It has taken this long to complete the basic equipment checklist for the Macro rig. The major decision point was a tripod. Not a trivial decision, and more choices than you can imagine. Narrowing down the criteria for a once in a lifetime purchase requires a lot of investigation. I ended up selecting a Sirui tripod and a Markins Q3T Ballhead. I am prepared to explain this position for anyone wanting to know the exact details. I can say, that after investigating the outer limits of the Internet, this was the smartest choice. A few reasons why?
- The Markins Q3T is the lightest, most responsive, most compact ballhead that is able to conduct refined movements
- The Sirui tripod is 1/10 lb more than the equivalent Gitzo, and does about everything the Gitzo will do with the addition of a greater maximum height.
This was the smart money decision. For less than $800, you have the ultimate range, lightweight tripod. No more excuses. Contact me with any questions.
Please consider purchasing your equipment at B&H Photo. The favorite among photography professionals around the world. Check it out.
For any back sufferers out there, I strongly advise the use of the T3i for Macro work. The articulating live view is a godsend. I can sit in a reasonable position, outdoors in nature, and see the screen all the way down on the ground. Bad back can be managed in this position.
On with the shooting.
A mental and visual journey into the world of macro photography. Learn with the author as the experiments unfold.
Tuesday, May 06, 2014
Sunday, July 14, 2013
It works - Blowfly illustrated
Here's some samples of what I've applied thus far. A fairly weak number of keepers from the set of 150+. There are more, but why be repetitive?
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Setting the Stage
The moment of truth has arrived. I'll be posting a picture here any day now from the new equipment. My new Canon http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/753760-REG/Canon_5169B001_EOS_Rebel_T3i_Digital.html is a learning experience to say the least. I had no idea it would be so complicated, but the light bulbs are starting to go off after a few days with it. I made some additional purchases to get some remote functionality. My OTG cable was purchased for $3 including shipping from Monoprice www.monoprice.com. That arrived, and I hooked up the Nexus 7 tablet to the camera successfully. Thanks to the folks at Heliconsoft, I was able to try out the whole interaction between Pad and camera from the comfort of my armchair. Many of you may want close coupling with your devices, but I'm trying to be cognizant of my lower back issues, thus this ability was a key decision point for me, and it worked flawlessly. I may not even progress to the DSLR Controller software package if this continues to work out. Working through the Canon manual, time permitting with work and all, and experimenting with various feature functions as I go. I've already build a flash diffuser, first one out of paper that I cut and folded as instructed on a web site, and the next one will be a little more hi-tech. Once that's finished, I'll be glad to share with the audience. I'm hoping to finally getting around to taking a few pictures as soon as possible, but since I want to make an impression, there's no point in rushing. Please stay tuned for the next developments.
Wednesday, July 03, 2013
A new twist
After years of hemming, hawing, and procrastinating, I have finally pulled the trigger on some current level macro equipment. I evaluated every possible permutation of equipment and decided on the following setup;
Body: Canon T3i
Lens: Canon 100mm macro
Evaluated prior to pulling trigger:and
Full frame digital
Micro 4/3
P&S
Film and transparency
I will explore reasoning as to why all other avenues were shut down so that you can learn from my analysis.
I wanted this to be a continuing experiment, thus it didn't make sense to start out with the best possible solutions, nor the most expensive. While I had made the pilgrimage to B&H photo www.bhphoto.com in early May to try my hand at the newest full frame Canon 6D and the Nikon equivalent, spending a couple of grand plus lenses while in the experimental phase seemed a bit much.
After reading a lot of material www.photomacrography.net and dpreview.comon the potential benefits of the APS-C or "cropped" sensor, it was decided that at least FF could be ruled out. The cropped sensor will evidently provide greater reach, and narrow down the angle of view for a particular focal length. My new 100mm macro lens will actually provide a focal length much like a 150mm lens. With a more restricted angle (about 8 degrees less) at the same distance from the subject, it seems like the elimination of background material would be a benefit of using this sensor size.
Micro 4/3 was a very tempting route to take. The technology is great, the ability to use legacy glass (non 4/3), and there was a lot of back and forth on this subject. The Wifi interface is there, and it's a great all purpose solution for anyone wanting to change lenses in the field. My reason for not using this method was purely financial. I'm still taking baby steps, and spending 1K for a body alone, that may not work out seemed a bit steep. Part of my reasoning being if I could buy both components to further the experiment for 1K, if it didn't work out, the most I would lose would be a couple of hundred bucks.
Using P&S has been a less than satisfactory method of pursuing this endeavor, as the backgrounds were always distracting, the approach to the subject essentially covered it, and frankly, with my older hands, the camera just was too miniscule.
Visits to the local camera store and big box stores were somewhat unrewarding. The local camera shop is filled with pixel peeping snobs, and the big box stores are unable to comprehend the requirements for the field of macrophotography.
The whys of Canon were relatively simple. The primary requirement was to have live view aperature reflected changes. This was evidently not true with Nikon cameras. The viewfinder will largely not be used in a macro world, at least not for this old bird. Far better to accommodate a comfortable body position and let the tools work for us. So the requirements become:
Live View with Aperature Control
Flip LCD screen
Ability to be used by DSLR Controller www.dslrcontroller.com. This way, once the camera is mounted on the tripod, moved into position, theoretically the rest can be controlled from my Nexus tablet. This remains to be seen, but things that don't work can always be returned. Since cost was a factor in the proof of concept stage, the relative bottom of the line in terms of being fairly current became self evident.
There's a lot of information to be learned, reviewed, and implemented. While waiting for the package arrival, I've tested lots of free focus stacking software, such as EnfuseGUI, DeepSkyStacker, and CombineZP. These can be evaluated using existing hardware as I continue to wait for the package arrival. My resolve for a solution that can accommodate a reasonable posture strong.
Interested in hearing input from others on Tripods, however, I've narrowed this choice down to Vanguard 263AT, Oben 2350, and one or two others. Since the macro rig will not be traveling with me, the option of having a lateral arm is more important than the weight factor. I will sacrifice the 2 lbs weight difference for the cost, which is close to $100 per lb difference in the Aluminum vs. Carbon Fiber class of same tripod functionality.
Thanks and props to this group at the Close Up Project : thecloseupproject.com, who provide a continual stream of information and practical macro advice.
Body: Canon T3i
Lens: Canon 100mm macro
Evaluated prior to pulling trigger:and
Full frame digital
Micro 4/3
P&S
Film and transparency
I will explore reasoning as to why all other avenues were shut down so that you can learn from my analysis.
I wanted this to be a continuing experiment, thus it didn't make sense to start out with the best possible solutions, nor the most expensive. While I had made the pilgrimage to B&H photo www.bhphoto.com in early May to try my hand at the newest full frame Canon 6D and the Nikon equivalent, spending a couple of grand plus lenses while in the experimental phase seemed a bit much.
After reading a lot of material www.photomacrography.net and dpreview.comon the potential benefits of the APS-C or "cropped" sensor, it was decided that at least FF could be ruled out. The cropped sensor will evidently provide greater reach, and narrow down the angle of view for a particular focal length. My new 100mm macro lens will actually provide a focal length much like a 150mm lens. With a more restricted angle (about 8 degrees less) at the same distance from the subject, it seems like the elimination of background material would be a benefit of using this sensor size.
Micro 4/3 was a very tempting route to take. The technology is great, the ability to use legacy glass (non 4/3), and there was a lot of back and forth on this subject. The Wifi interface is there, and it's a great all purpose solution for anyone wanting to change lenses in the field. My reason for not using this method was purely financial. I'm still taking baby steps, and spending 1K for a body alone, that may not work out seemed a bit steep. Part of my reasoning being if I could buy both components to further the experiment for 1K, if it didn't work out, the most I would lose would be a couple of hundred bucks.
Using P&S has been a less than satisfactory method of pursuing this endeavor, as the backgrounds were always distracting, the approach to the subject essentially covered it, and frankly, with my older hands, the camera just was too miniscule.
Visits to the local camera store and big box stores were somewhat unrewarding. The local camera shop is filled with pixel peeping snobs, and the big box stores are unable to comprehend the requirements for the field of macrophotography.
The whys of Canon were relatively simple. The primary requirement was to have live view aperature reflected changes. This was evidently not true with Nikon cameras. The viewfinder will largely not be used in a macro world, at least not for this old bird. Far better to accommodate a comfortable body position and let the tools work for us. So the requirements become:
Live View with Aperature Control
Flip LCD screen
Ability to be used by DSLR Controller www.dslrcontroller.com. This way, once the camera is mounted on the tripod, moved into position, theoretically the rest can be controlled from my Nexus tablet. This remains to be seen, but things that don't work can always be returned. Since cost was a factor in the proof of concept stage, the relative bottom of the line in terms of being fairly current became self evident.
There's a lot of information to be learned, reviewed, and implemented. While waiting for the package arrival, I've tested lots of free focus stacking software, such as EnfuseGUI, DeepSkyStacker, and CombineZP. These can be evaluated using existing hardware as I continue to wait for the package arrival. My resolve for a solution that can accommodate a reasonable posture strong.
Interested in hearing input from others on Tripods, however, I've narrowed this choice down to Vanguard 263AT, Oben 2350, and one or two others. Since the macro rig will not be traveling with me, the option of having a lateral arm is more important than the weight factor. I will sacrifice the 2 lbs weight difference for the cost, which is close to $100 per lb difference in the Aluminum vs. Carbon Fiber class of same tripod functionality.
Thanks and props to this group at the Close Up Project : thecloseupproject.com, who provide a continual stream of information and practical macro advice.
Sunday, November 06, 2011
A long hiatus
Time to replenish the material. Lots of things got in the way. Too much to go into. However, the fruits of my labor and thought process are shared for your comments. I have investigated FOV stacking, focusing rails, bellows, and other things macro. To that end, I purchased another classic piece of history, a 20mm F4 Nikon lens. This lens, reversed on a bellows, will give a 12X magnification of the subject. Substantially more that the 1:1 ratio I currently have with the Kiron. Of course, not a heck of a lot of subjects can be captured with this apparatus, but those that can, will be. I took a sidetrip into exploring the capabilities of shooting ultra-wide, doing this like star trails and other things landscape. I'll publish a few samples for instructional review at some point.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Next Equipment Decisions
Next on the list of purchases that are necessary to support this experiment is a good tripod. A tripod that will allow for horizontal traversing of the camera, a tripod that will get down low, and one that can potentially travel light. Without breaking the bank, I've come across two good candidates. The Benbo Trekker or Classic Models seem to be perfectly suited for these requirements, however have received some level of criticism in regards to the legs being controlled by a central locking mechanism. The other tripod that is in top contention is the Manfrotto 055. I'm leaning more towards the Manfrotto, since it accomplishes everything the Benbo does, without the flailing leg issues. If you have any experience with either model, or would like to share your opinion, drop me a note.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Back to the future
In an effort to learn more about the world of macro photography without spending the big bucks, I resurrected my Nikon FM from 1978 and purchased a Kiron 105 f2.8 lens from ebay. Stay tuned for some samples from the first try. I was frankly blown away with the results, at least on print. After scanning, there was some image degradation, as you can see. Here they are: http://tinyurl.com/3rgs2a3
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