Macro Photo thread
Discussion
In Alnwick Gardens today - great fun and loads of bees 
Bombus lapidarius worker by Mike Smith, on Flickr
Bombus lapidarius worker by Mike Smith, on Flickr
I really need to get my Macro back out and take some more pics.
How are some of you getting so much DoF? I seem to only get approx 1mm-2mm at best, some of these pics look like there must be around 5mm DoF in them?
I'm using a Sony Alpha A77 with a Sony 30mm Macro Lense. Will it make things better (and easier) if I were to change to a 100mm lense??
How are some of you getting so much DoF? I seem to only get approx 1mm-2mm at best, some of these pics look like there must be around 5mm DoF in them?
I'm using a Sony Alpha A77 with a Sony 30mm Macro Lense. Will it make things better (and easier) if I were to change to a 100mm lense??
IvanSTi said:
I really need to get my Macro back out and take some more pics.
How are some of you getting so much DoF? I seem to only get approx 1mm-2mm at best, some of these pics look like there must be around 5mm DoF in them?
I'm using a Sony Alpha A77 with a Sony 30mm Macro Lense. Will it make things better (and easier) if I were to change to a 100mm lense??
Well I used the MPE-65 for the last few up there and there's not a lot of dof there either believe me! I usually shoot at around f11-f16 depending on light and this helps a bit - what aperture do you usually shoot at?How are some of you getting so much DoF? I seem to only get approx 1mm-2mm at best, some of these pics look like there must be around 5mm DoF in them?
I'm using a Sony Alpha A77 with a Sony 30mm Macro Lense. Will it make things better (and easier) if I were to change to a 100mm lense??
Not sure a longer lens will help the dof much - you'll likely get a bit more working distance which will help though. You could try dofmaster to check though
DibblyDobbler said:
IvanSTi said:
I really need to get my Macro back out and take some more pics.
How are some of you getting so much DoF? I seem to only get approx 1mm-2mm at best, some of these pics look like there must be around 5mm DoF in them?
I'm using a Sony Alpha A77 with a Sony 30mm Macro Lense. Will it make things better (and easier) if I were to change to a 100mm lense??
Well I used the MPE-65 for the last few up there and there's not a lot of dof there either believe me! I usually shoot at around f11-f16 depending on light and this helps a bit - what aperture do you usually shoot at?How are some of you getting so much DoF? I seem to only get approx 1mm-2mm at best, some of these pics look like there must be around 5mm DoF in them?
I'm using a Sony Alpha A77 with a Sony 30mm Macro Lense. Will it make things better (and easier) if I were to change to a 100mm lense??
Not sure a longer lens will help the dof much - you'll likely get a bit more working distance which will help though. You could try dofmaster to check though
I think I may invest in a 100/130mm lens as it's quite difficult getting a huge camera to within an inch of a fly, have to use extreme stealth, patients and stalker instincts
One for my fellow macro shooters - I am happy enough with the last few (as above) but what a bl**dy palaver getting them! Lugging around big heavy camera + lens + enormous twin flash + diffusers etc etc. Also it occurs to me I shot them all at around 1x mag.
So ... am I wasting my time with the MPE + associated other paraphernalia? Quite fancy something a bit more portable - any thoughts?
TIA for any advice/comments
So ... am I wasting my time with the MPE + associated other paraphernalia? Quite fancy something a bit more portable - any thoughts?
TIA for any advice/comments
DibblyDobbler said:
One for my fellow macro shooters - I am happy enough with the last few (as above) but what a bl**dy palaver getting them! Lugging around big heavy camera + lens + enormous twin flash + diffusers etc etc. Also it occurs to me I shot them all at around 1x mag.
So ... am I wasting my time with the MPE + associated other paraphernalia? Quite fancy something a bit more portable - any thoughts?
TIA for any advice/comments
Might be interesting to consider whether something like a 5Ds R would offer enough resolution and crop, with the right lens, to achieve much the same image standard but from a greater distance and allowing you to eliminate the special flash lighting requirement.So ... am I wasting my time with the MPE + associated other paraphernalia? Quite fancy something a bit more portable - any thoughts?
TIA for any advice/comments
The downside would be, as I recall, that they have not been set up to offer stellar low light performance and some aspects of the superb macro shots you produce may be lacking if the lighting is compromised somewhat and cannot be pulled back in PP.
How close you could get and still feel the results are up to the standards you have come to expect is difficult to guess.
Good excuse for a new shiny thing though.
LongQ said:
Might be interesting to consider whether something like a 5Ds R would offer enough resolution and crop, with the right lens, to achieve much the same image standard but from a greater distance and allowing you to eliminate the special flash lighting requirement.
The downside would be, as I recall, that they have not been set up to offer stellar low light performance and some aspects of the superb macro shots you produce may be lacking if the lighting is compromised somewhat and cannot be pulled back in PP.
How close you could get and still feel the results are up to the standards you have come to expect is difficult to guess.
Good excuse for a new shiny thing though.
It's funny you should mention that as I was looking at the Sony A7II - looks very impressive and would in theory let me get down to one body rather than two (100D + 6D). The downside would be, as I recall, that they have not been set up to offer stellar low light performance and some aspects of the superb macro shots you produce may be lacking if the lighting is compromised somewhat and cannot be pulled back in PP.
How close you could get and still feel the results are up to the standards you have come to expect is difficult to guess.
Good excuse for a new shiny thing though.
On the macro side though it really boils down to whether an MPE is worth the faff if I'm shooting mostly at 1:1 which could be achieved with a 100mm or some such and with a much simpler and cheaper lighting rig....
DibblyDobbler said:
LongQ said:
Might be interesting to consider whether something like a 5Ds R would offer enough resolution and crop, with the right lens, to achieve much the same image standard but from a greater distance and allowing you to eliminate the special flash lighting requirement.
The downside would be, as I recall, that they have not been set up to offer stellar low light performance and some aspects of the superb macro shots you produce may be lacking if the lighting is compromised somewhat and cannot be pulled back in PP.
How close you could get and still feel the results are up to the standards you have come to expect is difficult to guess.
Good excuse for a new shiny thing though.
It's funny you should mention that as I was looking at the Sony A7II - looks very impressive and would in theory let me get down to one body rather than two (100D + 6D). The downside would be, as I recall, that they have not been set up to offer stellar low light performance and some aspects of the superb macro shots you produce may be lacking if the lighting is compromised somewhat and cannot be pulled back in PP.
How close you could get and still feel the results are up to the standards you have come to expect is difficult to guess.
Good excuse for a new shiny thing though.
On the macro side though it really boils down to whether an MPE is worth the faff if I'm shooting mostly at 1:1 which could be achieved with a 100mm or some such and with a much simpler and cheaper lighting rig....
However I do like to work with 2 cameras (sometimes more ....) partly for convenience when opportunities arise and partly to avoid constant lens changing.
Recently that has meant the Samyang 14mm on a 600D (yep, not so wide on the crop but very sharp and no fancy body required for a manual lens) and something longer on a 1D3.
I suspect there is no real substitute for what the MPE CAN do when asked. But if you don't feel the need to go there often ... hmm.
LongQ said:
DibblyDobbler said:
LongQ said:
Might be interesting to consider whether something like a 5Ds R would offer enough resolution and crop, with the right lens, to achieve much the same image standard but from a greater distance and allowing you to eliminate the special flash lighting requirement.
The downside would be, as I recall, that they have not been set up to offer stellar low light performance and some aspects of the superb macro shots you produce may be lacking if the lighting is compromised somewhat and cannot be pulled back in PP.
How close you could get and still feel the results are up to the standards you have come to expect is difficult to guess.
Good excuse for a new shiny thing though.
It's funny you should mention that as I was looking at the Sony A7II - looks very impressive and would in theory let me get down to one body rather than two (100D + 6D). The downside would be, as I recall, that they have not been set up to offer stellar low light performance and some aspects of the superb macro shots you produce may be lacking if the lighting is compromised somewhat and cannot be pulled back in PP.
How close you could get and still feel the results are up to the standards you have come to expect is difficult to guess.
Good excuse for a new shiny thing though.
On the macro side though it really boils down to whether an MPE is worth the faff if I'm shooting mostly at 1:1 which could be achieved with a 100mm or some such and with a much simpler and cheaper lighting rig....
However I do like to work with 2 cameras (sometimes more ....) partly for convenience when opportunities arise and partly to avoid constant lens changing.
Recently that has meant the Samyang 14mm on a 600D (yep, not so wide on the crop but very sharp and no fancy body required for a manual lens) and something longer on a 1D3.
I suspect there is no real substitute for what the MPE CAN do when asked. But if you don't feel the need to go there often ... hmm.
Will report back in due course...
DibblyDobbler said:
LongQ said:
DibblyDobbler said:
LongQ said:
Might be interesting to consider whether something like a 5Ds R would offer enough resolution and crop, with the right lens, to achieve much the same image standard but from a greater distance and allowing you to eliminate the special flash lighting requirement.
The downside would be, as I recall, that they have not been set up to offer stellar low light performance and some aspects of the superb macro shots you produce may be lacking if the lighting is compromised somewhat and cannot be pulled back in PP.
How close you could get and still feel the results are up to the standards you have come to expect is difficult to guess.
Good excuse for a new shiny thing though.
It's funny you should mention that as I was looking at the Sony A7II - looks very impressive and would in theory let me get down to one body rather than two (100D + 6D). The downside would be, as I recall, that they have not been set up to offer stellar low light performance and some aspects of the superb macro shots you produce may be lacking if the lighting is compromised somewhat and cannot be pulled back in PP.
How close you could get and still feel the results are up to the standards you have come to expect is difficult to guess.
Good excuse for a new shiny thing though.
On the macro side though it really boils down to whether an MPE is worth the faff if I'm shooting mostly at 1:1 which could be achieved with a 100mm or some such and with a much simpler and cheaper lighting rig....
However I do like to work with 2 cameras (sometimes more ....) partly for convenience when opportunities arise and partly to avoid constant lens changing.
Recently that has meant the Samyang 14mm on a 600D (yep, not so wide on the crop but very sharp and no fancy body required for a manual lens) and something longer on a 1D3.
I suspect there is no real substitute for what the MPE CAN do when asked. But if you don't feel the need to go there often ... hmm.
Will report back in due course...
Will the pop-up flash light reach the subject without the lens getting in the way?
A couple from the garden
tatty skipper by Nigel, on Flickr
honey bee on lavender 3 by Nigel, on Flickr
tatty skipper by Nigel, on Flickrhoney bee on lavender 3 by Nigel, on FlickrRight - a semi scientific test as I had a cooperative bug in my flat this afternoon!
First the Raynox on my Tammy 16-300 (best of about 20 attempts)
Tamron 16-300 with Raynox 150 by Mike Smith, on Flickr
Next the same shot with the MPE - ironically I only got 1 attempt as the short working distance frightened off the fly...
MPE-65 by Mike Smith, on Flickr
So a good effort by the superzoom + Raynox combination but really a clear win for the MPE (as you would expect I guess).
LQ - the pop up flash was impeded by the lens at shorter working distance but ok at longer. In any event the light was crap so both of the above were taken with my MT24-ex with custom diffusers.
Not sure where to go next - maybe nowhere and stick with what I have, maybe a Venus 60mm... hmm...
First the Raynox on my Tammy 16-300 (best of about 20 attempts)
Tamron 16-300 with Raynox 150 by Mike Smith, on Flickr
Next the same shot with the MPE - ironically I only got 1 attempt as the short working distance frightened off the fly...
MPE-65 by Mike Smith, on Flickr
So a good effort by the superzoom + Raynox combination but really a clear win for the MPE (as you would expect I guess).
LQ - the pop up flash was impeded by the lens at shorter working distance but ok at longer. In any event the light was crap so both of the above were taken with my MT24-ex with custom diffusers.
Not sure where to go next - maybe nowhere and stick with what I have, maybe a Venus 60mm... hmm...
Choice of lens is tough, I think you have to decided what you want to do that day and go with the best you have. You have to be in a mind set to use the MPE and be prepared to miss some shoots. I've found that I've reverted to using the 100mm with tubes as it provides more flexibility than the MPE while walking around. Might be nice to have some other lenses in the MPE range something over 100mm maybe.
Ladybird by David Arnold, on Flickr
Emerald Damselfly by David Arnold, on Flickr
Emerald Damselfly by David Arnold, on Flickr
Ladybird by David Arnold, on Flickr
Emerald Damselfly by David Arnold, on Flickr
Emerald Damselfly by David Arnold, on Flickr
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