Post your Spiders

[Bobobird]

Thanks again Chris.
Thanks Geoff - I do a bit of closeup with the flash and poke around in bushes and what not.. The flash has a stofen type diffuser and that does reasonably ok most of the time. What I tend to do is point the head sideways onto the surrounding foliage if any.

But... the biggest question is WHICH LENS? The MPE 65, nice to have 5:1 but will be a tad too short for outdoors, the 180 I can keep my distance but the AF is soooooo slow. Some insights from you guys would be appreciated.

[Nass]

I prefer to keep my setup as compact as possible. Here's a photo



I was using a bracket at first but I found that all the stuff just got in the way. This gives me massive diffusion & soft shadows because of the angles to the subject, but it's a lot easier to move around with.

[maloufn]

Canon 50D with a Canon 100mm macro f/2.8 plus a full set of Kenko tubes.
Canon 430EX flash on a home made bracket with a home made diffuser.
Camera settings: 1/250th max flash sync f/10-13.

Dear Chris,

Your setup is exactly the same as mine except that I use 580EX2. Same lens (100 f2.8 macro) Kenko tubes Camera model (canon 50D). I use Mini TT1 and Flex TT5 instead of Sync cable. I use some flimsy bracket that I need to change as it makes things awkward with the flash ans diffuser being unstable. Do you have to crop your raw files to get the desired magnification? I wonder how this would compare with an MPE65 1-5 lens??? or a 50mm reverse lens with Kenko tubes which I find almost impossible to use with moving objects and handheld.


I recently used this setup on a long legged fly seen below. C&C please.

[chrisa62401]

Dear Chris,

Your setup is exactly the same as mine except that I use 580EX2. Same lens (100 f2.8 macro) Kenko tubes Camera model (canon 50D). I use Mini TT1 and Flex TT5 instead of Sync cable. I use some flimsy bracket that I need to change as it makes things awkward with the flash ans diffuser being unstable. Do you have to crop your raw files to get the desired magnification? I wonder how this would compare with an MPE65 1-5 lens??? or a 50mm reverse lens with Kenko tubes which I find almost impossible to use with moving objects and handheld.

This is uncropped with my setup. The 100mm plus tubes is 2:1 magnification.

[chrisa62401]

Check out this thread on POTN for ideas.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php?t=142566

[maloufn]

Chris that is great. I never tend to use the full set of Kenko tubes and have to crop quite a lot. Ill try with full set next time. Ared you sure that is a 2:1 magnification?? It seems to be a lot more??

[chrisa62401]

Chris that is great. I never tend to use the full set of Kenko tubes and have to crop quite a lot. Ill try with full set next time. Ared you sure that is a 2:1 magnification?? It seems to be a lot more??

I found this, but I don't totally understand it. Someone on another forum already made the calulations for my combination.


((Total Extension - Focal Length) / Focal Length) = Magnification
Where: "Total Extension" is the distance of the lens' principal plane from the film plane. By definition, a lens focused at infinity is extended by its focal length. Then as you rack the lens out to focus you add more extension, plus any tubes or macro bellows.

[maloufn]

I found this, but I don't totally understand it. Someone on another forum already made the calulations for my combination.


((Total Extension - Focal Length) / Focal Length) = Magnification
Where: "Total Extension" is the distance of the lens' principal plane from the film plane. By definition, a lens focused at infinity is extended by its focal length. Then as you rack the lens out to focus you add more extension, plus any tubes or macro bellows.

THank you. Image what it would look like with a 5x mag!!!!!!

[Geoff F]

Bobo. That Canon MPE lens is a specialist lens for mostly close studio work and has a very narrow depth of field. Some people get great results from stacking multiple images with slightly different focus points.

But I would be wary of using it as an 'in the field' lens.

The Sigma 180 macro lens does indeed have a very slow and somewhat erratic auto focus. But who uses auto focus for macro work? Manual is normally so much better at avoiding those false focus problems.

Although, the auto focus can still often work faster than my manual focus for quick shots of bees, etc.

As an alternative, the Sigma 150 mm is a popular lens amongst entomologists. The 180 is definitely a heavy tripod only lens. The Canon 180 is probably very slightly better but at a substantial price difference!

But I repeat that the only really critical size with insects is the 'fly away' distance and that tends to vary depending on your choice of subjects.

While difusers were essential in the old days of fixed output flashes I still find that the best method of reducing flash impact, under real wild conditions, is to vary the exposure compensation and set all other settings manually.

My experiments with the Stofen either produced erratic results which were often too dark, because the flash output auto calculation didn't know that a difuser was in use, so I had to increase the ISO which actually gave worse results. Or I had to use positive flash compensation to over ride the Stofen so there wasn't really any quality gain.

I was particularly interested in trying to reduce glare and hot spots from shiny insects but never found any method which gave real benefits during bright conditions. In fact shooting without flash often produced worse results.

As did increasing the ISO and reducing flash compensation to minus 2 or even more.

And in case anybody is uncertain about the effectiveness of using extension tubes. They don't actually increase the magnification, well there is only a marginal increase. What they do is to get you closer to the subject, which creates a larger image. But that only works if you are physically able to get closer.

They can be particularly worth using with relatively long zoom lenses which have a minimum focus distance of around 3 ft or thereabouts.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Geoff for your insights.

Will go and check out the Sigma 150.

About extension tubes - that is how I use them either the 12mm or 20mm on a 70-300L, Don't get those eye-poppers like the one posted by Chris in post #265 above but certainly acceptable.

[GeorgeM]

My thanks to Geoff and those who posted info on their setups. Good stuff!!

[Letrow]

just weaving

[Geoff F]

Interesting web details there. Each species follows a basic design but these appear to get altered slightly to suit the circumstances of their surroundings.

[chrisa62401]

My wife found this in the basement. Well she screamed and I rescued it from her shoe.

[Loose Canon]

I'm not so good at identification. And spiders are starting to hide in my neck of the woods with the approaching cold. But I thought I'd toss a couple into the "web"!

[Fleshpiston]

Thailand (42 of 153) by Fleshpiston, on Flickr

I am pleased with this one as it was taken when I was on the back of an Elephant. I think it is a Orb weaver (Thai).

[kezmal]

Arghhhhhh, why oh why did I have to look! Now I feel like I have creepy crawlies all over me.

[elfbob]

[IMG][/IMG]
Close up cropped image

[elfbob]

[IMG][/IMG]
macro using 31mm exten tube w tele zoom lens

[elfbob]

[IMG][/IMG] this small Spiny Orb Weaver spider makes it difficult to get a frontal view, i took this macro standing on a step ladder around 5pm so the flash would highlight the web strands