Author Topic: Macro experiments  (Read 14021 times)

Re: Macro experiments
Reply #15 on: April 29, 2013, 21:54:28 PM
Nice pics Zpyder,

If you want to get even closer, a 50mm prime mounted backwards on the front of your macro lens can work wonders

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #16 on: April 30, 2013, 20:44:52 PM
I tried that once, a while back. I was impressed with how close I could get, not so much the DOF. Also wasn't too keen on exposing that end of the lens to the elements and then connecting it to my camera body when I needed it in a normal context.

Plus, it took a nosedive a few months ago when my tripod wasn't totally fixed securely. Lens took the fall and is now in pieces. Shame that the 50's cost about the same as the photographic insurance excess :(

Re: Macro experiments
Reply #17 on: May 01, 2013, 13:23:18 PM
Plus, it took a nosedive a few months ago when my tripod wasn't totally fixed securely. Lens took the fall and is now in pieces. Shame that the 50's cost about the same as the photographic insurance excess :(

Might have been asked/answered in another thread but who do you use for insurance and how much is it?

Reason being I'm after some later this year when I'm probably going to be going on holiday to Sorrento with my parents and think it might be an idea to get some insurance, rather worried in case someone tries to mug me or something never mind dropping and breaking things.

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #18 on: May 01, 2013, 13:43:39 PM
I used AUA:

http://www.aua-insurance.com/photographer-insurance.shtm

Always a very prompt service. I had insurance with them for two years but have since let it lapse. In that time I added and amended the policy a fair bit as I bought or sold lenses etc. Would usually get a reply within 24 hours with a revised quote and any difference to pay etc.

For £4500-5000 of equipment the policy cost around £170 I think. This covered all the kit from theft AND accidental damage, also had something like either £1 or 5 million public liability cover, as well as trips out of the UK up to 90 days. Excess was I think either £50 or £75.

I do feel a little "exposed" now I don't have insurance. When I had it I was more than happy to take my kit to work, to the beach, out at night etc. But currently it's a concern in my mind that if anything did happen, I'll never be able to replace the equipment. If/when we go travelling this summer I'll likely take out insurance again, though I might look into home insurance options that could cover it.

Re: Macro experiments
Reply #19 on: May 01, 2013, 13:59:06 PM
I used AUA:

http://www.aua-insurance.com/photographer-insurance.shtm

Always a very prompt service. I had insurance with them for two years but have since let it lapse. In that time I added and amended the policy a fair bit as I bought or sold lenses etc. Would usually get a reply within 24 hours with a revised quote and any difference to pay etc.

For £4500-5000 of equipment the policy cost around £170 I think. This covered all the kit from theft AND accidental damage, also had something like either £1 or 5 million public liability cover, as well as trips out of the UK up to 90 days. Excess was I think either £50 or £75.

I do feel a little "exposed" now I don't have insurance. When I had it I was more than happy to take my kit to work, to the beach, out at night etc. But currently it's a concern in my mind that if anything did happen, I'll never be able to replace the equipment. If/when we go travelling this summer I'll likely take out insurance again, though I might look into home insurance options that could cover it.

I shall have a read through their site, thanks for the info.

Normally I'm happy enough to take it out and about without insurance, not too worried about being mugged over here especially when carrying a tripod that'll double as a rather good mace but I won't be taking it away with me (probably get myself a gorilapod) but when I think that I'm carrying £2-2.5k in my back pack it does leave me a little worried at times.

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #20 on: May 01, 2013, 16:08:57 PM
Tbh my main reasons for insurance were:

Accidental damage
Leaving it in a car/non-mug theft
Getting mugged
Public insurance

In that order.

It was nice to know that when stopping at a service station, I could leave the camera covered in the boot and if anything happened it would be ok. Before then I would always carry it with me. Also meant at gigs and things I didn't need to worry about getting knocked/dropped etc.

Swapping from non-business to business class though makes the premium go from £170 to about £260. Thanks for the prompt, deffo something I need to look into more too. Let me know what you find, maybe start a new insurance thread :D

Re: Macro experiments
Reply #21 on: May 18, 2013, 11:24:16 AM
I tried that once, a while back. I was impressed with how close I could get, not so much the DOF. Also wasn't too keen on exposing that end of the lens to the elements and then connecting it to my camera body when I needed it in a normal context.

Plus, it took a nosedive a few months ago when my tripod wasn't totally fixed securely. Lens took the fall and is now in pieces. Shame that the 50's cost about the same as the photographic insurance excess :(

All legitimate concerns, which is why for this purpose I use an old M series 50mm F2, picked up for pennys on Ebay. Since you're not using the bayonet mount you can just pick up whatever old mechanical 50mm you can get for the lowest price. The Pentax M series F2 is a good choice because it's optically good and the K mount aperture control system is such that the apperture ring will work as expected. Also they were the kit lens of their time so they are almost litterally two a penny.

As an asside, I've also successfully done this on a video camera before now. Macro video is awesome fun (although I only ever used it For Science)
Last Edit: May 18, 2013, 11:27:24 AM by Mongoose #187;

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #22 on: May 18, 2013, 12:20:35 PM
Dream kit now:

Stackshot focus rail
http://www.cognisys-inc.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=141

Canon mp-e 65mm 1-5x mag lens
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-MP-E-65mm-1-5x-Macro-Lens-Review.aspx

Can safely say after combining the 100mm macro with the 250D closeup filter, I've been bitten by the "how close can i get"  bug.

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #23 on: May 18, 2013, 13:52:14 PM
The 60 led ones aren't flashes. They're macro ring lights.

Nothing like as good for macro photography as a proper £400 ring flash. I have one its good but not amazing.

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #24 on: May 18, 2013, 13:56:40 PM
wow that's a serious piece of kit, I bet they don't come cheap!

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #25 on: May 18, 2013, 23:44:29 PM
I figure budgeting for about £1500 for the mp-e lens and some form of focus rail would be a safe bet. The lens is about £750, focus rails start at about £30 and then like most things just get silly. I don't necessarily need the stackshot, just need something that isn't manual. As I use helicon remote there are a few motorised rails that are compatible. More control options = more money.

Thankfully Given the nature of focus stacking, it also means I can do away with the ring flashes, as my subjects don't move.

I just need to figure out a plan of action to get the dream kit that doesn't involve winning the lottery. Considering approaching a few local natural history societies about grants. They usually have money for projects, maybe they would be interested in helping fund the equipment if it meant they got high resolution images of their entomology collections out of it,  or something.


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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #26 on: May 20, 2013, 19:39:22 PM
Or you could look at a DIY project instead using something like a RaspberryPi.  You could probably make the rails fairly easily, after all its just two rods of metal and a screw thread driving a platform forward, you can use the Pi to drive a stepper motor forward a few turns then take a photo, forward then photo etc then stack it together afterwards.  Hardest part is making sure its not too big to get in the way of the subject.

I'm half tempted to do something similar but for a dolly for making videos with my camera, I've got an old scanner that I think has a stepper motor in it, first though I want to use my RaspberryPi for water droplet stuff.

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #27 on: May 20, 2013, 23:13:25 PM
It's an option I admit, but when we're talking DoF of 0.1mm I'm not sure I could make something accurate enough. Also need to either have a set up th. Would talk to helicon focus, or tall to the camera directly to control the photography.

If I can get a grant for this it'd be better to do it with off the shelf products I guess.

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #28 on: May 21, 2013, 07:03:54 AM
I guess it deppends if you want the best possible result, in which case the "proper" kit is going to be your best option if you can get the money together, or if you enjoy the engineering challenge of hacking something together with blu tak and string and don't mind that the result probably wont be as good as pro-kit could manage.

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Re: Macro experiments
Reply #29 on: May 21, 2013, 07:50:09 AM
To be honest, even with what is already a fairly automated system, focus stacking these images takes a long time.  The other weekend it took me about 8 hours to produce 70 images of beetles. Using a diy set up would likely be much slower for me!

Photos like this often take 5-10 mins to take due to consisting of up to around 30 photos. Then it takes a while for helicon to actually merge the photos together into one image. This forgets the time it takes to compose the image, especially for the tiny beetles when the magnification is so high and DoF so small!


Scarab Under by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

At some point I might try and do a pictorial step-by-step guide for this kind of photography :)

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