Macro photography of our decals

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To see how precise our decals are I decided to purchase components to make up a macro-photography system. Using my existing Nikon D7000 camera I purchased the following:

  • Nikon PB-6 macro extension bellows.
  • Xenon flash tube based ring-light. A far more powerful system than the LED versions being sold. This allows for a very short exposure time and small aperture and therefore less chance of camera shake affecting the image and a also providing a reasonable depth of field. Being a ring light fitted around the lens it gives a shadowless light and it allows for TLL (through the lens) metering for a perfect exposure.
  • A Cullinon macro photography bar to fit my tripod. This permits the camera to look vertically onto the subject.
  • A Nikon 100mm f2.8 manual prime lens. This gives a reasonable separation between the camera and subject.
Macro photography system used by Custom Model Decals
Macro photography used by Custom Model Decals

So now I can easily check and record the quality of our decals in high-resolution. Just like these shown below:

H0e hopper wagon showing
H0e hopper wagon decals showing 0.5mm high text by Custom Model Decals
16mm scale Ffestiniog Railway Colonel Stephens First Class door plate waterslide decal by Custom Model Decals
16mm scale Ffestiniog Railway Colonel Stephens First Class door plate waterslide decal by Custom Model Decals
0.5mm wide black-yellow-white lining with 1.5mm radius curves by Custom Model Decals
0.5mm wide black-yellow-white lining with 1.5mm radius curves by Custom Model Decals