I need help taking macro shots on my 40D + 24-105mm F4L IS

[NeoTokyo]

Hey everyone.

I have been trying to shoot macro with my 24-105mm on my 40D but the pictures really dont come out how I would like. I shoot RAW so to leave room for editing but still it doesnt look right.

A lot are OOF or the body backfocuses which I really hate.
I do get keepers but not on the scale that I would like to have.
The keepers that I do have arent as nice as I have seen.

A friend of mine has a S5IS that shoots way better macro shots than mine does with a little $30 dollar clip on he bought from ebay. Of course our cameras are very very VERY different but he still gets better Macro shots than I do.

My non macro shots are perfect though :)

Thanks everyone!

-Eric-

[thebishopp]

I read somewhere (not sure if it was true) but that P&S's made for really good macro shots due to the very small size of their sensors.

Probably in your case it has something to do wtih the lens you are using (especially if your "Non" macro shots are coming out ok).

You will also probably get more help if you post pics as you are sure to get asked that (someone may even put up one of those "this thread is worthless without pics" gifs).

[NeoTokyo]

i will post some pics here in a few, just a bit busy atm because I just re-installed windows. :P

I went to a friends house Sat and shot black widows, grass hoppers, butterfiels, flies and flowers. I will post a few of those in a few.

I was thinking about the lens too, although it is a Macro lens as well perhaps its not best suited as that purpose, still Canon put the Yellow markings on it :)

[thebishopp]

I may be wrong but at certain focal lengths camera shake is going to be much more noticeable. Were you pics taken handheld? and if so what was your shutter speed?

[LordV]

You will find most macro shooters manually focus simply because the camera does not know what you are trying to focus on especially with the narrower DOF of a DSLR. Try fixing the focus (probably at minimum) and focus by moving the camera. The lens is not a macro lens- just has slight closeup characteristics - suspect it's max mag is around 0.25:1 whereas macro lenses achieve 1:1 mag. A set of extension tubes eg Kenko will allow you to get closer.
Brian V.

[Dalantech]

A few things:

I have the 24-105 F4 L IS and at minimum focus it is horribly soft. Do you have any other lens that you can use? Even putting a closeup filter on the 24-105mm like the 500D won't improve the image quality at minimum. It's very unusual for a 105mm lens to have a 1/4 life size magnification, so Canon had to do some tricky engineering with the focusing group on that lens ...

A point and shoot camera can take great macro shots because they can produce a sharp image circle at minimum focus and they have small lenses -usually around 5 to 7mm at the wide end. The ultra wide angle gives them a lot of depth of field. But the small image sensor in a point and shoot is also very noisy...

[NeoTokyo]

Well i solved one problem from my shoot on Saturday.... I had Flash Exposure Comp set to -2 which
messed up most of my pictures and I didnt figure it out untill later :P
idiot thing to do.

Next I was a little hurried as I didnt want to make my friends wait on me very
long.</p>
And lastly I have shakey hands :)

Of course the lens too isnt best known as a Macro lens though Canon prints it on it :D

Here are some examples I already have on my flickr.
My wifi isnt letting me upload right now.

This one I fired the flash. It is a 100% crop of a 2mp shrunk from the original 10mp.
I was very happy with this one though a 100% crop from the original file wasnt good
enough for me.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3225/2940556885_99381577f5_o.jpg
This next photo is of the Marbled Orb weaver on her web, no wind and dusk.
I am not too happy with this one, any larger than 1024x682 and it starts to look
worse.
I had to PP this one a bit to try to make it better. No flash.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3198/2940556809_e46367e62b_o.jpg

This next one I was on the ground and was very steady. I am quite happy with this
photo except at 100% crop. I took three shots of this and one
backfocused.</p>There is a little beatle in the middle of the cap that I didnt see untill PP. He
looks</p> like a spec in that picture.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3286/2941396882_a3a983662c_b.jpg

Check the rest of my flickr for examples of the lens for non macro shots.
I think they come out quite well but I dont know enough people to give me
commentary on any of my pictures.

[racketman]

great walkaround lens but not really suited to anything close to macro. Get a decent macro lens like the tamron 90.

[poorARTstudent85]

yea i have the 24-105 as well, and it just doesnt cut it for me when it comes to macro. if you are going to get serious about macro i would suggest the cannon 100. it is crazy sharp, and has worked wonders for me. it also doubles as a great portrait lens. just my .02

[NeoTokyo]

Ya, I was thinking about the 100mm 2.8 and a set of tubes.

Thats gunna have to wait till after my 5D MKII gets here though... Probably not till Feb when I get my taxes back.

If you have a moving bug what mode do you guys put it on? Servo? Or do you just stun it :P

[racketman]

as we tend to use manual focusing its more a question of chasing the moving bug and hoping for the best - try using AF on a bug in flight!
Basically pre set lens to magnification you want and then move whole rig in and out to achieve focus.

[NeoTokyo]

Shoot I can hardly AF on a spider let alone a flying insect!!! :P