Suscces is not macro lens. It's other gear. Suggestions.

[J Rabin]

Many recent threads comment on Canon macro lenses. Too much misplaced dependence and words on lenses and SLR. Elusive success is more dependent on light and stability. Lack of DoF is mostly due to insufficient light and OOF blur is due to subject movement or camera movement or both. F/16-22 is minimum for full shots unless “creative” OOF depth is goal. Hope these ideas help.

1. Get a heavy tripod with ability to lay camera mount over, like a Gitzo Explorer, Bogen Pro, Benbo, or Giottos, etc. I use Giottos aluminum. Carbon legs flex too much. Giottos is my “poor man’s” Gitzo.
2. Outdoors, here is what I use to hold plants, or plants with insects. I formerly used bent shirt hangers and potato chip bag clamps, but graduated! www.tripodhead.com/plamp.html or www.mcclamp.com/index.html. Digital LCD provides shadow feedback, but not OOF or movement blur. These little gear are truly helpful.
3. Use flash with a diffuser (even paper), homemade side reflectors, or at least off-camera shoe cord to move light around. I cannot justify dedicated ring flash.
4. Start bringing samples indoors and build a light table. The best book I have is a 1970/80s out of print 35mm how-to-build macro setups guide. No equal book today. Closest is new Michael Freeman guide on Digital Closeup Photography showing how to setup and light. You can buy a light tent like the RedWing Cocoon, but hard to move objects around. They're more for eBay items.
If you have more money than time and skill, buy (instead of build) an expensive Kaiser Fototechnik table top macro bench, which we have at work: www.kaiser-fototechnik.de/en/produkt.asp?artikel=5930. In US it’s sold by HP marketing with cool 18W daylight balanced 5400K fluorescent lighting (not enough). www.hpmarketingcorp.com/kaiser.html

[maderito]

J Rabin,

Thanks - great post.

I think many are aware that serious macro photography requires skills and tools not available to most of us without a subsantial and additional commitment to equipment. For those who have a commitment far less than total, can you suggest some practical tips for working up close?

Specifically, how would you set up a macro shot without a tripod - with and without a flash?

[Adam Hicks]

While I obviously do not have the experience from the first poster, I've shot a lot of macro and have had some fantastic results. You ask about shooting without a tripod or flash, and it seems pretty simple. If you have the available light and/or a still subject, you don't need either one. If you're shooting something in the wind or something that moves, you need a flash. If you're shooting something stationary, available light is fine with a tripod. Shooting something that moves without a tripod or flash is going to be pretty darned hard otherwise, unless you want an ISO1600 image, which defeats the purpose of macro photography 99% of the time IMO.

Since I like to use f8-f16+ to get halfway decent DOF on my Canon 100mm Macro at ISO100 I almost always need a tripod or flash.

Just my $.02

[Biko]

J Rabin any chance of posting some of your macro shots?

[FlipsidE]

WOW!! Thanks for the great post!

FlipsidE

[Jesper]

I agree - the Canon EF 100 f/2.8 Macro is a great lens - super sharp and very good for macros, but in every one of those posts about macro lenses I've mentioned each time that taking a 1:1 magnification macro photo is not easy.

It's practically impossible to handhold the camera at that magnification - you really need a good tripod. At f/2.8 and 1:1 magnification, almost nothing is in focus - the DOF is less than a millimeter, so yes, you must stop down, which also means slower shutter speed, which makes the need for a tripod even greater. The DOF preview button (at the bottom of the lens mount) is handy for previewing what will be in focus.

Manual focus almost always works better than auto-focus for macro photos. If your camera has mirror lock-up, use it to reduce vibrations from the mirror (Custom Function 12 on the 10D).

[J Rabin]

Respected all comments. For more Canon gear macro fun, more ideas.
1. Get a family digicam that has it's macro closest focus at about 20cm (5cm is kind of too close). Because of small sensor size, and the HUGE resulting gain in DoF, some digicams take remarkably decent macro, not close to 1:1, but fun. The Minolta A1, A2, the Olympus's can take some really interesting macro pics.
2. Many digicams and dRebel and Canon 7 Series film have electronic remote release. Use if you got. For Canon 10D, Canon RS80NS cable release (used or grey mkt on eBay) is a must have.
3. Get a BEAN BAG, or better, MAKE a bean bag and use it with mirror lockup if you have it (yes 10D, no on dRebel or Nikon D70). In the UK, bean bags are rightly popular for wildlife photography, but placed on a log, or stump, they double as super $10 macro support.
4. Maderito. If no tripod in field and low f/stop shallow DoF with Canon 100mm macro, WALK/CRAWL around subject and find an angle where most of the BACKGROUND (vegetation, bark, etc.) is FAR from the subject (8 feet+). When you expose, that background will show as a solid color (just like colored background on a light table indoors), and hence OOF blur effects are reduced because they are LIMITED to the subject. I'd like to show you a handheld Brood X 17 year Cicada post, but can't figure how...
5. Biko: How does one share photo's here? I went to sharing forum, but it looks like one must access and use a public host, and then use a "pointer" to it. I do not have this. Am I missing something? I wanted post a picture of the Brood X Periodic Cicada for Maderito to show Canon 100mm macro handheld at 1/60 f/4.5. It was "what not to do pic," but I had no tripod at time.
6. Not all "close-up" fun has to be "macro." On Canon dSLR one can make some nice close-ups with regular lens at their close focus setting with everything from Canon 28-135mm or Tamron 28-75mm etc.
Thanks guys.

[robertwgross]

I have an interesting twist on the usual macro gear. Typically, I am going after a butterfly that has settled momentarily on a flower, so I'll have a few seconds to snap it before it is gone. Of course, if I have to maneuver too close (like a typical macro), then I'll scare off the butterfly.

Instead (and I know this sounds weird), I use my 100-400mm lens. Somebody will say "But that has a minimum focus of 1.8 meters!" And that is correct. However, I cheat by sticking an extension tube on it.

The 100-400mm zoom provides some extreme magnification, and the extension tube shortens the distance somewhat. I can wander around with my tripod folded into a monopod, and the whole thing works from a distance.

---Bob Gross---