Dwight and G. van V.,

Thanks again for the information. These old Lugers really carry a lot of history.

A note on the photography may help someone using dead-simple equipment such as my Kodak DC215:

The early photographs were illuminated with 2 small reflector floodlights left and right (no flash), and a photo close-up lens held in front of the camera lens. I used the close-up mode and set approximate focus distance using the viewing screen. The screen is too crude for fine focus.

For both photo sets I took multiple exposures varying the distance to the subject about 1/8 inch, and selected the sharpest on the computer.


For the extreme close-ups I held a small hand magnifier lens in front of the lens, and built a little reflector system for the flash. The first part is a scrap of aluminum foil pasted to cardboard, and deflects the flash upward so the direct flash does not reach the subject. The second part is a white card to reflect the flash downward toward the subject. My camera is so simple it does not have auto-focus, which probably helps in that the camera is not moving the focus point around. I took care not to block the little light sensor and flash sensor on the front of the camera.

I hope this will help someone who doesn't want to invest in expensive close-up photography gear.

SeattleXYZ

Ingeneous! Great to hear info like this!

Ed