Hello everyone,
After being away from macro for a couple of years I got the opportunity to go out and try shooting some insects. I forgot everything I had learned about macro shooting so I am very rusty. I took many failed shots on this particular day but I did manage to get one decent shot in focus. The equipment I used was a Canon 450d, with a 50mm auto focus lens on extension tubes with a diffused flash.
Back to macro
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Re: Back to macro
Welcome back! Solid composition, good light but everything is a little out of focus ... only practice helps!
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Re: Back to macro
Brundle Fly, welcome back!
So the softness is probably caused by optical aberrations, quite possibly spherical aberration caused by adding extension behind an ordinary lens to reach what must be close to 1:1.
The sharpness will vary with aperture settings. Typically the image will get sharper if you stop down some, then get softer again if you stop down too far. For any particular lens, the only way to find the sweet spot is to experiment.
--Rik
I agree that everything is a little soft, but certainly this is not due to missing focus because the picture includes areas that are in front of focus, in back of focus, and everything in between.
So the softness is probably caused by optical aberrations, quite possibly spherical aberration caused by adding extension behind an ordinary lens to reach what must be close to 1:1.
The sharpness will vary with aperture settings. Typically the image will get sharper if you stop down some, then get softer again if you stop down too far. For any particular lens, the only way to find the sweet spot is to experiment.
--Rik
Re: Back to macro
For someone who's rusty, and not using a standard macro lens, I think that shot is a solid effort! But I agree with Rik in that you're probably just losing detail cause your lens, like all lenses, was designed to be sharp when attached directly to the camera. If macro is something that you want to stick with a Canon EF-S 60mm lens would be a solid choice. You're already use to short working distances, and once you get comfortable shooting at 1x with it then all it takes is 37mm of extension to get that glass to 2x (the lens loses a lot of focal length at minimum focus). Even with extension tubes the EF-S 60mm is really sharp.
Last edited by Dalantech on Fri Jun 11, 2021 2:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Back to macro
Thanks everyone for the advice and encouragement.
- MarkSturtevant
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Re: Back to macro
Very much like how I got started.
My question for those 'out there' is if there would be a benefit to reverse mounting this lens (stopped down to an amount to be determined), and then using less extension tube.
My question for those 'out there' is if there would be a benefit to reverse mounting this lens (stopped down to an amount to be determined), and then using less extension tube.
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters
Dept. of Still Waters
Re: Back to macro
The down side is loss of aperture control without some specialized reversing ring that can provide the electrical contacts -and for the price of one the OP could get a used EF-S 60mm.MarkSturtevant wrote: ↑Mon Jun 14, 2021 9:24 pmMy question for those 'out there' is if there would be a benefit to reverse mounting this lens (stopped down to an amount to be determined), and then using less extension tube.