Top secret macro camera stabiliser

Lord Vetinari

Thought I'd show some pics of my secret weapon in action- no not the cat- the metal bean pole. Instantly adjustable- I just grip it with along with the flash bracket handle in my left hand. Allows me to happily take shots at 2:1 magnification.
Brian V.






and a recent fly shot taken using it.

JimM

WOW, amazing shot!!!

Jnichols

That IS an amazing shot! What do you have going on with your flash?

Lord Vetinari

Jnichols wrote:

That IS an amazing shot! What do you have going on with your flash?

Thanks,
The flash is mounted on a modded generic vidcam light bracket via a small ball head and an off camera flash cable. This enables me to get the homemade diffuser near the end of the lens no matter how many extension tubes and/or reversed lens I put on my macro lens.
Brian V.

DanielB

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks,
The flash is mounted on a modded generic vidcam light bracket via a small ball head and an off camera flash cable. This enables me to get the homemade diffuser near the end of the lens no matter how many extension tubes and/or reversed lens I put on my macro lens.
Brian V.

whatever works i guess , but its very cool

fantastic shots too.

Lord Vetinari

DanielB wrote:

whatever works i guess , but its very cool

fantastic shots too.

Thanks Daniel B
Brian V.

ginger_55

And I paid over 100.00 for a thing called a "monopod". What is yours called again?

ginger

ginger_55

How did you get the fly to pose?

ginger:D

good macro work, AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHH, giant fly!

Red Bull

Very cool. It's always interesting to see what people have rigged on their cameras to get the amazing shots posted. Thanks for sharing.

Lord Vetinari

ginger_55 wrote:

How did you get the fly to pose?

ginger:D

good macro work, AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHH, giant fly!

Thanks Ginger_55,
Not so much how you get them to pose, more a case of how do you not scare them off

It's called a bean pole. So far I just find a monopole too clumsy to manipulate one handed and too slow to adjust- The beanpole is instant, but you do need a flash bracket with a handle to make it work. Now all I need is a 7 foot stainless steel telescopic bean Pole.

Brian V.

Lord Vetinari

Red Bull wrote:

Very cool. It's always interesting to see what people have rigged on their cameras to get the amazing shots posted. Thanks for sharing.

No probs, Someone on the DPreview forum asked for a pic of me using it so thought I might as well post it here as well
Brian V.

Tom K.

Your macro gallery displays incredible work. Shot after shot is nothing less than superb.

Can you give us some general tips and methods you use as well as equipment? For example.....extension tubes, lighting, lens (looks like a sigma 105 to me), ect, ect. Techniques? Any info would be most helpful. Thank you.

Lord Vetinari

Tom K. wrote:

Your macro gallery displays incredible work. Shot after shot is nothing less than superb.

Can you give us some general tips and methods you use as well as equipment? For example.....extension tubes, lighting, lens (looks like a sigma 105 to me), ect, ect. Techniques? Any info would be most helpful. Thank you.

Thanks Tom,
You can find some more info on how I do my shots etc here-
http://www.flickr.com/groups/mimicry/discuss/66514/

The only addition to that is I use a set of Jessops EOS fit extension tubes (similar to the Kenko ones)- using 31mm of these gives me approx 1.5:1 and using all 65mm gives 2:1.
Brian V.

Tom K.

Thanks very much Lord Vetinari for this useful information.

DoctorIt

Ah well, of course, the bean pole is green = camouflage!!! That's how you sneak up on all these bugs!



Lord V, I'm trying to dig up your thread on the flash bracket for many who have been asking, but i can't find it. Do you have it handy?

Lord Vetinari

DoctorIt wrote:

Ah well, of course, the bean pole is green = camouflage!!! That's how you sneak up on all these bugs!



Lord V, I'm trying to dig up your thread on the flash bracket for many who have been asking, but i can't find it. Do you have it handy?

Is this it?
http://www.digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=15634
Brian V.

DoctorIt

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Is this it?
http://www.digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=15634
Brian V.

that's the one.