Blogs - Read Life Stories From Fellow Members

Fstop's blog post - For Viewfrom ....

Sunday, July 27, 2014, 4:39:58 PM

Macro flash?

while they are awesome, no doubt about it, the price scares me

if you are handy, you could adapt, as i did, some other lighting? .. yes i know field shots are going to be cumbersome?

but, 3 LED lights, for 10$, yielded enough light to light this EXTREME closeup, the working distance subject to lens was no more than one quarter inch

the exact setup ... used on that pic

ONE 3$ LED was enough for fifty pence ? and you can clearly see the working distance

never say never

Comments
Others Have Said:
Bubbles	28-Jul-14 9:18:51 hello :) ...question for ya...what lens do you use and ...ok another question.....what is that square thing in between the lens and body??

Fstop	28-Jul-14 16:10:37 Lens ? .... I use nothing but a standard Canon lens, one is an 18/55mm the other in these pics is a 55/250mm [shock horror, you dont need an expensive lens?] [expensive lens's are nice, and i want canons 5:1 macro, but thats still 1300$ :( market value started at 2K on it, and has come down to 13hun, still a lot of $ when the biggest drawback is 0.24mm Depth Of Field @ 5:1.... DOF stacking then is the way to take multiple shots, stak them together to get overall focus over 5mm ] Some of my shots are taken with a Panasonic compact :blink: yes a compact!! I started the digi age with it, and wont stop using it as a carry everywhere camera ...... the how to shots above were taken with it :D The square thing? A set of ''bellows'' ... a concertina cardboard tube, on a rack and pinnion that allows you to get the lens as far away from the body a you can. moving the lens further away from the focal plane allows the minimum focus distance to be INCREASED dramatically [as you can see from the close subject distance] and hence the magnification .... most macro lenses, if a ''true'' macro will do 1:1 [or ''life size'' if the subject is 35mm long, 1:1 will fill a 35mm frame] bellows normally allow you to go way beyond 1:1 .... i have no idea how far past? aperture ? increases [there is a formula/ but pffft] ... you notice the light loss, and have to compensate for it DOF .... miniscule :( ... but shooting macro, you do get used to it, and throw a lot of out of focus in the recycle bin an Alternative to bellows, i also have a set of extension rings 3 hollow tubes, no lens in them, a 1 a 2 and a 3 you can use the singly, or in any combination to get 1 to 6 [3+2+1] ... again to get the lens away from the body to increase minimum focus distance the brand name rings carry the electronics back to the body/lens mine don't, hell they were $10 ... the bellows about $30 [ bought overseas as the dopes here did not even know what i was on about, pluk me, it has been a photographic technique for 120 years] 40$ versus 1300 on a proper lens? 10$ on LED lights versus 200 on a macro ring flash? [even then a ring flash will most likely flash past or outside the subject at 1/4 inch away from the lens? Hope you get something from the blurble :D

JoannaSlinky	28-Jul-14 17:16:24 I'll have a go at this, with my cheapie gear! Now, where's a 50p piece?

JoannaSlinky	28-Jul-14 17:50:46 When I tried it, the results were pretty dismal. I can always use the British Rail excuse, though, and say it was the wrong type of 50p piece!

Fstop	28-Jul-14 23:08:29 compacts usually have a symbol of a flower to denote ''closeup'' that allow a closer focus range, yet it is limited how close they can go? if you have a DSLR, even a toilet roll will work, you have to hold the lens firm, to exclude all light entering where you don't want it NOTE: aperture plays two rolls, up close, one is the amount of light, two is DOF [very limited even at F32 NOTE2: to set the aperture before disconnecting the lens .... set camera to aperture priority, select the aperture you desire, normally i will go F16 to F32 at least if not higher, hold the ''preview'' button down and remove the lens from the body at the same time, disconnection like this fixes the aperture veins of a digital lens at the desired Fstop, as they cannot be be manually adjusted without the electronics :( another poor mans method, is to simply reverse the lens, there are reverse bayonet screw adaptors out there........ or simply use your hand the hold and seal the light against the camera body ........ i will upload a pic taken with that exact technique, a hand held camera, with a hand held reversed lens .... it was an arsey shot :D

Bubbles	29-Jul-14 11:01:59 shock horror...not at all....before I upgraded to the new camera have now i took lots with me basic dslr and kit lense :) ...just curious as to whether you used a macro or normal lens more really. i have been tossing up whether to try an extension kit or just go for a cheaper macro lens. the one I was tossing up whether to get was the sigma 105mm ...around 1000 I also take lots with my compact for same reason...easy to take everywhere and yup my first digi one too. yup I made sense of ya burble lol thanks very much for ya time and info :)

Fstop	30-Jul-14 15:22:32 the orange lady beetle was taken using a stock canon lens + 3 extension tubes :D the purple/blue lilly flower/native bee/bug was the same lens + extensions ... the silhouetted hairs grub, spider, black ugly cricket thing were a tamron 100mm full blown macro + Fujica body... those shots are on celluloid slide transparency and are over 29ish years old :D ..... copied to digital using a gutted slide viewer, a block of wood and an old mobile phone charger as a power supply :D [cost? time only, i dont throw useful bits out :D] any fly shot was taken with bellows + standard lens tamron, are, well were good in my book, back then :D sigma? i have no real experience with, but the name is a name that has been round a lot :D my choice would be nothing less than 100mm macro .... yet the one i want is a 65mm < bloody canon !! grrrr :D [the 100mm makes a good length portrait length too][not that me and portraiture get on well together] the longer mm gives you greater working distance away from the subject :D, yet the further away you get, you are defeating the purpose of getting up close and personal, in my opinion :( brand name tubes are expensive, they do carry the electronics after all ... cheap tubes ... 10 bucks + freight, no electronics ..... dear tubes versus lens? i might opt for a lens over tubes? lens price = light ..... a F1.8 lens .... phenomenal $ AkA eFstopin fast lens ... a F5.6 lens .... hun-fitty bucks, and slow as a snail on a tuesday it would be nice to have an open cheque book, but on a budget you can achieve a hell of a lot, glasshopper :D

Viewfrom	31-Jul-14 15:23:34 thank you, so much details given out, i only just discoverd bellows the other day and using a reversing ring as well. Thank you for all the information

Fstop	31-Jul-14 19:06:42 :D Welcome any time :)

Bubbles	5-Aug-14 23:17:47 yes an open cheque book would be nice but lot of saving up is getting there slowly. I have heard lots say bout the canon 100mm so think I will scrounge n save a bit longer for it. I will maybe try the reversing lens one day too. thanks again for the info and help and your knowledge :)

Fstop's blog post - For Viewfrom ....

Comments