p.1 #1 · Is TILT useful or usable for Insect Macro Photography?
I have 2 tilt shift lenses and am wondering how I can use them in insect closeup or macro. Not until recently did I find out that I can get very close to a butterfly to the extent that the MFD of my TS-E 90 is still too long. This arouse my interest to shoot close and closer to life size. I am wondering if anyone would care to give me some insights regarding the following?
1) Will tilt be useful or usable at a very close distance to the critters? Will the repetitive cumbersome adjustments scare the little critters away? Tilted focus plane adjustment really takes time and a lot of try and error.
2) Is focus stacking an easier or more efficient solution for DoF control?
3) what might be the best combo for TS-E 90 (or TS-E 45)?
TS-E 90 + 1.4X TC + 60mm tubes?
TS-E 90 + 2x TC,
or TS-E 90 + 60mm tubes only?
I've tested them in the shop and found the major difference is the MFD, which may result in a different requirement of lighting. Canon doesn't recommend to use long tubes with TS-E 45 due to the image quality loss. Is there any principle of restriction as for how long the extension tubes I can use with a TS-E 90?
4) Would MT-24EX be a good choice for TS-E 90 or better a flash on bracket?
p.1 #2 · Is TILT useful or usable for Insect Macro Photography?
Ill try to answer some of the questions.
1) Will tilt be useful or usable at a very close distance to the critters? Will the repetitive cumbersome adjustments scare the little critters away? Tilted focus plane adjustment really takes time and a lot of try and error.
Any fast movement close to skittery bugs is likely to scare them off - I always try to keep my hands behind the camera when shooting. Other bugs often do not care what you are doing.
2) Is focus stacking an easier or more efficient solution for DoF control?
Hard to answer - You can control DOF by use of just aperture and get good shots but there is a balance between DOF and loss of fine detail due to diffraction effects.
Focus stacking can work well but does obviously require multiple shots of a stationary subject - not easy or impossible with some subjects.
A TSE might be the answer in some cases but I suspect you would need to pre-set the tilt before approaching some subjects. Rather similar to trying to use "magic angles" when shooting bugs - some angles give you almost the whole bug in focus.
3) what might be the best combo for TS-E 90 (or TS-E 45)?
TS-E 90 + 1.4X TC + 60mm tubes?
TS-E 90 + 2x TC,
or TS-E 90 + 60mm tubes only?
Difficult- suspect the TSE-90 would be best, but what combo of Ext tube perhaps with TC depends entirely on what magnification and MFD you are trying to achieve. You will lose more IQ with a TC than ext tubesbut obviously gain in focus distance.
p.1 #3 · Is TILT useful or usable for Insect Macro Photography?
I think TS-E lenses are fine for near macro work and in fact the new Nikon TS-E's are micro nikkors with 0.5:1 magnification. So they are great for flower shots etc and can help DOF quite a bit. However, as Brian says trying to use tilt in an extreme close-up would be very hard and would require very patient subjects and would it make that much difference to DOF in such situations, I doubt it.
I was just in the Nikon forum and this came up. Some amazing shots.
p.1 #4 · Is TILT useful or usable for Insect Macro Photography?
Brian,
Thank you a lot. I have been viewing your excellent works in flickr and tell myself "one day" I will be getting into the micro world and enjoying using the MP-E. On vacation or weekends, my family or friends always have to wait for me, who is always lagging a lot behind taking pictures, and this made me think the day is still far away.
Taiwan is (or said to have been) a kingdom of butterflies, although not flooded with them, but I do see them outdoors from time to time. Probably 400 species, and 40 of them exist only here. I have no idea if this is many or just average though. (There are also about 40 amphibious species, 10 of them endemic...) In the beginning it seems to me most of them are the same or not very different, and thus I was not so interested in taking close up pictures of them. So, I told myself, if necessary, a TS-E 90 or 300/4 IS plus a TC would suffice....
I guess I have to experiment with different tubes and TC's myself at any rate. Just want to know if I won't fish in the tree and I simply need to use a Sigma 150 Macro or the like.
p.1 #5 · Is TILT useful or usable for Insect Macro Photography?
Whayne,
Thank you for sharing. Very nice photos in that thread.
I am concerned about exactly what you mentioned.
I tested TS-E 90mm with 3 tubes totaling 60mm and found with maximum tilt, even the object in focus doesn't seem anywhere close to acceptably sharp, not any better than the image obtained by TS-E 90mm mated to a 2x TC, without tilt. I don't know if this phenomenon resulted from the very close shooting distance, or probably vibration from the 3 stacked Kenko tubes.
I was trying to try it mated to Canon Lifesize Converter designed for 50mm Macro, but no shops around have it. Otherwise it should be able to make TS-E 45mm close to PC-E 45 in terms of magnification ratio.
p.1 #6 · Is TILT useful or usable for Insect Macro Photography?
Update: based upon my impression in the second shop.
Again, I tried 56mm, 36mm, 25mm with TS-E 45mm, the image quality was terrible. I found the edge of words look like weirdly smashed, having dragging pasted traces. Never seen this kind of image before. With 56mm, the Maximum focus distance seems to be less than 10mm.
I suspect the longer the extension tubes mated to the TS-E lens, the more the image quality drops, which is noticeable in the corner and the out-of-focus area looks ugly, particularly when tilt is applied. I found tilt is still usable when mated to long extension tubes, and I can make a tilt plane clear, not 100% though, since I didn't spend time adjusting. Perhaps there would be some focusing blind point, difficulty or failure,which are just not yet spotted in my few quick test shots.
Anyway from the first glimpse, I have an impression that 56mm, 36mm, 25mm, 12mm should still work with TS-E 90 nicely, but don't bother using extension tubes with TS-E 45mm. Only 12mm tube is acceptable, which is next to meaningless.
I think if I find I have to use extension tubes, then I think I should use MP-E. For the moment, I will play with TCs until one day I find it essential to shoot in greater than life size. I bought a Canon 2x TC.
I think the 2x TC may have a noticeable image quality drop, but probably it can become sharp enough or the same sharp if one post processes the image to become an image equivalent to, say 1.7x the focal length, which means a result of 1.7 times the details. Then, I will see advantages in using 2x TC over 1.4x TC even if the 1.4x TC can yield an image 100% as sharp as the original lens without TC. Such logic may not be applicable to macro photography though.
I don't do any serious test or pixel peeping, I talked just from my personal perception, which might be wrong.
Note: the "60mm" in the above posts are typos of "68mm".
p.1 #9 · Is TILT useful or usable for Insect Macro Photography?
Brian's technique of magic angle is very useful. Thank you again. Here are some test shots of flowers in a windy day.
This technique "should" make it possible to shoot insects. The major problem for me now is flash. A working distance of 30ish cm is inconvenient for my off camera handheld strobe. I think I will mate a 20mm or 36mm tube to the 90 TS-E 2x TC combo, and try again.
p.1 #10 · Is TILT useful or usable for Insect Macro Photography?
Eyvind Ness wrote:
I'm using the wonderful TS-E 90mm quite a lot, but never for insects - only floral close-ups. Some samples can be found here:
For insects, I use the MP-E and sometimes the Sigma 150mm with a 1.4X TC.
Nice floral series. Both the MP-E and Sigma 150 Macro are in my wish list.
nirwa wrote:
Suggest taking a look of the address below ( it's a simplied Chinese photographic forum though ) :
p.1 #11 · Is TILT useful or usable for Insect Macro Photography?
I found either the TS-E 90mm can't focus well in the field with long tubes and 2X tc all stacked together, or that the image is extremely soft. Would try TS-E 90mm with only tubes next time.
Test shot with 44mm tubes plus 2x TC at minimum focus distance.
