Experimenting with table-top macro

[billtils]

This is posted in the spirit of sharing lockdown experiences, and absolutely not as anything else.

As some of you will know I've dabbled in macro/close up for a good few years now, and thought I had settled on an approach that suited me, namely outdoor flowers and insects shot with the 300mm + 1.4TC which is my birding gear, works well, and saves me carrying an extra lens around as I can shoot any interesting close-up subject seen on the birding walks. But that was before lockdown, and for the last few weeks I've been exploring variations on the theme of table-top macro/close-up.

First up was trying the 50mm lens with a reversing ring but as all good experimenters know you should anly change one thing at a time and so I wanted to use the CaptureOne tethered shooting procedure as tried out (successfully, in my view) here. But of course that wouldn't work as the contacts required for electronic control cannot be engaged with the reversed lens. So, off to Duck Duck Go and a search for alternatives. One that appealed was to use extension tubes as these can be attached to any lens and provide lots of flexibility in regard to magnification, but there were too many posts critical of build quality and availability/effectiveness of the coupling. However the tube set made by Dorr seemed to come out well, and although there were only a few reviews I decided to give it a go.

Price and delivery were good and I was impressed with the physical quality of the kit. And best of all it worked seamlessly with the camera electronics/CaptureOne tethering. Here are two "Daffodil" shots, captured as described above, and processed in Zerene.







I'm well aware that they're not great, but as the first step in the journey I'm happy enough. (If the journey tite is "keeping sane in lockdown" then it's working).

[russellsnr]

Hi, No expert but IMO good first attempt. Just a suggestion but have a look at QDSLRDASHBOARD for Windows computer if you use Windows? That is a free app that will allow you to do focus stacking along with the fact that you can get a much larger image to look at on a PC monitor if you have to get focus correct and also you do not need to touch the camera to trip the shutter. Just my 10 pence worth. Russ.

[Astro]

Hi Bill,
nice to know someone else who Duck Duck Goes!

I thought that lockdown might have been a bit frustrating, but so far, a bit like you I found myself catching up on long standing good intentions to do a number of 'indoor projects'. Actually it has turned out interestingly challenging.

I do like your little flower.... I 'presume' that the 'stamens' are not actually paper match heads.

I use Helicon Focus for tethered shooting (in the field) which does the job. My next table top challenge is to try some 'extreme' macro and I'm currently looking for a rail which will allow me to advance on a micro millimeter basis....I have a number of dead insects to develop the technique on,

My nephews and niece, who exercise a lot, keep asking why I'm dong such 'weird' ,(their language, not mine) things.... I told them I am now so grown up that I can go back to being childish, messing around satisfying my curiosity!

Good luck with your messing... errrr... experimenting!

[Astro]

Russell, thanks for the tip, you have just given me a new rabbit hole to explore... (I just told Bill I was planning a bit of extreme macro, so it should be a useful 'aid'!

[billtils]

Hi, No expert but IMO good first attempt. Just a suggestion but have a look at QDSLRDASHBOARD for Windows computer if you use Windows? That is a free app that will allow you to do focus stacking along with the fact that you can get a much larger image to look at on a PC monitor if you have to get focus correct and also you do not need to touch the camera to trip the shutter. Just my 10 pence worth. Russ.

Thanks Russell. I'm a long-time Apple guy so good intent but not going to happen, or not that way. However, what I do with the tethered shooting in CaptureOne and driving the camera from the display on my iMac screen is essentially the same thing as you describe and since I aready have the software for other reasons, it's free (sort of).

[billtils]

...
I do like your little flower.... I 'presume' that the 'stamens' are not actually paper match heads
...
Good luck with your messing... errrr... experimenting!

Thanks Russell. The "flower" is a lapel thingo (generic technical term for "I don't know what to call it") my wife got years ago when there was some sort of Daffodil themed charity appeal on the go. And "messing" is much closer to reality than "experimenting". I tried stacking some years ago and had Helicon and Zerene but found it easier just to shoot with the longer lens and greater depth of field. This time around when I searched the archives on the computer(s) only found Zerene but I'm delighted with how it works. I did try the routine that comes inside Photoshop but was not exactly blown away.

Bill

[odds]

...But of course that wouldn't work as the contacts required for electronic control cannot be engaged with the reversed lens.

Novoflex may have a fix: https://www.novoflex.de/en/products-...canon-eos.html

--
Odd S.

[billtils]

Novoflex may have a fix: https://www.novoflex.de/en/products-...canon-eos.html

--
Odd S.

Thanks Odd. Great range of interesting stuff on the Novoflex site. Sadly none of it is for Nikon F-mount lenses.

[billtils]

Making progress. This small housefly (approx 1cm long) found in the garden shed (already dead). Taken with 36mm extension tube on 50mm lens, stack of 12 processed in Zerene. Based on a ruler in the uncropped shot I think that the magnification is between 1.5 and 2x.

[xpatUSA]

Good one, Bill.

[DanK]

Looks good! I'm on a small laptop at the moment, so I can't be sure, but it looks to be free of stacking artifacts.

[billtils]

Looks good! I'm on a small laptop at the moment, so I can't be sure, but it looks to be free of stacking artifacts.

Thanks Dan. I stacked both ways and there were no (obvious) differences. Only problem area I can see is that the tip of the tail is a bit soft.

[billtils]

Good one, Bill.

Thanks Ted. I'm glad to be making some progress. The extension tube thing is quite a bit more complex than just sticking on a dedicated macro lens. There do seem to be some advantages though, for one the combo of different tube lengths with different focal length lenses gives some flexibility, and then there's the cost element! I had a mid-range macro lens (the Tamron 90mm) but the IQ fell off quite a lot outside of the f/8 to f/13 range so it got traded in the purchase of the 70-200mm which already has had more use in a couple of months than the Tamron had in over two years.

[xpatUSA]

Thanks Ted. I'm glad to be making some progress. The extension tube thing is quite a bit more complex than just sticking on a dedicated macro lens. There do seem to be some advantages though, for one the combo of different tube lengths with different focal length lenses gives some flexibility, and then there's the cost element!<>

Indeed, once one goes beyond sticking on a dedicated macro lens, complication does set in. When I mostly shot watches and watch parts long ago, I tried all sorts of tricks - the rack thingy, the so-called "macro" filter, the lens backwards on the lens, extension tubes - all of which were difficult to use or gave quite poor results. For that work, I ended up with a Raynox 10-diopter DCR-250 for beyond 1:1, and it was good enough.

Ref your fly - as him while in New York said: "Fly? Call that a fly?!! etc ..."



As you say, easy to shoot when already dead.

[billtils]

Ref your fly - as him while in New York said: "Fly? Call that a fly?!! etc ..."

[rudi]

Looking good Bill !!
Stay safe.