Macro lens help for taking fly pictures?

[flytire 0]

my simple setup.

 

perfectly good enough for posting flies on a bulletin board/forum

 

pentax optio w30 (mounted on tripod)

 

 

post process using free PhotoFiltre7 software

 

 

result

 

[carlp5351 0]

I have a Sony A58 with a used Sigma 55mm macro lens that I bought from ebay fairly inexpensive. This set up works great, but I still grab my Nikon p2100 point and shoot camera more often to take a quick picture. Some of the point and shoot cameras have a great macro feature. Almost to where you don't need a DSLR and a macro lens for fly photography

 

carlp

[Chase Creek 0]

If you want to try out macro photography, but not have to sell the house to buy a good dedicated macro lens, I would suggest picking up a set of non-auto macro extension tubes (usually less than $20), and a reversing ring (cheaper than the tubes) made for your camera lens mount. With non-auto tubes, you lose auto focus and auto exposure, but you shouldn't use auto focus anyway for macro because of the very shallow depth-of-field. There is a way you can actually set the exposure (f-stop) on your lens, but it is kind of a hassle. It's up to you if you want to spend the extra bucks for the auto tubes. The tubes usually come in sets of 3 of varying lengths that connect together, so you can pick how many to use for various magnifications. You can use the tubes and the reversing ring together for really high magnification, like bug photography. The reversing ring simply lets you turn your lens around and attach it to the camera. All electrical connections are lost, so you don't have auto-anything, like the non-auto tubes. I use both of these methods with a 50mm lens, and my 18-55mm kit lens with excellent results, while I save my pennies for a "big boy" macro lens.With the tubes and/or the reversing ring, you don't lose any image quality because neither have any lens elements - you are using only the lens elements in your lens.

Hope that helps.

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

Kimo,

That link worked - thanks.

BCT

[Kimo 0]

Kimo,

That link worked - thanks.

BCT

BCT,

Try a plastic cup instead. It holds up better and you get more diffused.You can always use a "flag"

if you are getting too "hot" of highlights where the detail is blowing out.

 

Kimo

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

Plastic cup? I'd think a plastic cup would deform from heat from the lamp - no? I suppose Styrofoam would too. Maybe placing the lamp far enough away from the cup - vs. near enough for providing enough light - is the balancing act one has to deal with?

 

Is a 'flag' some sort of material between the light source and cup to diffuse the light?

 

BCT

[Kimo 0]

BCT,
Haven't had had any problems melting the plastic cup. I am using the screw in CFL's as well as the ring fluorescent lamp.
Been using the same plastic cup for the last 6 years with no issues.
The lamps are about 5 to 8 inches away from the cup.

Yes, a flag is a card placed between the lamp and the fly. I usually have it sitting on the cup.



Kimo

[Al Beatty 0]

Hi sbr,

 

We use Nikon cameras for our fly pictures similar to this one that's listed on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-micro-Nikkor-55mm-f-3-5-AI-manual-focus-prime-macro-lens-nice-clean-usable-/151510905729?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item2346c0f381

It is manual focus and what's needed if you want to get really great macro fly shots or stack focus shots. These old manual lenses are not expensive but are really sharp for shooting flies. We use a 90mm Tamron auto focus for our field macro lens. The manual Nikon lens stays on one camera on a tripod in the studio with a macro rail like the one listed below:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-way-Macro-Shot-Focusing-Focus-Rail-Slider-for-CANON-NIKON-SONY-Camera-D-SLR-/251265629708?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a80993e0c

This focus rail is not expensive but sure helps keep the fly shots in the middle of the frame. Take care & ...

[deeky 0]

I've got a Canon along with 17-35 and 70-300 lenses. While the crop sensor does help narrow the field of view (not changing the focal length), my bigger issue is minimum focal distance. While the 17-35 can focus in to a matter of a few inches, it is still too wide of an angle of view and the lens gets in the way of good light (without a lens-mounted ring light). I actually do a fair amount of floral macro-esque work with my 70-300, but with a minimum focus distance of just under 5 feet, it isn't quite tight enough for smaller flies (size 10 and down). I have a 100mm macro lens on my list, but at $500, that's not an immediate purchase at that price.

 

All that said, for what I do, I use a point and shoot in macro mode. Set it on a mini tripod and use the timer to avoid any camera shake due to pushing the shutter button. Shut the camera flash off and pay more attention to getting your lighting right.

 

FYI - my avatar was shot handheld with a p&s in macro mode without paying attention to lighting temp. That's a size 18 without any cropping (vertically).

 

That's my suggestion. But being a camera guy, I can totally understand going out and picking up a new lens as well if you can. Same mentality as the multitude of rods, flies, and everything else we carry around.

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

Wonder if I should/can ask this here or if I should post this elsewhere - I have an old Canon AE-1 Program. Does the new Canon bodies accept the old lenses?

apologies if this is inappropriate.

BCT

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Lots of good tips here and I almost wasn't going to add to any of them but here's a tip or two from a guy who's been published in one magazine or other - and none of my gear is high end at all..... Like others I'm using a simple water-proof (alledgedly) Pentax Optio W80 in macro mode. The biggest aids I've found to quality results are a tripod (for anything when I'm looking for good results - a tripod alone will up your results noticeably) and always using a timer so that my hands have no way of interfering with any shot.... For every shot I'm looking for I'll actually do more than a few snaps using different lighting and slightly different angles to get the results I'm looking for.

 

One last item that I've found really useful is a set of craft foam sheets (large size in three millimeter) in a variety of colors. Sometimes just varying the background a bit can give dramatically different results... Here's a pic or two using the setup I've just described... By the way this little camera is the same one that rides with me on every charter so that I can do a few candids each day - for that purpose it's very handy to have neck lanyard long enough to allow you to drop the camera into a pants pocket when things get crazy....

 

[Kimo 0]

Wonder if I should/can ask this here or if I should post this elsewhere - I have an old Canon AE-1 Program. Does the new Canon bodies accept the old lenses?

apologies if this is inappropriate.

BCT

 

BCT,

No they can't. They went to a different model more than 10 years ago because of all of the electronics and to keep the FPS(Frame Per Second) and the USM for auto focus.

 

Kimo

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

You know, I've been 'tinkering' with the idea of trying to get a digital SLR but, man those prices are still up there a bit. Looks like anything over 12 - 16 mega-pixel is a waste for my applications. I've been trying to learn a bit but,. there's soooo much more to learn these days (about the digital capabilities) !!!! Frame rate for the video aspect and bit-rate - I'm still working on trying to understand the difference between them. FPS - video but bit-rate I think its how fast the camera 'writes' or communicates with the processor.

 

I got to get a 'bigger' white cup and cut the back out. I didn't notice that at first Kimo but now I like the idea of changing the background. I've always liked Green on shots I've taken in the past. But this Fugifilm XP70, .... just doesn't have the flexibility.... .... lol

 

 

BCT

[Kimo 0]

Instead of a tripod you might try something like this.



It is just a 3/8" bolt that I cut the head off of. The head is a Manfrotto 3229(234RC) Quick Release
and your standard 3/8" pedestal.
The bolt allows me to make minor height adjustments as does moving the bolt up and down in the pedestal clamp.
The bolt was less than a buck. the pedestal was just collecting dust and the head cost me less than $30.
I use it for my stills and video and is rock solid.

Kimo