Beginner Minimum gear for macro setup?

Kodiak Qc said:
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You use a flash which is ok but the OP is not yet there. :)
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The problem is if the OP doesn't practice doing it handheld then when he gets to the stage of lighting then he will be worse off than having to learn the handheld technique from scratch.
 
The thing about the tripod or no tripod debate is simple you choose how you want to work and develop from there but to say a tripod id the only way is wrong.

The OP may well opt for working on a tripod and be happy doing so and produce so stunning results.
I do not work like that and I am happy enough with what I achieve.
 
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Alf and you, Bryn, are right…
but I am just letting the man breathe and, as I've learned to know him,
he will have some more questions. My priority is that his access to the
macro world is fun, smooth and without regrets.

…and he reads your posts too… he will pick up what he needs!
 
Surprisingly, the on camera flash worked quite well combined with natural light. I'll upload a few more shots when I get time later. I've done some f11 shots with flash (I also used the flash on the apple shot).

I tried a tripod and I found it a little fiddly; the flash also didn't work without the additional natural light, even ramped up to +2. This is presumably where a ring flash comes in?
 
LumixNoob said:
Surprisingly, the on camera flash worked quite well combined with natural light. I'll upload a few more shots when I get time later. I've done some f11 shots with flash (I also used the flash on the apple shot).

I tried a tripod and I found it a little fiddly; the flash also didn't work without the additional natural light, even ramped up to +2. This is presumably where a ring flash comes in?
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Check out the macro section .... it will answer a lot of your questions. Recommend you don't dive in too much as you will end up trying to change several things at the same time and end up confused which one solved/caused a issue.
 
LumixNoob said:
Surprisingly, the on camera flash worked quite well combined with natural light. I'll upload a few more shots when I get time later. I've done some f11 shots with flash (I also used the flash on the apple shot).

I tried a tripod and I found it a little fiddly; the flash also didn't work without the additional natural light, even ramped up to +2. This is presumably where a ring flash comes in?
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A decent ringflash will cost a fair bit and some people dislike the ring shape highlights they produce. An ordinary basic flashgun will do the job just as well with diffusion and moved off camera eventually for little more money. Look at the links provided earlier in the thread.
 
alfbranch said:
Were you using all the tubes at 50mm?
It may be that the lens will not focus at that focal length with all the tubes fitted or it may be that it focuses a few mm from the front element.
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Yes. I didn't think of that. I think you're right about it focusing too close to the lens. It did seem to be getting clearer the (impractically) nearer I got.
 
LumixNoob said:
Yes. I didn't think of that. I think you're right about it focusing too close to the lens. It did seem to be getting clearer the (impractically) nearer I got.
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As I said earlier macro is not easy however you do it.
 
For sure if you have the full set of tubes on, the point of focus will be very close to the front element. You also lose a lot of f-stops with all of them on and it makes it quite difficult to get decent light onto the subject when it's very close to the lens. The trick is to use as few as you need to get the desired result. Ring flash can come in handy, especially when you want an absence of shadow or the space is tight. I'd recommend keeping your lens hood on if possible, especially when you're just getting into macro. It'so easy to bump the front element into the subject while searching for focus.

Digital film is free, so experiment away.

Good luck, enjoy.
 
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So if the lens is as close as say 2 inches from the subject, what option di I have lighting wise?

I'm slowly plowing through that monster of a macro thread, but getting a bit lost (too much information!)
 
Kodiak Qc said:
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Extension tubes? Congratulation, you will never regret that move! ;-)

#2 is cool, great colours!
All take are showing how critical the focus and shallow the DoF are.

This is a good first shoot, keep rocking, man!

Working at that scale means working with a tripod.
Working with a tripod means you may lower your ISO to native values.
Set your aperture to say f11 and let the SS run as it is needed.
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Thanks Kodiak, what is SS?
 
LumixNoob said:
So if the lens is as close as say 2 inches from the subject, what option di I have lighting wise?

I'm slowly plowing through that monster of a macro thread, but getting a bit lost (too much information!)
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Take some shots and post them in the macro section and we point you in the right direction.
 
@LumixNoob

When I got my macro lens last year, I hired the Nikon R1C1 close up speedlight kit for some macro practise. It was fine but at over £500 it was far too much to have a dabble with.

Once my hire period expired, I took to the internet to find cheaper macro lighting solutions.

I found lots of threads about making "Snoot Diffusers" from pringles tubes to Evian bottles.

The one I settled on and copied was the one on this page:

http://orionmystery.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/diy-snoot-diffuser.html

I followed the same concept but used an Evian bottle along with the top cut off of a whey protein powder tub.

Once lined with kitchen foil, I used a piece of wrapping from a printer that I still had the box and packaging for. Once constructed, it sits over the top of a flashgun.

I can honestly say that this method is just as good for lighting your macro subjects, as the expensive option.

Lots of people in the thread on this forum about showing "Us your macro rig", use similar snoot diffusers.

It's very easy to do :)
 
What kit you "need" and how you use it largely depend on the type of subject you want to shoot.

I would always opt to use a tripod for anything that doesn't move. It can be compensated for somewhat by using flash, but then you have to make some compromises elsewhere.
If you are shooting moving subjects, I prefer to shoot hand held; but I know of others who will use a tripod (very successfully) even then.

Ideally I would use both tripod and flash for most of the subjects I shoot, but the specific conditions don't always allow it.

Your most basic macro setup would probably comprise of a camera, a lens, some way of making it do macro (either through adapters, of which there are many types, or a dedicated macro lens) and either a tripod, or a flash or both. You can use natural light shots without a tripod, but it's very tricky and it's not suited for many different types of conditions. Over time you can add to this kit with various other bits of kit (reflectors, diffusers, brackets, macro rails; the list goes on...)

The key things to understand for me are,"what do you want to shoot and how close do you want to get"? From there you can then make some informed decisions about what kit to use. As with most types of photography, getting the lighting right is probably the most important, with sharpness and depth of field closely followed. Getting the lighting right will improve the latter two, and give you more options to play with. As such I would start looking into diffusion (either by applying it to your flash or manipulating the natural light) once you have your starter kit together. Ultimately there are a million and one ways to go about doing macro photography, which I'm quite happy with as it means I have many more years of playing around in the field to look forward to ;)
 
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Hi Timmy, so far I've been practicing on stationary items, stuff round the house etc. but when the spring/summer comes round I want to start shooting insects, spiders that sort of thing.
 
LumixNoob said:
Hi Timmy, so far I've been practicing on stationary items, stuff round the house etc. but when the spring/summer comes round I want to start shooting insects, spiders that sort of thing.
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Excellent! You have a number of choices then but live insects, especially flies and their ilk can be difficult to get close to, and I personally prefer not to use a tripod in these situations.

My advice would be to get a flash of some description, then figure out how to diffuse it. I started by making my own diffuser out of an ice-cream tub, some tin foil and some kitchen roll (see the first few images in here). You may need to think about how to get the flash off camera, as you want the light source to be as close to your subject as possible (creating a large area of light to improve diffusion), so if you can't figure out how to make a diffuser do that (there is a DIY model based on a Pringles tube that gets the light to the end of your lens) you may need to look into flash brackets and a way to remotely trigger your flash.

This is the basic hand held approach, which will allow you to stop down your aperture to get more DoF and keep your shutter speed high. The flash will act as your shutter as without it your images will be dark, and the flash has a much shorter duration than your mechanical shutter, and should hopefully result in nice sharp images, "freezing the action." Something to investigate is light "fall-off" and how it can affect your exposure, particularly backgrounds.

Practice at home if you like, but the sooner your can get outside the sooner you can start perfecting your "field craft": How to approach bugs without scaring them off (hint: approach slowly and mind where your shadow falls) and composition (shoot from low down).

You'll find it both challenging and frustrating, but hopefully a lot of fun. If you really get into it, it will open up a whole new world you never knew existed and most of the enjoyment comes from trying to figure out exactly what it is you've taken a picture of!

Enjoy!

Edit: My experience of ring-flashes are that they are either very expensive, or very cheap and not really up to the job. I'm not a bit fan of the tell-tale highlights they leave and imagine them to be difficult to diffuse effectively. There are a few members here that use them to great effect, but I would personally opt for a standard flash and work with that initially.
 
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I think I might go with the Yongnuo, they seem to be highly regarded for 'budget' flashes after some reading/youtube-ing
 
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