Quick review of the Nikon E-Plan 4x Objective

rmpsrpms

I just published a quick review of the Nikon E-Plan 4x objective over on the Photomacrography forum. I think this objective is an excellent alternative to the Nikon M5 recommended for the <$400 Setup recommended on the Coin Community Forum, and is available now on eBay for <$40 from multiple sellers. Check out my review:

https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=45481

jesbroken

Address not useable. Says Not Found.
Jim

rmpsrpms

Fixed, hopefully. Please try it again...

LanceNewmanOCC

ok worked for me.

i would make some technical comments but you covered them pretty well in the post.

so a person kinda has a choice to make with MS objectives, center clarity where the edges are blurry or a whole image that has micro blur (perhaps fixable in post-op) but get more in the field of view.

nice work. as usual

170kb for one of those images is just FANTASTIC!

rmpsrpms

This E-Plan 4 is actually pretty sharp across the whole APS-C field. Here is the APS-C size image, downsized to 3000x2000, though not sure how it will post on the forum:

LanceNewmanOCC

@rmpsrpms said:
This E-Plan 4 is actually pretty sharp across the whole APS-C field. Here is the APS-C size image, downsized to 3000x2000, though not sure how it will post on the forum:

ya, i was looking at that image(s) where you did the black box covering the in-focus parts of the image with the yellow/white (iirc) colored boxes with text noting about what was going on. very simple and straight-forward to convey what all the technical stuff and jargon was for. imo

i remember when you helped me get my objective and tubes etc for the d90. i was VERY appreciative because though i didn't give a professional effort, the images were staggering and the whole thing (at that time) was imo, VERY affordable for the results. it would simply crush digital microscopes that i saw the results from but to be fair, while the objective/tubes etc were affordable, they were connected to a price dslr which kinda (more at that time) put it out of reach for anyone w/o a dslr or similar.

the image you posted above being 2100x1400 or so is 1mb and 1mb for a close-up is some SERIOUS bang-for-your-buck, visually speaking.

rmpsrpms

I saved the first images at "2" quality level to keep the size down. Sort of used to doing that for other forums, but here you don't need to. The image above was saved at "10", so much larger. It's still downsized by 50% though.

It's a pretty impressive objective for $36, though you're right the camera taking the images was pretty expensive. The camera I usually recommend folks buy is the Canon Rebel XS, which is 10MP (3888x2592), which seems kinda small but most images posted on the forums are not super big. The one posted above (if you open in new window, then zoom-in) is about 6MP. Nice thing is that the XS can be had on used market for <$100. It's one of the first Canon DSLRs to have Live View that can be tethered to a computer, and also has electronic shutter to eliminate all vibrations. Plus the tethering software is free and works great. Bottom line you don't need to spend all that much to get a DSLR that can produce world-class images with the right optics.

rmpsrpms

I just updated the post on the photomacrography forum to include images taken with the Nikon E Plan 10 that came with the E Plan 4 on Nikon Labophot-2 microscopes. Spoiler alert...the 10x does not cover Full Frame sensors but looks great on the smaller APS-C sensors that most folks use...

https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=45481

LanceNewmanOCC

it is just my personal taste, i like the e plan 10 by far.

have you ever 3d imaged countefeits?

those 3d renderings REALLLLLLY slow the edges of devices and what you'd expect from metal flow lines to look like w/o having a 30-40x loupe to be able to see them.

leroy van allen used the edge of devices "die slide marks" or whatever he called them to help weed out the majority of fakes and it helped with some other things too.

nwcoast

Thank you for sharing.
Your macro photography is outstanding!
Very impressive indeed!

rmpsrpms

@LanceNewmanOCC said:

have you ever 3d imaged countefeits?

those 3d renderings REALLLLLLY slow the edges of devices and what you'd expect from metal flow lines to look like w/o having a 30-40x loupe to be able to see them.

leroy van allen used the edge of devices "die slide marks" or whatever he called them to help weed out the majority of fakes and it helped with some other things too.

I've had several folks approach me regarding counterfeit detection. This technique should give a nice view of the interface between the field and any added devices like mintmarks.

For folks who have not looked over on the linked page, this is what the flow lines look like in even more detail, see below. Brand new dies striking VEDS coins have a very sharp and distinct edge between the field and devices. I should probably shoot some VEDS coins to show this characteristic...