Photography - Macro with 300mm + 50 macro, new level

[Tiago]

Hi, getting at a new level, getting better
Just shoot this ant today, hope you like it.
Nikon D70 300mm + inverter ring + 50mm macro
It is very difficult to focus... but the result is much much better now, but still something missing...

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

here same old ballpen, now much closer, with a lego as reflextion.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

[Demon Cleaner]

Cool pictures

[Harrison]

Those are really nice images. What magnification do you think you are getting? 5x? Definitely more than 1:1 that a normal Macro lens could produce. Very nice.

One thing I've always loved about Macro photography with real Macro lens' is the narrow focal range and extremely small depth of field. Shown very well in your pictures.

I had a go at the weekend to take some Macro shots with my new phone just to see if it was any good at Macro. Results were OK but not brilliant. Very hard to get the camera on the phone to focus to exactly the right point and hold it there. This is one of the best I managed. A picture of a Vapourer Moth Caterpillar I found in the garden. Very interesting looking caterpillar you have to agree. I especially loved its 4 yellow tufts of hair on its back.

Vapourer Moth Caterpillar.jpg

[Tiago]

Not bad for a Phone!

I think i am getting more then 5X. Hard to say how much.
and i didnt use the extention tube... i will try this next weekend the extention+300+50macro...

As you said, "the extremely small depth of field" it's a macro effect, and as you put inverted lens, or extention tubes, it's even smaller.
The ant head i shoot, i could only focus about 1mm ... and i am using a big "f" f:22 or F:32
the reason i am using it, is that using a light box, so i have plenty of light in there and with small "f" (2.8) i have to much light insde the lens, photo is totaly white.... even with f:5,6 or f:8 is still to much white, but even if i could shoot it with small "f" the depth of field would be to small, less then 1/2 mm. so big "f" is the best for this situation.
I can use the 300mm to zoom, and focus, but then the 50mm macro will be "dead" with no connection with digital, so i had to put the f ring to a +/- f:8 keeping the f: in 300mm at f:32.
the biggest problem is to get the object (ant) on screen... it will only appear between -5mm and +5mm the ideal zone. i took 10 minuts just to get the and on the camera.... more 15 minutes to try to focus it. I only was able to do it, because i connect the D70 to laptop, so the shoots i made, they went directly to laptop, so i could see the result very fast, and dont have to wait to remove card from camera and copy files to laptop, this only is really great. you shoot and it goes in about 2 seconds to laptop to a fullscreen.

[Harrison]

Such close Macro photography is definitely hard and time consuming, but put in enough time and you definitely get pleasing results. Keep at it.

Canon recently released a new Macro lens, called the MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x. As you can probably guess from the name it is a true Macro lens that can actually magnify up to 5x real size, which is a first for a proper standard Macro lens. It creates amazing results, but just as you have found using inverted lenses, this lens is also very hard and time consuming to setup and get the lighting, focus and aperture just right. Sadly this Canon lens is very expensive, about £700, so I'm not going to be owning one any time soon.

Using an extension tube with your setup you might be able to get even higher magnification, although remember that as you extend the lenses further away from the camera sensor the effective aperture will increase (get smaller) and will be harder to focus and get enough light into the camera, so long exposures might them be needed, which could be hard for a moving subject like an ant.