Each flash head has a 10cm X 20cm DIY softbox attached. The softboxes have a single layer of opaque report cover material and a single layer of thin packing foam. The insides are lined with tinfoil. Around the lens is a somewhat concave piece of opaque report cover with a layer of thin packing foam and a piece of paper towel attached to the underside.
Things that I don't like about this set up:
- The diffuser is held up by the KX-800's focus light. This makes it so that I can't photograph things easily if they are against a flat surface like a wall. The light hits the surface and prevents me from moving the camera close enough to focus.
- The concave diffuser is attached to the lens by a rubber band. This makes it awkward when changing lenses. I am not creative enough to figure out an alternative way of attaching the diffuser, yet.
- The amount of diffusion material may be overboard and I may be wasting a lot of light. I might remove a layer of material on the concave diffuser. I only recently added the paper towel as an experiment because I was getting bright hotspots. The paper towel has really helped to reduce the hotspots, but I know have to have my flash set at a higher power than I would like.
Technically, rather good. Practically, potentially, very limiting, depending on what you want to photograph. It is likely to be very prone to disturbing and/or snagging on vegetation/foliage.
e6filmuser wrote:
Technically, rather good. Practically, potentially, very limiting, depending on what you want to photograph. It is likely to be very prone to disturbing and/or snagging on vegetation/foliage.
Harold
I have gone for a bit of a trade-off to get the best light I can on subjects relatively accessible rather than light that I am not very happy with on subjects deep in the foliage. My current set up is a fair bit more limiting than my old setup in this regard, which I'm not thrilled about. One of the things I enjoy photographing are spiders in their webs, which will be very tricky with my current diffuser.
Adapting a Torch/Flashlight for tripod Mounting (Not really a "setup" but it seems to belong here).
I do a lot of macro at tiny effective apertures using full manual lenses. This makes framing and focusing difficult, except, maybe, in bright sunlight. In dimmer light, the sensor jumps all over the place, the subject being neither still nor sharp in the viewfinder, leaving framing and focus mostly to guesswork.
The way to avoid this is to shine a bright light on the subject. So I bought a Cree 10W (“brightest in the world” etc.) hand torch. Its battery compartment/handle is very much narrower than the bulb compartment, making it point upwards when laid on the ground or on a table. On a table, it was very inclined to roll off.
So I decided that attaching it to a mini tripod would give me full control of aiming the beam and would not require handling, once set up. I purchase a Manfrotto Pixi mini tripod, which was also for Nissin (non-tiltable) flash guns.
To mount to a typical tripod requires a female ¼ inch tread. I obtained this by purchasing a 3/8” to ¼” bush adapter. I did not want to drill the torch so I purchased a selection of Jubilee Clips (aka worm drive hose clamps).
I chose a clip to fit the torch handle and set about drilling a hole to take the bush. The problem was that the external threads of the bush were about 7.5mm and the clip was 9mm wide. The largest drill bit I could use was 7mm. I then had to file off some of the external thread (which I originally intended to use to secure it), stretch the drill hole, and, finally, use pliers to squeeze and lever the adapter into the hole from the inside of the clip. This gave a tight fit, which was totally rigid when the clip was finally fitted and screwed tight.
I think the images are self-explanatory. (A tip: a single flash gives best results with these shiny metal parts).
The final image shows a typical use. Note how much brighter is the part of the subject in the beam on a cloudy day.
goodspeed730 wrote:
Nikkor 105mm 2.8G. What I mean is Extreme macro. Is it possible to use teleconverter or extension tubes? Which is better
A TC will give you no more than double the magnification of your lens. Extension tubes can give more but the extension needs to be in direct proportion to the focal length. Tubes may give you the wider range of magnification but they may take you to where your lens gives suboptimal performance.
For extreme macro I use lenses designed for the magnifications I use. I have several Photars which work only on extensions (no infinity focus). As a guide, a lens which give good infinity or medium distance performance will be somewhat compromised for extreme macro. However, those compromises might be acceptable while you see if you want to do extreme macro seriously..
One lens I use for x2.5 to x5 (x5 to x10 with crop factor) is the Laowa 25mm Ultra Macro.
NB All the lenses I use for such high magnifications are fully manual. If you want auto diaphragm you will have to use e.g. a macro lens with (auto) tubes, a TC or a supplementary such as Raynox.
I thought I had posted this already but I had not. These have been rushed and could have been a bit more vertically framed! I used twin flash.
The Photar 25mm is for high magnification macro (optimesed for about x 6.5?) and has a standard RMS thread. Although the whole world seems to know that the thread is for 20mm, some seller on Ebay sent me one for 25mm, so caution!
The first image shows a conical 20mm RMS to M42 adapter. The M42 tubes are very cheap and useful for use on legacy macro lenses and helicoid versions are available. This conical version gives access at lose working distances where there is not spaced for a flush, standard type.
The third image shows a 35mm film cassette tube, with some tape on the rim for a tight fit, used as a protective cap.
The third image shows a couple of M42 tubes added to the extension and the fourth shows an M42 helicoid. The fifth shows the flush version on tubes (necessary for a shorter extension for lower magnifications).
All of the above are attached to an M42 to m4/3 adapter. (The tripod mount is superfluous for my applications).
For clarification, I have added an image of the adapter alone.
The final image is from another session, showing a flush type on legacy Olympus OM tubes.
Such an adapter is fully suitable for suitable microscope objectives used for focus stacking
Harold, a basics question: How do you provide enough light in such close focus lenses? I have Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm super macro and the biggest challenge is getting enough light in. I wish it had tiny LED ring light around the glass but alas.
It has been on my DIY list but then I realized the tiny Olympus 60mm macro is much better optically and some cheapo extension tubes work quite well with it although it still can't provision crazy 4.5x magnification like the Mitakon.
With Oly 60mm, I use a flash mounted on the body and a DIY diffuser - nothing fancy. And if I am feeling adventurous I hold another flash in my left hand and trigger that with on-body flash (again, quite rudimentary) but I prefer to keep my left hand free and shoot with right so that occasionally I can hold the branch steady on which the insect/flower is resting.
PS. The Mitakon has silly 4 to 4.5x magnification range of which I never understood the point. Why would someone have such minuscule zoom(?). And at 4.5x I am almost touching the object.
5D MK IV
Canon MP-E 65
Meike MK-MT24 II TTL Macro Ring Flash
Not digging the rail I got. Its probably ok for a very light setup but as soon as I tilt the head on this setup, the gear slips when I try to adjust. I end up having to assist and that sometimes results in small changes that show up later.
Ran into issues with this setup immediately. The Ring Flash setup eats up about 1 inch of your working distance. At 3.5 to 5x I was having issues with the flash heads hitting the work surface before I could reach my usable working distance. I ended up mounting the ring to the backside of the screw on adapter as well as taking the head mounts apart and reversing them so when attached to the adapter they would be facing the correct direction. This worked out pretty good with the exception of losing a little bit of head angle adjustment due to the design of the case. I cannot angle them in quite as much but I will try to tackle that later.
pcvrz22g wrote:
The Ring Flash setup eats up about 1 inch of your working distance. At 3.5 to 5x I was having issues with the flash heads hitting the work surface before I could reach my usable working distance.
This the issue I raise when anyone asks if a ring flash is a good idea. I have several and have not used one for years. Neither have I used a tripod or rail for ages. Hand-held is the way.
My main flash is mounted back, level with the camera and the fill is placed variously according to circumstances. If you place them in front of the lens some orientations may direct light into the lens, causing flare or at least reducing contrast.
e6filmuser wrote:
This the issue I raise when anyone asks if a ring flash is a good idea. I have several and have not used one for years. Neither have I used a tripod or rail for ages. Hand-held is the way.
My main flash is mounted back, level with the camera and the fill is placed variously according to circumstances. If you place them in front of the lens some orientations may direct light into the lens, causing flare or at least reducing contrast.
Harold
I do shoot some handheld but some of them it is just not feasible without a rail. The water drops in the web are less than .250 inches for the entire scene edge to edge and 6 shots stacked. It was also down in the grass. I removed the rings for that shot and placed the flash heads down in the grass. I am getting a 100 2.8 L IS soon I hope. I like this really close up stuff but the lens limits my shots drastically.
Current MPE-65 setup. Canon 5dMk2 and MPE-65 lens. Yongnuo YN24Ex flash with modified set up using two gorillapod arms fixed to the MPE-65 tripod bracket. DIY diffusers on flash head. 1 layer 1stop silk and 1 lay .5 stop diffuser gel separated by about 1cm.
LordV wrote:
Current MPE-65 setup. Canon 5dMk2 and MPE-65 lens. Yongnuo YN24Ex flash with modified set up using two gorillapod arms fixed to the MPE-65 tripod bracket. DIY diffusers on flash head. 1 layer 1stop silk and 1 lay .5 stop diffuser gel separated by about 1cm.
