Macro lense?

[Extinctionjet]

im about to buy a 105mm sigma for my canon eos 400D
how would i do this? http://knold.deviantart.com/art/furry-little-nerf-herder-61393048

[Bill Pham]

get as close you can and shoot. then crop it if you have to. but i don't think you'll need to crop it that much if at all. good luck with it.

Bill

[racketman]

extension tubes would be a useful accessory.

[valkabit]

extension tubes would be a useful accessory.

Extension tubes would be useful, but if your not familiar with shooting macro, they can be a challenge. To put it properly, they will add to the challenge, because macro is a bit of a challenge in the first place.

[troypiggo]

^^ Agreed. Get comfortable with shooting 1:1 first, then worry about getting higher magnification.

[Extinctionjet]

^^ Agreed. Get comfortable with shooting 1:1 first, then worry about getting higher magnification.

i just shot some images
http://rafpilot.deviantart.com/art/Wing-of-an-Angel-90531521
and
http://rafpilot.deviantart.com/art/Macro-Stretch-90524480
for example, what do extention tubes do?

[scrumpy]

im about to buy a 105mm sigma for my canon eos 400D
how would i do this? http://knold.deviantart.com/art/furry-little-nerf-herder-61393048

"how would i do this? " With a little difficulty. I have the Sigma 105 and any macro shot with this or any other lens presents problems, particularly DOF.
Before you part with your hard-earned cash, have a look at the stickies in the Macro Section, you may glean a few ideas.
BTW, there's only one 'e' in lens ;)

[ben_r_]

If you wanna shoot something like that you should be putting your money towards a Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x Macro Lens and Canon MT-24EX Twin Light Flash combo.

[amfoto1]

You'd need a macro lens plus some extension tubes to get that much magnification with a typical wolf spider. The photographer mentions he reverse mounted his 50mm in front of his 100mm macro, so it's probably more than 2X or 3X life size, and a Sigma 105 (or most any other macro lens) will just give you 1X life size by itself.

Besides the photographers method of reversing a 50mm (to act as a diopter lens), or some extension tubes behind the 100mm, there are some other possible approaches to get the same shot.

One alternative would be the Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens, which starts at 1X and goes to 5X life size, all by itself. It's a pretty specialized lens though.

Another approach would be to use a 1.4X teleconverter, perhaps along with the extension tube. It couldn't be a Canon 1.4X, because those have a protruding front element that won't allow the teleconverter to be mounted to a Canon 100mm macro (and, I have to assume, any of the other macro lenses in this focal length). Other brands of 1.4X don't have that protruding element and might be used.

And, Canon offers the 250D close up diopter lens, that can be mounted on the front of a macro lens as well as any other. (Also the 500D in some sizes, but for higher magnification you'd want the 250D).

Finally, another way would be to use an extension bellows. This is simply a variable and extra long extension tube. Depending on the lens used with it, 2X, 3X and even 5X and 6X is generally not a problem. Now, Canon doesn't make a bellows for the EOS line and EF mount (the MP-E 65mm serves that purpose instead). I believe Novoflex does, but it's rather pricey. It will maintain aperture and AF control, though. An alternative is a generic bellows fitted to the camera with a T-mount, and just about any macro (or bellows) lens that can be fitted to the front of it.

Personally I'd try to do macro shots with just extension tubes or a bellows, since that way there are no optics involved. Any time you mix glass and optical formulas together, you risk not getting very good image quality.

Scrumpy is right about DOF. Razor thin at those magnifications. One way to resolve that problem is to use a flash, so you can stop down and still have enough light to work with. There are various macro flashes available, but in this case a single 420/430EX or 550/580EX with an off camera shoe cord, handheld slightly above and to the side, would work just fine. You might expect shadow issues using a single flash like that, but it acts like a giant soft box to a tiny critter like that, so the light tends to warp around the subject and fill the shadows just fine. *Might* need a white or silver bounce card to fill a little, but I'd try it without it first.

Why the Sigma and not the Canon 100mm? Just curious. I haven't tried the Sigma. It and the Tokina 100 and the Tamron 90mm all seem about the same price as the Canon 100mm. I use the Canon and the Tamron (in an older, manual focus version) and both are good lenses. I have no doubt the Sigma and Tokina are, too.

Does the Sigma have HSM? The current version of the Canon has USM, which helps make it a good dual purpose lens. Thanks to USM the AF is fast enough at non-macro distances it can serve as a nice telephoto too (just use the focus limiter switch). I don't know how fast the other lenses' AF is.

Also, there's an accessory tripod ring available for the Canon. It costs another $150 or so (but there are some cheaper, made-in-China third party ones avail.), but it's a very useful accessory with any macro lens. Do the other lenses have a means of installing a tripod ring? I don't think the Tamron does, but don't know about the Sigma or the Tokina.

[troypiggo]

i just shot some images
http://rafpilot.deviantart.com/art/Wing-of-an-Angel-90531521
and
http://rafpilot.deviantart.com/art/Macro-Stretch-90524480
for example, what do extention tubes do?

Nice and sharp photos there.

Extension tubes are mounted between the camera body and your macro lens. They are just that, tubes, no glass/lenses. So they put distance between the lens and sensor. What this means is that you can focus more closely than what the lens was designed to do. If you are using a macro lens, this means you can get higher magnifications.

[Odd Socks]

I shot the following (100% crop) with the Canon 100mm macro. The spider was about 3mm long. I was just over a foot away, & the shot's been heavily cropped!

[John_B]

Extinctionjet,
The photo you posted a link to says:
Artist's Comments
a wolf spider i found running around outside.
taken with my 50mm reverse mounted onto my 105mm
So you need 3x life size macro to do the same photo, a full set of Kenko extension tubes will only give you 2x life size. You need a male to male adapter that allows you to screw on a 50mm lens onto your 105mm lens backwards this gives 3:1 life size macro or you could use a MP-E 65mm f/2.8 that give 1-5x macro