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I guess most of you use DSRL or perhaps analog cameras to shoot insects. I wonder what macro lens focal lengths you recommend. I think I'm going for a Sigma 150mm, or maybe a 100mm. It seems that many macro photographers use long macro lenses, up to 200mm. I guess it is to get shots without the fly moving away ...

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Hi Crex.
I use Canon 20D camera.
As for lens, I use Canon macro 100mm/2,8. I have also 70-300macro, 50mm, 24mm (all Sigma). Sometime all this lens are usefull, but for me 100mm is the best for Diptera (Odonata - 300mm, Coleoptera - 50mm).
But I'm sure that choise of lens is very much matter of personal test, preferable group and tacks you want to solve.
Nikita

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OK, thanks. I forgot to mention that I'm going for a Canon EOS 30D with 1.6 frame ratio. I guess it will be a bit different with a full frame DSLR. In the future I might also want to get the MP-E 65 to get really close (5:1) to the objects.

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I forgot to add, that according my opinion:
1. 1,6 frame ratio much better for macrophografy than normal 1:1.
2. Sigma (or Canon) cheape 50mm lens with macrorings will give you same 5:1 as MP-E 65

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Hello,



I'm shooting with a 20D + Canon 100 and I think this is a very good combination for free hand shooting. On the other hand, if you want to shoot with a tripod, every other solution can be fine. For instance, the Canon 65 mm makes wonders, but don't expect to shoot free hand with it.

On the other hand, all old "savage solutions" like coupling two 50 mm lenses can still work for some special needs.

I always have an old plain 50 mm with me, just in case, to be used just as a close-up lense, and I sometimes got good pictures with such an optical construct (even if I have to crop them afterwards because of the vignetting).

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I will have a budget of 2000 euros to buy a new camera and lenses...

I thought in these:

> Canon 350D (the results would be the same with Canon 30D that just wins in Formula 1, and sports photos. ;) but as I don?t care about sports photo..
Just Canon 5D would be the next buy after Canon 350D not 30D...)

> camera with 18-200 mm Sigma (for general)

Now I have doubts...

I want to make real macro! To hymenopters, coleopters, odonata, DIPTERS (of course), slime molds, spiders (I will take more photo of these and dipters), and all animal, fungi, protista, and vegetal regnum. :)))

Macro lenses adviced?
> Tamron 90 mm?
> Sigma 180 mm

> I wish LPE-65 mm but it is very expensive and I leave this for next buy...


A macro converter would be need?? And what about macro rings to try inverted lenses???

Finally, after lenses choosed which flash do you advice???

Please help me to do a list :) for an excellent conjunt of macrophotography by 2000 euros. Remember that I want take photos of spiders, dipters, hymenopters, odonata... I wish which lenses are more indicated for this! Thank you!

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[quote]jorgemotalmeida wrote:
I will have a budget of 2000 euros to buy a new camera and lenses...

> Canon 350D (the results would be the same with Canon 30D that just wins in Formula 1, and sports photos. ;) but as I don?t care about sports photo..
Just Canon 5D would be the next buy after Canon 350D not 30D...)

I have this camera and I like it a lot, but note that the camera body is *very* small. Many who have tried it found it just too small. It is barely large enough for me and I have the hands of a small girl :D

>I want to make real macro! To hymenopters, coleopters, odonata, DIPTERS (of course), slime molds, spiders (I will take more photo of these and dipters), and all animal, fungi, protista, and vegetal regnum. :)))

Macro lenses adviced?
> Tamron 90 mm?
> Sigma 180 mm

Macrophotography is more about technique than the lens. In fact it is all about technique, any macro lens will do. Around 100mm is good for most insects. A short lens (20-24mm?) with extension rings will allow you to include both insect and habitat in the same photo.

If you plan to photograph smaller insects outdoors you'll probably benefit a lot from a good flash rig or ringflash, something like this: http://www.eritja...suport.htm You can buy flash brackets, but building your own is not hard and much cheaper.

So my recommendation is that do not worry about lenses; DO worry about lighting your targets.

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Not sure about the budget but I would get the 350D or 30D camera not the 5d as it has less resolution if you are cropping pics.
Lenses either the canon 100mm or sigma 105mm longer lenses may give you more focus distance but they lose out on weight, portability and ease of flash lighting.
I would get a set of extension tubes - either Kenko or Jessops.
You will also need a flash bracket, off camera flash cord and a decent ETTL flash gun- canon 430EX is good. either buy or make a diffuser.

You can see info on my camera setups here
http://www.flickr.com/groups/mimicry/discuss/66514/
and my photo gallery here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv
Brian V.

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I have to add that Canon D20 permits to use simple build-in camera's flash with lens Canon 100/2,8 macro. So I always use in mode -1 step, usualy. Otherwise you'll think about good light and lost fly itself.
As Kahis said D350 too small (1), D20 immedaitely ready for job (D350 - 2sec of waiting, often critical) (2), D350 - 1 season of real job, D20 resourse and price - two time more (3).
Nikita

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[quote]Kahis wrote:
[quote]jorgemotalmeida wrote:
I will have a budget of 2000 euros to buy a new camera and lenses...

> Canon 350D (the results would be the same with Canon 30D that just wins in Formula 1, and sports photos. ;) but as I don?t care about sports photo..
Just Canon 5D would be the next buy after Canon 350D not 30D...)

I have this camera and I like it a lot, but note that the camera body is *very* small. Many who have tried it found it just too small. It is barely large enough for me and I have the hands of a small girl :D


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I have very small hands too. Almost like a baby girl. :))) :| The small size of camera is no problem! :) (Indeed, I did take photos with 350D thrice time so I know that the camera fits great with my hands. )


]

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After all, thank you Brian, Kahis and Nikita.

"Let?s go for parts" like say Jack, the Ripper... (black humour..)


KAHIS:
"If you plan to photograph smaller insects outdoors you'll probably benefit a lot from a good flash rig or ringflash, something like this: http://www.eritja.com/a_suport.htm You can buy flash brackets, but building your own is not hard and much cheaper."

Ok. Now I know that light is very important. Or better, I knew but relegated for a second plan... now, I see this is an important issue to get good macrophotos.
thanks for the link. If I can buy a ringflash for 350D or 20D which do you advice? (any other can answer of course!)



LORDV:
I know your flickr site. ;) Besides, you know mine. ;) (remember omeuceu? :)

"I would get a set of extension tubes - either Kenko or Jessops."


Can you tell the precise set you choose for macrophotography please? Thank you.


"You will also need a flash bracket, off camera flash cord and a decent ETTL flash gun- canon 430EX is good. either buy or make a diffuser."

Is this flash will be enough if I get 105 mm or 100 mm macrolense Sigma?


NIKITA:

"I have to add that Canon D20 permits to use simple build-in camera's flash with lens Canon 100/2,8 macro. So I always use in mode -1 step, usualy. Otherwise you'll think about good light and lost fly itself.
As Kahis said D350 too small (1), D20 immedaitely ready for job (D350 - 2sec of waiting, often critical) (2), D350 - 1 season of real job, D20 resourse and price - two time more (3)."


2 sec of waiting is not good for insects... With my old camera - Nikon Coolpix 3100 - I must waited about 10 seconds (or more!) sometimes just to take the next photo... so, see my face when I realized that fly, or any insect escaped to far away. :(

Are you really advice to buy canon 20D? Believe that the size doesn?t matter because I did take photos with canon 350D without problems to manage it. My old Nikon Coolpix 3100 (now died...) was very small indeed, and never gets problems about that.


to all:

so in resume:

1 - Canon 350D / 20D ... (I need more comments, and read more reviews:)
2 - sigma 18-200 mm (this is for general)
3 - sigma 100 / 105 mm?
4 - one set of extension tubes (need more details)
5 - a lense 24 mm...
6 - a very good flash >> canon 430 EX or a ringflash >> which one??
any else?..

I feel that I forget something... please keep on to feedback so I can do a great shop! :) And most important: have a good material for macrophotography. I know the technique is important. ;) For the final result, it doesn?t count just the material. ;)

Thank you again to all.

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AH! One important question!

Sorry for some publicity but it is for a good cause. :)

I need to know if you can advice some very trust sites that sell (in Europe, and who can deliver the material for Portugal) this kind of material. I know just one: http://www.technikdirekt.de (or teknikdirekt.se/ sweden...) . I choose international because some cameras are more cheap outside of Portugal.. (I prefer that website gives warranty to material...)

Thank you for your attention!

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I finally got my Canon EOS 30D and Sigma 150 mm macro lens. The 350D was far too small for my hands. My latest submitted photos from late july and august is taken with this setup. I still have a lot to learn how to use this camera. I have no external flashlight yet. I think I will get either the ringlight from Canon or the corresponding Sigma ringlight. I'll get the MP-E 65* (x1-5x) later and hopefully the ringlights will work with both the 150 mm and the 65 mm ... One thing I have realized is I can't take 150 mm photos without my tripod. I have been thinking about a monopod, but I don't really think this will be steady enough because the depth of field is so narrow.

* I'm not really sure this is of any use outdoors, but I need the 1x-5x magnification for all the small insects.

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Which ringflash are you think to buy?

MPE 65 I wish. :))

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I'm must check if this fits both the lenses I mentioned, but maybe a Sigma EM-140 DG Macro Flash.

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I have not found this to be a problem. The wait is closer to 1 second I think; if you turn the on/off switch the camera is *almost* ready before you have lifted it to eye level. Perhaps it depend a bit on the model of memory card used?

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Thought this might be of interest to some of you.
1. the flash is mounted on a generic vidcam light bracket that I drilled through the top fitting and mounted a small ballhead on. The off camera flash cable fits on the ballhead. This allows me to move the diffuser/flash head to the end of the lens no matter what lens combo I have on at the time (I've successfully used it with a full set of ext tubes (65mm) and a reversed 50mm lens on the end of the macro lens).

2. For stabilisation in the field (actually my garden) I use a bean pole I simply grip the bean pole in my left hand at the required height and also grip the flash bracket handle (this does work even if you do not have a flash bracket). I've successfully used this method for shots upto 4:1 magnification (with an MPE-65). The bean pole is of course very fast to set up unlike a tripod or even a monopod.

3. Fitting a flash bracket to a camera solves any problems with the size of the camera and being able to hold it easily.

4. Focus is achieved by fixing the required magnification on the lens and then gently swaying back and forth and firing the shutter as you pass through focus (ie completely manual focus). Moving in this manner and not trying to hold focus prevents camera shake.

Brian V.

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[/quote]

Oh... I have just seeing this one. I emailed you a few moments ago.
Thank you for the answer.

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does it matter to do real macrophotography of insects/spiders to get a canon 30D and not Canon 350D? Besides that a bit more speed in shutter... and 1,6 frame ratio? Can the price difference justify the buy of canon 30D and not 350D? Please, quick answer. :)
Thank you!!!

ohh.... what do you think about 30D (with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens) - for 750 GBP = 1 112 EUROS = 1 420 USD ? (new, of course!) Thank you!

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I think both Canon EOS 30D and 350D has a 1.6 frame ratio ... On dpreview.com you can compare the cameras!

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Since everyone seems to be talking about cameras as well as lenses I thought I'd throw in something that camera manufacturers have suddenly woken up to and that is dust. With macro photos and using small apertures dust becomes a major issue as it shows up much more than in 'normal' shooting.
The latest offering from canon, the 400d is supposed to have various systems in to get rid of dust. However comparing it to a 20d it can actually be worse when doing macro shots. With the 20d (and similar cameras) you tend to end up with a few large lumps of dirt which have to be periodically cleaned off the sensor - I use a sensor swab. However with the 400d I have not found these large lumps but instead there is an covering of small specs all over the image which are more difficult to get rid of when editing the image. Because these bits of dust are small they don't show up at all during 'normal' distance shooting so canon has succeeded in getting rid of the problem of dust for people who don't do the exciting close-up shots but may have made it worse for us!!

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a year and a bit on from my comment, I would add that the 400d has been much better than 20d for not showing dust in thousands of images which are not close-ups and its only extreme close-ups that are worse than 20d so the dust removal system does indeed work for most subjects most of the time.

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i have my 400D from a year and something and hat dust remove from my experience don't really works. this is also valable for 40D. i have the camera from something like 2-3 months already some dust. i change the lens very often so is more likely that more dust enter.

i have to clean both camera sensors :d

cosmln