Love shooting macro with the Canon 100mm 2.8 so I decided to try out the MPE-65. My first try with it has really been a test of patience. Tried shooting stationary objects from a tripod. This lens really does need lots of lighting. I am hoping others here can help me out with the learning curve.
What is the best aperature range to shoot in? For my test shots at mag 2x it seemed every shot I took from 2.8 to 5.6 the DOF was razor thin. It seems as I increased mag to 3x the DOF got even thinner. Even at an aperature of 8 was thin but those shots looked much better. Does this lens have a sweet spot? Does it change with mag factor?
I read on here that some folks hand hold these up to mag 3x. I can already see tripod shooting will be a challenge for anything that moves. Could you advise what shutter speed are you shooting at?
The DOF goes down as the magnification goes up- same with any macro lens system.
I'd recommend trying shooting around F11-F13 at 1:1 and going down to around f7.1-F8 at high magnification as rough places to start.
Most work with the MPE-65 involves using flash to get enough light. This renders shutter speeds slightly irrelevent as the flash duration becomes the effective shutter speed (assuming it is the major light source). Typical setting on the camera would be ISO100/200, Aperture to suit magnification, 1/200th camera in M mode and flash in TTL mode.
For natural light shooting without any form of stabilisation, shutter speeds need to be fairly high. Think the guide is something like- 1/ lens focal length * crop factor* (1 +M), where M is the magnification. So for 2:1 shooting with a 1.6 crop camera you would be around 1/500th.
Once you start getting used to the lens you start using all sorts of things to help stabilise it (resting the lens on solid surfaces, resting it on your left hand whilst holding part of the subject etc).
Just take it slowly and get used to the lens.
Nothing to add to what Brian said other than to be patient with yourself: After my first outing with the lens I wondered if buying it had been a mistake...
fotobean wrote:
Thanks for the tip on the aperature ranges.
Is sunlight ever sufficient lighting with this lens to get a handheld shot?
Should my Canon 14EX macro flash be sufficient for most shots with the MPE-65?
Yes you can take natural light shots with it- fairly easy around 1:1 but you need a stable camera and subject for magnifications much above that. eg below
The MR-14 will easily give enough light for higher magnification shots. Main problem with it is diffusing a bit more and also learning to ratio the lights so you do not get light that is flat looking.
