D = 2 x s x TAN(ϴ) + m

As you can see, we need to decide on a value for “c” if we are to calculate the value for “s”. “C” is the amount of linear space you need to be able to light the subject. This is obviously a subjective matter, but I can tell you what I use for oblique lighting:

At 5X, c = 20mm

At 10X, c = 15mm

At 20X, c = 10mm

At 50X, c = 5mm, and

At 100X, c = 3mm

Now if we do all the math, this what we get:

mitutoyo hood dimensions

And that, in  a nutshell, is all you need to know to make a perfect set of lens hoods for your Mitutoyo… almost.

Other design considerations include the following:

1. make sure the “lip” of each hood sits right at “s” to preserve space for lighting

2. Keep wall thickness down to 1.5mm if possible - the wider the OD of the hood, the more light it will tend to block

3. Carefully flock the inside surfaces and use sprayed-on ultra black paint if you prefer

4. It is very hard to print an edge sharp enough to really avoid reflected light from the flat edge of the hood, so I print the hood aperture a little thicker and use gentle hand-sanding to reduce it to a knife-edge

5. Add a few internal baffles by making annular grooves 0.33mm deep and 0.6mm apart

6. Use only cool LEDs to prevent melting your hood.

7. Remember that your printed hoods will contract a tiny amount, so plan for this by increasing the diameter of the hood barrel by 0.2mm before adding a slip-fit tolerance - print test rings to make sure you have the size dialed in before printing a whole run of hoods.

early prototype with thick lipped aperture

Some other cool stuff I am working on include adding tiny magnets to the barrel of the hood, allowing for a looser fit, while holding the hood firmly on a vertical rig, and some other printing materials for “tighter” prints and a sharper annulus edge. I am also trying diffusers attached to the hood barrel for a compact and flexible final diffusion layer.

A final word of caution - if you ever use water/glycerine as a subject medium, be sure to recompute your ϴ as it will change with the new value for n.

One thing that really surprised me, though it should not have, was that the shape of each hood was significantly different at each iteration, and the size of the annulus seemed to be unrelated to any other variable and changed, it seemed, randomly with each new hood. This is, of course, because of the subjective assignment of Standoff to Clearance ratios at each NA. I have tested the hood for which I own an objective. Which is to say, you will need to do your own 50X and 100X evaluations (or lend me yours for the testing).

So there you have it - not only do you know how to make the perfect lens hood for any objective, but you also know why. And if that’s not worth a spirited “Bob’s yer uncle!”, then nothing is!

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Shall we take a look at what is in the works for the coming week? Tuesday kicks things off with an 8PM Macro Talk on YouTube, where the topic will be Macro Video. This is something I am getting more and more excited about and I want to tall you about what I have been up to in the realm of video and suggest a few things you might want to try to get a taste of this exciting discipline. https://youtube.com/live/ylenxujEDMI?feature=share

On Thursday at 2pm, Macro Talk Too will consider the Pause Paradox and how taking a break can be just the ticket for restoring our passion for, and reenergizing our progress in, macro photography. We have talked about this before, but in todays stream I am taking a very different approach and will suggest some very specific alternatives to macro photography that I have found to be particularly helpful as pathways to to improving your macro photography while, at the same time, taking a well earned break from it. These recommendations are going to surprise you! https://youtube.com/live/7YAGg5dnn8s?feature=share

On Saturday, at 10AM I will be meeting for two hours with my friends and supporters over on Patreon. I do this Zoom call (we call it a Pzoom) twice in the month  (and sometimes three times in the same month!) and it is a time for you to have my undivided attention for whatever you would like to do.

No two Pzoom meetings are the same - sometimes we will have a special guest but usually it is just us and we spend the time talking about photography, and anything else that needs our attention. I really enjoy this face to face meetings, where I get to hear what you have to say. My Patreon Supporters share their triumphs and their challenges, show off their incredible macro rigs, present their favorite images, all while picking up great tips and pointers from their fellow enthusiasts. It is a great opportunity to meet and get to know other talented people, discover new corners of closeup photography, give me welcomed feedback about our group and about the channel, and just relax around friends. I do these meetings as one of the ways I say thank you to the people who support my work. This channel and everything I do here could not exist without this wonderful group of women and men whose monthly contributions keep the doors open and the lights on. If you would like to  become part of the inner circle, please visit www.Patreon.com/allanwallsphotography to find out how.

Another one of my favorite things to do at the weekend is to hang out with my friends over at the Tangent - another Zoom get together where we talk about the thrilling world of 3D modeling and printing. A lot of our discussion focuses on how to use the awesome Fusion 360 CAD/CAM software to take ideas that exist only in our imaginations and turn them into real, working tools for our photographic adventures. If you have ever thought, “I wish someone would invent a thing that could do this for for me!”, then you owe it to yourself to join Tangent (Larry Strunk) and me, as we take you on a journey of discovery aboard HMS Fusion 360. It does not cost a penny and you don’t need to have a 3D printer to get a ton of useful information from the discussion. This all happens at 12:30 until 2:00pm, this Saturday. Your invitation is here… Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Allan Walls’ Tangent with Larry Strunk

Time: Sep 27, 2025 12:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

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A word (another word is more accurate) about microscope conversions and crystal viewers - I know that I am overdue in getting price lists to those of you who have enquired about purchasing one of these tools, and I do apologize for that, but I have been having a very hard time finding moments in which I am not working on active channel projects, or maintaining my aging infrastructure, or doing any of the  countless tasks that come with running a YouTube channel (even a very small one). But I am making progress and have the documents in review right now. As soon as they are ready to go I will publish them and send them to those who have made their interest known to me. One reason for the delay is that I am also using this opportunity to change a few long-standing practices here at the channel, and all that takes time. Please hang tight - it won’t be much longer.

And finally, one of those tasks that has kept me away for writing policy and price list documents has been preparing a video for release this week. In just a couple of days I will be publishing the incredible presentation made during last week’s Pzoom meeting by friend of the channel, Lester Lefkowitz, where he talks about Lightroom and his system for foolproof file management, and about a hundred other things - all pure Lester! It was a long and hugely entertaining meeting and I am going to share every moment of the event with you this week - you can expect to see the video released by Wednesday! Don’t miss it.

I had better get in high gear if all of this will be ready to go on schedule over the coming week. I hope to see you there!

Allan

LESTER, HDR, & TELLING TALES

Greetings everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed a restful weekend. Fall’ish weather fell on Middle Earth this weekend and it was quite spectacular. I took advantage of the relatively light weekend schedule to catch up on my rest for what is looking like a very heavy week of livestreams and other activities. Most of what we have on the schedule has been driven by viewer requests, for which I am always most grateful. We will be covering a lot of new ground this week, something I always look forward to. I am also kicking off a new programming initiative - one that is both seriously overdue and promises to be a major improvement for the channel. But before I explain what will be happening, let’s talk about the week ahead.

On Tuesday, in our first livestream of the week, Macro Talk will focus on HDR (High Dynamic Range) in macro photography. I can almost guarantee that you will find this conversation interesting and surprising. I am shocked to see that this is a topic I have never discussed in this forum previously. We start at 8pm and will wrap up at 9pm. We will be looking at at the various types of HDR imaging and I will be armed with some good examples to help make my points. I will also work in a demo of how to process these images. Your link to the livestream is right here - https://youtube.com/live/OPBCsMbEjvY?feature=share

On Thursday, in Macro Talk Too, I will be talking about the art of storytelling through photography, though my comments and examples will address macro photography almost exclusively. This a topic that I am very passionate about and one which, when mastered, holds the key to a new level of macro magic. Through examples I will take you through the process of injecting narrative and meaning into your field and studio work. We get started at 2pm and wrap up at 3pm. Want to win some competitions? Don’t miss this one! https://youtube.com/live/ablNRggHm3k?feature=share

On Friday we will be kicking off our new live event, Crystal Art, with the first episode that we will later release as a YouTube video. This is a group of macro photographers who, like me, became captivated by the creative possibilities found in birefringence photography. This new group is all about creating crystals of all kinds and turning them into head-turning art. It is designed (by Harold Hall and your’s truly) to be an interactive discussion group, though each month we will set aside a little time for a brief didactic section where we will look at one specific topic. This week I will be presenting a discussion around the pros and cons of using”wave plates” or retarders with cross polarization - I expect many of you to be surprised by what I have to say. However, that is not the reason (or not the whole reason!) for you to spend an hour or two with Harold and I on a Friday afternoon.

──────────
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The key attraction this week is going to be a guided tour of the amazing new Crystal Art Data base. Designed and created by Zeno and Mike Olsen, with guidance and support from my co-host Harold Hall, is the most comprehensive and fascinating resource for crystal photography that I have ever seen. During this session Harold, Mike or Zeno will show you where to find and how to use the database in your photography. I urge you to go over to the data base,  you can use this link to get there, and spend a little time exploring the awesome work that Zeno, Mike, and Harold have done to create this set of documents. This data base will benefit the entire community, no matter how much or how little experience you might have. I am not going to say anything further about this fantastic resource until Friday so take a look, be amazed, and make a note of any questions you have for our Crystal Creation Curators on Friday at 2pm, Central Time.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement for one week, the very next day My Patreon Supporters will be meeting, face to face, with our favorite New York macro photographer and author, our esteemed macro educator and friend, Lester Lefkowitz! That’s right - this Saturday at 10am until noon, we will be hosting Lester for a very special Pzoom episode. Lester will be talking about his method for file management in Lightroom Classic. This should be very useful as well as hugely entertaining. If you are a Patreon member and have no plans, please join us on Saturday. If you are not a Patreon member, please join Patreon  (https://www.patreon.com/allanwallsphotography) and join us on Saturday. And if you have plans, please cancel them and join us on Saturday. I think that just about covers it! Oh, and the invitation is in the blog post I have not yet written, also over on Patreon. See you there.

“So, is that everything?”, I hear you thinking. “Of course not”, I was getting ready to reply - but then I looked at the calendar and realized that this is NOT the second Pzoom meeting of the month. It is actually the first, our last get-together being on the 30th of August. Which means no Tangent on Saturday, which is something of a relief as I was not prepared for it. So that means we really are at the end of the schedule for this week.

But there are a couple of other things I need to make you aware of. Firstly the AfterStack video is now up on YouTube. In Episode 30 we talked about black and white macro photography. It was a lively and interesting discussion with a lot of helpful new information. You can watch the video by following this link to my channel - https://youtu.be/W8yEtllRikI

The last bit of business I have concerns AfterStack 31, which happens in two weeks time on September 27, 2025. In this episode we are going have our popular post-production show and tell feature. I will be putting 3 RAW, untouched  images in a file called “Allan’s Edits” over on Google Drive. You may access the full sized files over there. The link is here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xmrOCyrJXaxKi1mrQLKzgZoUY7PJ7OXG?usp=sharing

I have posted them now so that you will have plenty of time to edit the images before AfterStack 31, at which time we will compare our edits and discuss what we did and why. There are no rules - you can do whatever you want with these images, maybe even make them look presentable. They are not good pictures, for a reason. If there were really good then we wouldn’t need to edit them. But they aren’t, so we do. Not only will you be editing them but so will Bud and I. I’m not sure why I volunteered for this, but I have two long weeks to regret doing so. Oh boy.

Just in case you think I am getting off light this week, I am not. My Camera Club meets this Wednesday and I need to come up with something interesting to show. Then I have to actually complete the photography and post production so that I can have something that I am not embarrassed to show to a roomful of innovative and famous macro masters. Am I a glutton for punishment, or what? I have about half a dozen lessons this week and am teaching a workshop on studio lighting on Friday. In my spare time this week I also need to start doing the preparations for a dinner that I am hosting on Saturday. While I consider myself to be an above average cook, I have to admit to being a well below average magician. Somehow cramming ten hours of shopping and cooking into the 10 minutes that I have free this week is definitely going to take at least some magic.

Changing direction, I want to tell you about something I am working on…

I’ve been thinking about how to get a little more out of the work I put into these livestreams. They usually run about an hour, with close to fifty minutes of solid, structured content — three or four main ideas that stand on their own. Up until now, the whole thing has gone up as a replay, which is fine, but not always the easiest way to revisit a specific point.

So here’s the plan. From now on, after each stream I’ll be editing those key sections into short, standalone videos. That way, if you’re looking for one particular tip or technique, you won’t have to scrub through an hour to find it. And for people who are new to the channel, these shorter videos will be easier to discover — and who knows, maybe they’ll bring more folks into our community.

For you, the change is all upside. The livestreams will stay exactly the same, and you’ll simply get a steady flow of extra, tightly-focused videos alongside them. Beyond that, I don’t plan any other adjustments until I see how this works out.

And just so it’s clear: my mission hasn’t changed. I’m here to share good, honest content — something useful, something entertaining — with the goal of helping you become the very best close-up or macro photographer you can be.

Thanks for sticking with me, and I’ll see you soon.

— Allan

A New Diffuser, Photographing Coins, & Catching Snakes

Hi everyone!

Even though I won’t be talking about this in either of this week’s streams, I want to show you something that I invented this weekend - a new and improved diffusion framework that fixes all of the problems of the last iteration. I will show you the device and the Fusion360 model right after these program notes.

Last week was an important week for the channel as Thursday's Macro Talk Too was the 300th livestream I have done since I started doing two streams a week. There were a few occasional streams before that, including a couple of months with only a single weekly stream, so the number is closer to 320 - either way, it is a lot.

Last week I asked you to give me some feedback on the current livestream programming and I am probably going to be tweaking the  weekly schedule ever so slightly to accommodate  your requests. A huge thanks to Alasdair for providing me with a summary of the feedback from both meetings! I will let you know as soon as I decide on a course forward.

Any changes will begin upon my return to the studio following a short upcoming break, in the first week of August.  I will be leaving on Wednesday, July 23 and returning a little over a week later on August 2nd. I will still be here for this week’s Pzoom meeting, on the 19th of July, but I will not be back in time for the Pzoom following that on August 2nd.

In summary - I will be out from July 23 through August 2, 2025, during which time I will not be hosting my usual weekly programming.

Saturday’s AfterStack, episode 27 - a fascinating discussion of the new Depth Map Blur feature in Photoshop, was a big success. - here is the YouTube link to the video - https://youtu.be/waw52kfVOJgt

There is yet another new spinoff live event, starting in August. It is called “Chemical Art”. The program will be a guided discussion on Birefringent Crystal Photography, at 2PM central time on the second Friday of the month. Our first meeting will be at 2PM on Friday August 8th, 2025 - here is the link to the inaugural meeting -

Topic: Allan Walls’ Chemical Art #1

Time: Aug 8, 2025 02:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

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My Co-host for this series of live events is none other than our own Harold Hall and I am very much looking forward to a lively and visually exciting discussion of all things crystal related. Hope you will be able to join us. Stay tuned for more details!

As for the coming week, I have a couple of interesting talks planned:

Tuesday July 15, 2025 - Macro Talk - “My approach to the photography of reptiles and amphibians in the wild” - a topic that will hopefully be useful to anyone struggling with this month’s competition. Here is your link - https://youtube.com/live/MfIXwPp1-Pw?feature=share

Thursday, July 17, 2025 (2PM) - Macro Talk Too - “Numismatography 101” the first in a series of discussions about coin photography.  Note that “Numismatography” is not really a word, though it should be (I just made it up a few a minutes ago). Here is your link to that stream - https://youtube.com/live/jJXlp2s-IlY?feature=share

This month’s photography competition, “Reptiles and Amphibians” is going to be guest judged by the talented and delightful British frog photographer (she is British, not the frogs), Angi Wallace - always a popular guest and a very accomplished photography judge. I can’t wait to have her back for such an interesting theme!

Those of you who have watched some of Kelly Bosch’s incredible AI-based video content and are patiently waiting for me to release the interview, please remain patient! I have missed Kelly twice over the last few weeks. Her dog had been in surgery during our first meeting and we rescheduled for the following Thursday. This time it was Kelly who was in the hospital. We are looking at times for another crack at the interview, but I just don’t know if I will have time to fit it in before leaving on my trip. I will keep you posted.

Lester is back! I have asked Lester Lefkowitz to join our Pzoom meeting on September 13 to talk with us about his Lightroom Organization Workflow. He tells me it is a superb system that all but guarantees  you will never lose another image again. I don’t believe that for one second - I will continue to lose images in some of the most creative ways possible. Anyway, I will record this section of our meeting for wider distribution at a later date.

I think that is all the announcements that I have for now, so let’s get to the new diffusion frame.

Diffuser housing in section

This new iteration of a frame that is flexible, versatile, scaleable, sturdy, inexpensive, positionable, and with much less interference when lighting from below, came to me while trying to improve on the last version, which I found a little cumbersome and restrictive.

This version consists of a slim, vertically oriented body with a female 1/4” 20tpi socket in the base - making it universally mountable. It is made up of three sections which lock into one another around 2-pairs of flexible arms terminating in a pair of alligator clips. For stability the arms are 90º out of phase and lock rigidly into the body when it is tightened from below.

The base of the assembled frame with Small Rig miniclamp attached

The frame minus the arms

Opening and closing the arm-holder body is accomplished by means of a hidden 3mm bolt that can only be accessed by placing an Allen key through the brass insert in the base. This hides the structural components while holding them captive and preventing misalignment of the parts when changing arms. The lower arm set are almost 9” long and allow for a larger external diffuser sheet to be held further out from the specimen while allowing the user to modify its exact position with ease. The upper arms are only 4” long, keeping the inner diffusion layer much closer to the subject and guaranteeing excellent separation of the diffusers (velum or mylar).

The top section with a bass shaft standing in for the specimen holder

The specimen holder replaces the brass shaft in the drawing and can be a mini ball head, and alligator clamp or any other pin holder that works for you. I am waiting on a smaller set of bendy arms to replace the heavy duty ones shown in the fusion model, though the drawings do give you the basic idea, I think.

As soon as I have a couple of working prototypes to demonstrate I will do so. After that I will probably manufacture a limited number of the devices for sale, and may also release the G-code for anyone wanting to make their own.

exploded view of the device

If you are interested in getting one of these cool gadgets, let me know via a message in the Walls-app - I will let you know the price as soon as I figure out the cost of the parts - which will be about the same time that I demo the thing.

The colors are just for show - the device is black

That is it for this week! See you in a stream!

Allan

Competition Time!

Greetings everyone - I hope your week is off to a good start. I have been a busy chap and thought I would use the blog post this week to give you an update on stuff that is currently in the pipeline. This is the July 4th week, with the holiday (in the US) on Friday. While this may lead to  a number of sunburns and about the same number of hangovers, it will have exactly no effect on this week’a programming - in fact, I have several extra activities to be taking care of at the end of this week. One of these is my rescheduled interview with Kelly Boesch. We had to cancel the planned meeting on Thursday but have it on the book for July 3rd. I am going to give you a couple of additional links to my favorite Kelly Boesch releases from the last few weeks. Be sure to send over any questions you would like me to ask her during the interview. I was planning to take a minute to explain what an artist like Kelly does and why it is so difficult to attain the skills she has in such abundance, but on further reflection I decided that this is exactly why I invited her to share her story with us in the first place - to educate us on how she makes this amazing art. So that is what I am going to do - let her tell you herself.

But in the meantime here is a piece she did on aging… https://youtu.be/28z0mAxIDQw?si=yeIhBlmyrTPduOyO.    It is absolutely beautiful and, having tried my hand at some of this stuff over the years, absolutely impossible. It is a real mystery to me how Kelly is able to give her imaginary characters such powerfully emotive expressions while still feeling authentically human. Well, I plan to find that out on Thursday!

Another of her videos to watch is “Kids with AI Monsters” https://youtu.be/K8CY3OXaQ-w?si=CQxXndPUdfpVw4fp - brilliantly imagined and beautifully realized                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

I thought it was about time I worked on some content for our newer friends and decided that thisTuesday in Macro Talk I would do a section on the nuts and bolts of successful focus stacking. It will be basic but extensive, with a lot of useful information for seasoned stackers as well. I will do the whole thing as a start to finish demo. That is Tuesday, July 1, at 8pm. Here is your link … https://youtube.com/live/ur5Hxkq7iVY?feature=share

Thursday will be an unusual competition results program, during which I will go through all the images submitted to the June wild card macro competition. What makes it a big deal is that Cindi, my AI assistant, will also be judging this contest but I will not look at her results before we both see them during the program on Thursday. The aim is to find out how well she learned from studying the video recordings of all our prior contests. Now, my results are the only ones that will count for the official scoring, but we will take a close look at how Cindi arrived her scores and rankings. I will also give a brief report on how the process was completed and any problems that I might have run into. Here is your link for the program …https://youtube.com/live/FHtVil6KNRg?feature=share

And while we are at it, here is the competition theme for the month of July, 2025 - “Reptiles & Amphibians” - back to our usual handicapping rule - only one entry allowed from previous winners, two from everyone else. Your subject may be shot in the wild, or in captivity. The subject’s overall size is not an issue as long as your photograph is at 1:2 (one half life-size) or more - so on a full frame sensor you could get the entire animal in the frame if it is about 2.5 inches long. But most reptiles and amphibians are longer/larger than that as adults, so for a larger subject you will need to choose the body part you want to make the subject of your image (a snake’s head, the back of a tree frog, the tail of a spotted salamander).

A word of caution - if you are not very familiar with the snake species in your area, do not try to handle snakes. The vast majority of venomous species in the US are pit vipers, named for the large sensory cell-packed , pit-like depression in front of the eye and used for thermal imaging. These include several species of rattlesnakes (eastern diamondback, timber or canebrake, and various pygmy species), cottonmouths, and copperheads, For completeness I should also mention that the coral snake, a very venomous reptile, can rarely be found in the Deep South, and should not be handled by a non-professional). All snakes will, potentially, bite when handled but most are very tolerant of humans that don’t frighten them with sudden moves.

Your best bet is do not pick up any snake that you cannot readily and accurately identify as a venomous species And if you are not absolutely certain the snake you have found is safe to be bitten by, leave it along. If you aren’t comfortable around these lovely creatures, take a longer lens, 200-300mm and take your pictures from a respectable distance. If you want to see just how much fun “herping” can be, check out this YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@NKFherping - it may help you find a cool subject, or just inspire you to give it a shot, either way, he is a lot of fun to watch and the channel is full of reliable information about reptiles and amphibians across North America. Highly recommended viewing!

Pzoom is on Saturday at 10am and it will be a full morning, with introductions, updates, and lots of other stuff to talk about.

Your link and invitation is over on Patreon, in my latest post (should be out within 24 hours). I also have an exciting announcement for my Patreon supporters. Hope you can make it on Saturday.

I try not to talk about this unless it is absolutely necessary, but the channel is having a lean spell, with a few folks leaving Patreon and my affiliate payments dropping sharply. I don’t know if this is because they have reduced the fees or because fewer purchases are being made, but either way, income is down, expenses are up, and there is nothing in reserve. I have been planning to sell some merchandise through my website, but it appears that the costs of doing this (like getting a company to stock and mail the shirts and other items) would actually be higher than any profit I might have made. I really want to do this, even if it costs me, but right now I don’t have what it would cost to get the shirts made. Without going into all the gory details, I could sure use your help. The best way you can help is by joining Patreon and supporting my work through that platform. If that doesn’t work, you can always make a donation through the web site (https://www.allanwallsphotography.com/donations), or via PayPal - Every little bit helps and would be hugely appreciated! Thank you!

the size of a quarter, a newly minted slider

Lester Lefkowitz will be joining us on September 13th, in our Pzoom meeting to talk about his Lightroom organization strategy - something I don’t need to miss.

That’s it for this week! Hope to see out there!

PS… I don’t think that anyone got the riddle from last week’s post - the pictures were of a canine testes and the appendage of a bumble bee - or the “Dog’s Bol*ocks” and “Bees Knees”, both slang terms for a person, place, or thing that is clearly of above average quality. Another slang term with the same meaning might be “the cat’s pyjamas”. an example of where any of these three might be used would be… “Did you see that English macro guy’s livestream on Tuesday!? It was the bees knees!”.

Now you know…

The Best Macro Camera Body

Not All Macro Cameras Are Created Equal: A New Way to Score the Gear That Matters

If you've been around macro photography circles for any length of time, you've probably heard the eternal question: "What’s the best camera for macro?" It’s a question that inspires a lot of heated debate, some questionable recommendations, and far too many conversations about megapixels.

The awesome X2D 100C

But here’s the problem: most of those answers are either hopelessly vague ("just get a full-frame") or obsessively specific in a way that doesn’t help beginners. Even worse, they almost never distinguish between studio macro and field macro, which are as different as pipettes and pitchforks.

Another stunner - the sony a9

So I decided to do something about it.

One of the things I love about macro photography is the bright line separating field macro from studio macro. They really are very different pursuits that require very different skills. So is it remotely surprising that there are different equipment requirements? Of course not! In the past I have reviewed equipment for the field and studio gear separately, but that was a problem because there is quite a bit of overlap. So this is what I decided to do…
Evaluate all the popular cameras using a standard set of strictly objective criteria, with no review results or other subjective input. Then I would weight the criteria based on the relevance of that criteria to either field or studio macro.

Studio and Field: Two Different Worlds

In the studio, you control everything: light, temperature, background, and above all — motion. A typical setup might involve a camera mounted to a precision rail, connected to a computer, shooting dozens (or hundreds) of images for a stacked composite.

Out in the field, it’s you against the elements. You’re often working handheld, chasing skittish insects in variable light, sweating through weather-sealed gloves while trying to find a frog that doesn’t mind posing.

And yet, camera reviews keep treating these as the same use case.

The very capable X-T5 from fujifil

So I Built a Weighted Scoring Matrix

This week, I started assembling a completely transparent, objective scoring system for macro camera bodies. It evaluates cameras based on manufacturer specs only (no personal impressions or brand hype), and it treats studio and field macro as separate use cases.

The OM-!

The system uses a 0–10 score for each feature, then applies a weight, as noted above, depending on how important that feature is in a given context.

And here is the scoring matrix I came up with:

The weighted camera soring matrix

You can see how some features matter intensely in one environment and almost not at all in the other. And others are important in both. In this table I have listed the actual weights that I assigned for each:

This is an early iteration of the matrix

Canon’s amazin R5 mkII

The Cameras

You have already seen some of the cameras, but here is a list of all the models I included, along with base price and and links to both B&H and Amazon:

Every model gets two scores: one for studio macro, one for field macro.

The individual scores were computed based on the presence and quality of each of the features mentioned earlier. The scores were then modified based on the weighted values of those features, in the specific use case being evaluated. The scores were then tallied and placed in oder of the final tally

The K-1 mk II from Pentax

What’s Next

In today’s livestream I am going to share with you all the results from this fascinating experiment, some of which will surprise you, some of which won’t. But you won’t know unless you show up - here is your link - https://youtube.com/live/mOODxDG_IQ8?feature=share

In Thursday’s livestream (https://youtube.com/live/qyGxP1tvMYc?feature=share) , I’ll be revealing:

1. The full ranking of cameras based on this scoring system

2. Lens recommendations (including some non-camera lenses you may not expect!)

3. My ultimate rig buildouts for the top 3 studio and field systems

Each system will be complete — camera, lens, rail, lighting, accessories. I’ll share images of the rigs and shopping links for those who want to follow along.

Why This Matters

This isn’t about proving which brand is best. It’s about choosing the right tool for your kind of macro work. Field photographers need weather sealing and stabilization. Studio shooters need resolution and control. No one needs marketing nonsense.

I hope this model helps you think more clearly about your own gear choices — and maybe challenges a few assumptions along the way.

Other Stuff you need to know about

Saturday is AfterStack 25 and I do hope you will be able to make it. We are going to have a little fun this weekend.

I am asking everyone who wants to come to  be prepared to tell us all about your favorite tool or niftiest trick in Photoshop. Surprise us! What do you do that nobody else has been smart enough to figure out? This is your chance to flash your chops and amaze the room with your deft handing of the pen tool (you get the idea). And bring a photo to  demonstrate your nifty moves on. The most interesting and unusual tip/tool/technique will win something. Probably not a car or a Hasselblad, but something cool anyway. Your invitation to the party is here -

Allan Walls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: AfterStack 25

Time: Jun 14, 2025 10:00 AM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6916802815?pwd=TS9tZi9ZL1NXeVUvOUF4eTg5YjdlZz09&omn=84313183886

Meeting ID: 691 680 2815

Passcode: 678122

OK gang - that’s it for this week! Congratulations to the winners of last month’s stereo contest! The video is out whenever you want to watch it!

See you Thursday.

-- Allan