Some macros with my new 350D

Lord Vetinari

Bought a 350D to replace my 300D body ( fairly bargain price of £350 with kit lens and canon bag). Some shots using my sigma 105mm and ext tubes.
Seems to work pretty well

Brian V.

Click on Pics for larger size

ShepsMom

You've got a new lens? I loved your old one!! This are as amazing as your other shots. Congrats on a new toy!!

benbo

Great shoots. Im about to by a macro lens but not sure about wich one . Im looking for a sigma but not sure wich one . 105mm,150mm or the 180. What about your tube . What are they. Does it it help a lot and how much do it cost.

Thank and great shoot again.

BenBo

Serrator

Outstanding captures Brian!

Spring is almost here and I hope to put my new macro lens to work soon!

BigAl

Congrats on the new camera (another kit lens ) . I'm sure you're going to love it after the 300, fast start/wake up time is the #1 advantage methinks.

Super series, Love the wolfie!

Lord Vetinari

ShepsMom wrote:

You've got a new lens? I loved your old one!! This are as amazing as your other shots. Congrats on a new toy!!

Thanks,
No not a new lens- these are with my original sigma 105mm EX I bought along with the 300D- it's a new camera body (well a new old one) just the 350D.
Brian V.

Lord Vetinari

benbo wrote:

Great shoots. Im about to by a macro lens but not sure about wich one . Im looking for a sigma but not sure wich one . 105mm,150mm or the 180. What about your tube . What are they. Does it it help a lot and how much do it cost.

Thank and great shoot again.

BenBo

Thanks Benbo
WRT macro lenses, unless you have a specific reason for wanting a longer reach macro lens, I always recommend a macro lens around 100mm for starters. They are easier to use and make good long portrait lenses. The sigma 105 or Tamron 90 would both be fine. The longer lenses are harder to use for handheld work- you really need a tripod with them. The tube is a set of extension tubes (Kenko or Jessops if in the UK). They let you increase the magnification from 1:1 max to 2:1 max.
Brian V.

Lord Vetinari

Thanks Serrator and Al
Al- yes another kit lens (now have 3) but I'll probably give my 300D + kit lens to my daughter . Main reason I got the body was just for the faster shooting/buffer size. I kept getting stuck with the 300D in the middle of a focus stack . Still it served me well (most of my macro apprenticeship) and must have over 50000 clicks on it now so I suspect shutter faailure may be imminent. Wonder if shooting between 1/100th and 1/200th all the time is kinder to the shutter mechanism ?
Brian V.

Rhuarc

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks Serrator and Al
Al- yes another kit lens (now have 3) but I'll probably give my 300D + kit lens to my daughter . Main reason I got the body was just for the faster shooting/buffer size. I kept getting stuck with the 300D in the middle of a focus stack . Still it served me well (most of my macro apprenticeship) and must have over 50000 clicks on it now so I suspect shutter faailure may be imminent. Wonder if shooting between 1/100th and 1/200th all the time is kinder to the shutter mechanism ?
Brian V.

Love the shot of the dew drop!!

How do you do stacked focusing? I thought it was a manual thing. Take a shot, change focus, take a shot, etc...

Lord Vetinari

Rhuarc wrote:

Love the shot of the dew drop!!

How do you do stacked focusing? I thought it was a manual thing. Take a shot, change focus, take a shot, etc...

Thanks Rhuarc.
Yes you are right about the stacked focusing- I tend to do it using fixed focus and moving the camera forward. It just gets a bit arkward when the 300D would fill it's shot buffer and I would have to try holding position for a minute or so whilst it unloaded it .
Brian v.

gus

Wow they are great..i didnt know you were using a 300 in the past mate. You would go absolutely crazy here with our bugs. We have stick insects over a foot long.

benbo

THANK A LOT FOR YOUR EXPLANATION. i THINK I WILL DO WHAT YOU SAY. I didnt knew the existence of those tube. Interesting.
Thaks again.

BenBo

Rhuarc

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks Rhuarc.
Yes you are right about the stacked focusing- I tend to do it using fixed focus and moving the camera forward. It just gets a bit arkward when the 300D would fill it's shot buffer and I would have to try holding position for a minute or so whilst it unloaded it .
Brian v.

Oh, ok, so you use the burst mode of the camera. Set the focus so the front is in focus, then slowly moving toward the subject firing away in burst mode? How do you do the stacking then in PS? Do you just layer all the shots and use Layers and masking to reveal the correctly focused portion?

Lord Vetinari

Rhuarc wrote:

Oh, ok, so you use the burst mode of the camera. Set the focus so the front is in focus, then slowly moving toward the subject firing away in burst mode? How do you do the stacking then in PS? Do you just layer all the shots and use Layers and masking to reveal the correctly focused portion?

No I don't use burst mode- I just take single shots fairly quickly.
See http://www.flickr.com/groups/macroviewers/discuss/163367/ for more details on focus stacking.
Brian V.

Rhuarc

Lord Vetinari wrote:

No I don't use burst mode- I just take single shots fairly quickly.
See http://www.flickr.com/groups/macroviewers/discuss/163367/ for more details on focus stacking.
Brian V.

Thanks for the link that's really useful! As soon as I get a MACRO lens I'm going to start giving this a try. I'll probably also try using the burst mode, see which produces better results.

Dalantech

I like the critters, but that drop shot really does it for me Brian -well done!!!

Lord Vetinari

Dalantech wrote:

I like the critters, but that drop shot really does it for me Brian -well done!!!

Thanks Dalentech - I actually did the drop shots as a test just to show you don't need an MPE-65 to do them. 100mm macro lens with ext tubes is fine
Brian V.

Lord Vetinari

gus wrote:

Wow they are great..i didnt know you were using a 300 in the past mate. You would go absolutely crazy here with our bugs. We have stick insects over a foot long.

Thanks Gus
Was using 2 camera bodies- a 300D and a 20D.
Stick insect a foot long that would be a challenge
Brian v.

BigAl

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Stick insect a foot long that would be a challenge
Brian v.

Especially with the MPE65

Skippy

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Bought a 350D to replace my 300D body ( fairly bargain price of £350 with kit lens and canon bag). Some shots using my sigma 105mm and ext tubes.
Seems to work pretty well

Brian V.

Click on Pics for larger size

Very nice Brian they all look awesome.
Gotta love them bugs and your water drop reflections are always a big hit.
Congrats on the new body

Thanks for sharing........ Skippy
.

Katt

Your photos are exquisite