Hopper eye

It was about a year ago that I started noticing extra sensors on insects, particularly the large hoppers, which all seemed to have a sore in the middle of their face. After seeing this a few times, I started thinking that there was more to it, but I didn't follow up.

It turned out that this sore was actually the forward of the group of three simple eyes (ocelli) that I have been wittering on about for the last week during this 'eye' series.

Today's blip is a macro of the side of a hoppers head. You can plainly see the compound eye with its thousands of facets. But just in front of the compound eye and behind the antenna, you can see what looks like a pussy spot that needs squeezing, this is one of the three simple eyes (ocelli).

Further to yesterday's shield bug blip, it appears that most shield bugs and other similar bugs only have two of the three ocelli. I could not find any authoritative text to confirm or explain this anomaly, so you will have to take my word.

Since acquiring the macro lens, I have been mulling over a couple of hardware projects. I mentioned some time ago, the idea of a studio macro light box for dealing with the smaller insects. Also, lately I have been thinking about a screw driven rack to facilitate layering, which is the next step in macro photography.

I started working on a design that combines these two ideas, a one piece combined screw rack and fully adjustable table. Both the camera and the table can be tilted through 90 degrees, allowing photography from any angle.

I decided to go for a manual screw rather than mess around with electronics. Steps of 0.1mm will be possible but I am thinking 0.5mm steps is more than enough.

Yes, such hardware is already on the market, but with a price tag of hundreds of dollars that I simply cannot afford. My construction is mostly woodwork, with a few steel rods and bearings. I estimate the materials bill to be about $10 and a couple of days work.

I am calling the design - the MakRak.

Also on the drawing board is a miniaturized version that will fit the tripod, for field work.

After an all nighter, the design is almost complete, so before building, I really need to find a free software package that can handle the processing. Discussion and suggestions welcome.

Dave