Futileness is Irresistible
...Said everyone's favourite Borg Seven of Nine after smoking some... No, no, not what you think ;) But this semi-translucent, lavender-coloured fluorite, which consists of many cubic shaped crystals with many #corners, has always reminded me of a Borg cube. Albeit a rather psychedelic, flower power, rock'n'roll-type of Borg cube, because the way the cubic crystals are shaped and arranged also conveys a certain kind of cheerful chaos. And lavender also definitely isn't your typical Borg colour. Which makes this a peace and love hippie Borg cube :)
Explored January 10, 2022
Photographed with the M.Zuiko 30mm F3.5 macro lens, the 60mm's little brother. Unlike the 60mm, which is a "true" macro lens with a 1:1 magnification, the 30mm gives you a magnification of 1,25 (2,5 in the MFT world). The fantastic Laowa 50mm Ultra Macro lens offers even more magnification (Goodbye extension tubes!), and it's still on my list, but Olympus – or rather OM System, as the company is called now – had a lens promotion, so I was able to get this already very affordable lens literally dirt-cheap, so I went for it. It's not a pro lens like the 60mm, it's all plastic, no weather sealing etc., but it supports the in-camera focus stacking function, and together with the 16mm extension tube and the Raynox DCR-250 close-up lens (which I've both used for this shot) it's only as long as the 60mm without any extensions. And last, but not least, the image quality is excellent, too. Of course it won't replace my trusty 60mm, but it's a great addititon to it with its extra magnification (and the length of this technical description gives away that I still had to justify the purchase for myself, because Santa had already brought me another new lens). The minimum focusing distance is a mere 14 cm (5,51 inches) which means that you can get really close to your photographic subject, and with extension tubes and close-up lens mounted that focusing distance shrinks considerably once again. In fact, for this image I was so close that the Raynox close-up lens actually touched the upper part of the fluorite. Soft light from above prevented shading from the lens (to which it is prone also without extensions due to the super short focusing distance). OK, enough tech talk, more info on the programmes used for post processing is in the tags ;)
P.S. Thank you wolli s for the tip to slightly oil the subject after dusting it to keep it lint-free, it works!
Happy Macro Monday, Everyone, have a nice week ahead, and stay safe!
I'll catch up with you tonight!
Futileness is Irresistible
...Said everyone's favourite Borg Seven of Nine after smoking some... No, no, not what you think ;) But this semi-translucent, lavender-coloured fluorite, which consists of many cubic shaped crystals with many #corners, has always reminded me of a Borg cube. Albeit a rather psychedelic, flower power, rock'n'roll-type of Borg cube, because the way the cubic crystals are shaped and arranged also conveys a certain kind of cheerful chaos. And lavender also definitely isn't your typical Borg colour. Which makes this a peace and love hippie Borg cube :)
Explored January 10, 2022
Photographed with the M.Zuiko 30mm F3.5 macro lens, the 60mm's little brother. Unlike the 60mm, which is a "true" macro lens with a 1:1 magnification, the 30mm gives you a magnification of 1,25 (2,5 in the MFT world). The fantastic Laowa 50mm Ultra Macro lens offers even more magnification (Goodbye extension tubes!), and it's still on my list, but Olympus – or rather OM System, as the company is called now – had a lens promotion, so I was able to get this already very affordable lens literally dirt-cheap, so I went for it. It's not a pro lens like the 60mm, it's all plastic, no weather sealing etc., but it supports the in-camera focus stacking function, and together with the 16mm extension tube and the Raynox DCR-250 close-up lens (which I've both used for this shot) it's only as long as the 60mm without any extensions. And last, but not least, the image quality is excellent, too. Of course it won't replace my trusty 60mm, but it's a great addititon to it with its extra magnification (and the length of this technical description gives away that I still had to justify the purchase for myself, because Santa had already brought me another new lens). The minimum focusing distance is a mere 14 cm (5,51 inches) which means that you can get really close to your photographic subject, and with extension tubes and close-up lens mounted that focusing distance shrinks considerably once again. In fact, for this image I was so close that the Raynox close-up lens actually touched the upper part of the fluorite. Soft light from above prevented shading from the lens (to which it is prone also without extensions due to the super short focusing distance). OK, enough tech talk, more info on the programmes used for post processing is in the tags ;)
P.S. Thank you wolli s for the tip to slightly oil the subject after dusting it to keep it lint-free, it works!
Happy Macro Monday, Everyone, have a nice week ahead, and stay safe!
I'll catch up with you tonight!