Not many insects in my garden - just can't compare with JBW's

[ajohnw]

I've taken a few shots with the Olympus m 4/3 60mm macro lens. These are 2 of them. Exif went awol on one as it went raw - png - jpg. It was a fly a little under 6mm long. E-M5, both hand held, 1600 ISO, available light - not as much of that as Brian has at the moment either,

I'm pretty pleased with the lens and wish I could have gotten closer to the fly but was blocking light. It may actually do 1:1. Not sure yet. Next task will be something to direct the light from a flash. Not sure of the best home made root to that.






So far the bumble bees seem to be hyperactive and just wont stay still.

John
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[Geoff F]

Yes everything seems urgent at this time of the year. Most species are frantically flitting around, unless you catch them actually feeding; and even then they keep moving from one flower to the next.

We need some lazy weather to slow them down a little. Particularly the males.

Not sure about that bee. One of the Andrena species and rather looks like A. flavipes but there are several which look similar.

Some people use tubes etc to direct the light into a different angle and there are brackets to mount an external flash unit in a different position.

But there are risks that having too much gear 'up front' will scare your live subjects when shooting 'in the wild'.

I normally shoot with a standard mounted external flash for that reason; but I always use a little bit of flash output compensation to suit the scene. And usually set the camera manually then allow the flash unit to find its own auto flash level.

There will always be potential problems with using flash though. But sometimes it is the only option to get a narrow aperture (say F14) without having a high Iso setting and ending up with a 'noisy shot'.

[Shadowman]

Nice effort. I saw a few external flash setups for the Olympus line, didn't want to invest into it yet as I am still fiddling with my DSLR setup.

[ajohnw]

Flash wouldn't be a problem if Olympus supplied an ordinary flash with the camera. The one they supply is powered by the camera so brackets plus leads are out with that. I've wondered about ring lights but both the power units and the rings dwarf the camera. Lens too which has a 46mm filter thread. It seems that some of the older Olympus ring flashes would work on 4/3 cameras and should still work on m 4/3.

Small is beautiful but finding a suitably small flash unit isn't easy. I'm wondering if I can make something that uses the supplied flash from a fibre optic christmas tree. If I buy a gun I think I will find out how well Metz units work with Olympus.

John
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[IzzieK]

Flash wouldn't be a problem if Olympus supplied an ordinary flash with the camera. The one they supply is powered by the camera so brackets plus leads are out with that. I've wondered about ring lights but both the power units and the rings dwarf the camera. Lens too which has a 46mm filter thread. It seems that some of the older Olympus ring flashes would work on 4/3 cameras and should still work on m 4/3.

Small is beautiful but finding a suitably small flash unit isn't easy. I'm wondering if I can make something that uses the supplied flash from a fibre optic christmas tree. If I buy a gun I think I will find out how well Metz units work with Olympus.

John
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How about those lens light? I have a ring flash and I find it really good for the short distance between subject and camera and you can control the brightness of your light from the controls. Your best bet is to try one in a camera store then make up your mind.

[ajohnw]

I've tried a LED ring light on a microscope Izzie. In fact it's still around some where. Not that impressed. In the extreme easiest macro is TTL flash, camera in manual at max flash sync speed and set at F ratio to suit the insect. That way distance to subject doesn't matter as the TTL looks after the exposure. I've done this on a Pen using a 100mm macro lens that only went to 2:1 but higher magnifications put the lens closer to the subject and block the light from the flash. I'll sort it some how. One answer is to use the nikon + macro lens plus converter and maybe an extension tube - but really want to concentrate on m 4/3.

John
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[IzzieK]

I've tried a LED ring light on a microscope Izzie. In fact it's still around some where. Not that impressed. In the extreme easiest macro is TTL flash, camera in manual at max flash sync speed and set at F ratio to suit the insect. That way distance to subject doesn't matter as the TTL looks after the exposure. I've done this on a Pen using a 100mm macro lens that only went to 2:1 but higher magnifications put the lens closer to the subject and block the light from the flash. I'll sort it some how. One answer is to use the nikon + macro lens plus converter and maybe an extension tube - but really want to concentrate on m 4/3.

John
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John, I use TTL on my ring light. I like it. Maybe you just have to get used to it? Hmmm.... I have an Oly 4/3 and I like it very much. Every now and then I take it out to use it. It is a great camera. I have the 510.

[ajohnw]

Think we have wires crossed Izzie. I thought you had mentioned LED ring lights. I would agree flash type ring lights are great. The only problem I have with them is that they dwarf the camera and the lens on m 4/3. Even the Olympus 4/3 one which I understand I could use. Makes the whole thing a bit cumbersome. Actually a flash gun scaled to the size of an E-M5 is more or less none existent.. Anything with even moderate power looks huge on it.

I suspect I will buy one of the smaller Metz guns at some point. Those seem to be more in keeping with the camera than even what Olympus offer at the moment other than ones which don't offer all that much over the one that comes with the camera. I'm not keen on Olympus flash prices either. Prior to dedicated flash guns arriving most pro's used Metz gear.

John
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