Thanks Jeannean, mjb30, dmanky, Steve, Rick, and Hotspur
rnickl wrote:
...Seems like an awfully deep DOF at 4:1 and f/11. Is that just from the angle you were able to get on the critter?
Yes and I think that I\'ll write up how I do it as a tutorial, since it\'s a very common question. But in a nutshell I\'m tilting the upper right corner of the camera into the frame while keeping the lower left corner locked in place for that shot.
Hotspur wrote:
...Better results than I\'m getting with my 70-200 with the 500D closeup lens and tubes. Maybe it\'s the light? I\'ve been using morning sun as backlight, no flash. Would I be better off with the MPE-65 or the 180?
Wow -lots of stuff there. First a 70-200mm with a 500D isn\'t going to give you the same image quality as a dedicated macro lens or a telephoto prime lens -zoom telephotos aren\'t designed to be sharp at close focus. I use to shoot closeups with the same rig, minus the tubes, and didn\'t like the image quality.
Light is extremely important since the quality of it will determine how the colors look, the amount of texture detail you can pick up, the contrast, etc. Light will make or break an image, and I\'ve actually seen a lot of photos that really weren\'t composed well but because the light was great the flaws in the image weren\'t a problem...
As for the macro lens: It depends on your experience level and what you want to do. The MPE-65mm and a 180mm macro lens are completely different pieces of glass. The MPE is great for life size and higher shooting since it\'s razor sharp, but the learning curve is steep (the focus indicators in the view finder do not work with the MPE). The 180mm lens is OK as a closeup lens for critters that aren\'t too skittish, but IMHO it makes a terrible choice for life size shooting since there is actually too much working distance. To get good light from the flash you either need a huge diffuser, or you have to get the flash close to the subject. I have the MPE-65mm and the 180mm L macro and due to the way that I shoot the lenses don\'t cross each other in functionality, and hindsight being what it is I should have bought Canon\'s 300mm F4 L for closeups...
Nov 12, 2009 at 02:09 AM
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