Closeup of a Stylus In A Record Groove

I was challenged by one of my photography students to take a close up shot of the stylus of a cartridge on the groove of the record. Here it is.

The focus is placed on the stylus (not the logo of the cartridge). Lighting was done with an external flash (Nikon SB-800) with oblique lighting using a flash cord. The light was slightly higher than the cartridge and to the left of the turntable.

The lens was a Nikon 60mm f2.8 Micro lens (Nikon calls macro lenses, micro lenses) set at f8.0. The shutter speed was 1/200 second. TTL Flash was used to set the exposure. The camera was a Nikon D850 set at 45.7 MP and shot in RAW and processed in Adobe Lightroom. The close up images are cropped versions of the wider image. The widest image of the record and the tone arm and cartridge was taken with my point and shoot Canon G7xMkII camera.

The images were taken rather quickly. Had I spent more time and adjusted focus and the lighting better, I'm sure the results would have been better.

This is where a high megapixel camera pays off. Close up shooting with even closer cropping of the image.

Not that it matters, but the tracking force of the cartridge was set at 1.7 grams.