A couple of red digger wasps on a butterfly weed, with a new rig

[DanK]

Neither of these is quite spot on in terms of focus. These wasps are VERY skittish, and they move very fast when feeding. However, I wanted to try a new rig. I made two changes to my equipment:

1. I replaced my DIY diffuser, made of a soda can, parchment paper, and gaffers tape, with a cheap Vello softbox. The DIY one is excellent, but I got tired of trying to get the adhesive off my flash. The new one is fine, except that these shots show that I need to add a layer of diffusion. There are too many specular highlights. The other problem is that it's larger, which is fine in principle but scares the critters more.

2. Instead of using a 36mm tube on a 100 mm lens, I used a 10 mm tube and a 1.4x teleconverter. That allows me to be farther away and allows a bit more magnification, if I get to MWD.

C&C welcome as always.

[lesno1]

These are outstanding Dan i realy dont think you could do more with the focus looks good to me well done

[Wavelength]

Excellent macros!!!

[billtils]

Agree with Les. Also your post reminds me I have been in 100% binary mode re 1.4TC or extension tubes - why not try both!

[DanK]

Thanks, all.

Bill, the Canon 1.4x won't fit on my 100mm macro lens, so I have to add a 10mm tube to get it to fit. The combination is pretty good if you want really close shots.

I'm going to play with putting tubes on my 100-400, which is a relatively close-focusing lens, for whole-body shots, but I think the whole thing will be to heavy and unwieldy.

[Chataignier]

Terrific ! I find that many insects are difficult because they move so fast and unpredictably, keeping in focus is a nightmare. Well done to get these.

I have the canon 100mm f2.8 too and continue to use it on the Fuji X-T3 with an adaptor, am awaiting delivery of some fuji compatible extension tubes.

[Geoff F]

I do the same thing and use a 12 mm extension tube as a spacer in order to fit that Canon 1.4x to a Sigma 180 macro lens. The only trouble is that you lose the ability to focus on subjects which are further away. Such as a bird which briefly comes fairly close but not quite close enough.