if you could invent any tool to assist with macro

[calypsob]

If you could invent any tool to assist with your macro photography what would it be? I ask because I have the hopes that some industrial engineer or designer will pay attention to those of us who wish to see future improvements in the field of macro. so feel free to chime in with an idea.

I love using a 4 way rail because it allows you to pan and zoom however if I could have a vertical up down X axis added to the focus rail fixed above a ball head, that would be FANTASTIC. I lost alot of shots today because I had to loosen my tripod neck and lower the head, It just doesn't have the geared finesse of a focus rail. Also I would prefer for the X axis to fix to a ball head so the ability to pivot would not be lost. So theres my 2 cents.

[Larry Weinman]

A decent diffuser for the MT24-EX.

[DQE]

I would really like a convenient, practical zoom eyepiece magnifier. I would find this more convenient than using Liveview, especially considering that the camera sensor overheats if one uses this in a sustained manner. Also, it's hard to use Liveview in sunlight. There are of course Liveview attachments that permit one to look at a shaded and magnified view of the LCD viewing screen, but I find them to be less than ideally convenient.

With an optical viewfinder magnifier (probably 2-3x mag), I could quickly and accurately verify focus in the optical viewfinder, and then quickly and easily zoom back out to an unmagnified view for a final composition check.

So far, I have not had much luck in locating even a simple (non-zoom) , high-quality, Canon-DSLR based viewfinder magnifier attachment...

[hadgo]

Dedicated macro pop up flash diffuser. I can't afford any flashes so I use a pringles can on the pop up. It works but It isn't ideal and I look a bit of a pillock with it on. A dedicated one with changeable strength diffusers would be quite good.

[T2i4me]

Something to hold the flower still when the wind is blowing, that can be a real pain when outdoors

[Madweasel]

Originally Posted by T2i4me

Something to hold the flower still when the wind is blowing, that can be a real pain when outdoors

Look up Wimberley Plamp - someone has already thought of it.

[Madweasel]

Originally Posted by DQE

...So far, I have not had much luck in locating even a simple (non-zoom) , high-quality, Canon-DSLR based viewfinder magnifier attachment...

Have you looked at the Angle Finder C? Although you don't say you want the angle finder part of it, it does offer magnification and excellent optical quality.

[calypsob]

I thought of another one today. You know those office chairs with the gas release suspension that let you go up and down? I would love to have a monopod that could do that with the touch of a thumb so that I could quickly change the height of my monopod to get a subject in focus. Its really hard to hand focus macro subjects greater than 2:1 and I think a monopod like this might be of alot of assistance.

[DQE]

Originally Posted by calypsob

I thought of another one today. You know those office chairs with the gas release suspension that let you go up and down? I would love to have a monopod that could do that with the touch of a thumb so that I could quickly change the height of my monopod to get a subject in focus. Its really hard to hand focus macro subjects greater than 2:1 and I think a monopod like this might be of alot of assistance.

I like your idea for a variable height monopod.

What works for me is to move my almost fully extended monopod so that is sits at an angle to the ground. This way, by changing the angle to the ground, I can easily and quickly effectively shorten its length as needed without having to adjust the length of the monopod's segments. [EDIT:} the monopod is also equipped with a small ballhead, set to moderately strong friction, so that I can easily swivel the camera around as needed. I also use an attached Arca-Swiss clamp to attach to the an add-on camera plate, so I also preserve my ability to quickly and easily adjust or fine-tune the monopod's height. I often press my leg against the monopod to add additional rigidity while I try to focus on a rapidly moving bug. If I need to work without the monopod, I can very quickly remove the camera from the monopod's Arca-Swiss clamp, and just let the monopod fall to the ground. It's much easier to do than to describe in words! In practice, using this setup quickly became automatic and usually doesn't interfere or delay my monopod-supported, semi-handheld photographic access to most bugs.

I'm sure the bean pole users have a similar system, probably based on grasping the bean pole at a different height.

Hope these comments are helpful or that they stimulate more useful ideas.

-------------------------------------------------
EDIT: I added a sentence or two about my preferred use of a small ballhead in conjunction with my monopod, and made some grammatical improvements on 5-10-12.

[racketman]

ability to superimpose a mm scale onto photos in camera would be great but possibly useless come to think of it as subject size would depend on location in frame.

[DQE]

Originally Posted by T2i4me

Something to hold the flower still when the wind is blowing, that can be a real pain when outdoors

Have you looked at a gadget called the "Plamp"? It's a soft-jawed clamp that attaches to a tripod leg. The flower stem is held by the soft, flat jaws of the "Plamp" (Plant Clamp) without harm. I think bhphotovideo.com and other stores sell these things. I have one but don't do much tripod shooting these days. It works OK, IMO.

I've also seen a system where the macro photographer placed a moderately large transparent, thin plastic cylinder around a plant, shooting over the top edge of the device. Basically, this is just a thin sheet of transparent, fairly rigid plastic that acts as a wind shield for the plant. This system presumes that the plant is growing from the ground and is no taller than the cylinder.

[DQE]

Originally Posted by Madweasel

Have you looked at the Angle Finder C? Although you don't say you want the angle finder part of it, it does offer magnification and excellent optical quality.

I have the Canon Angle Finder C, and it works OK except for having a right angle in its shape!

I would love to have a much shorter, non-right-angle, variable magnifier that would simply slide on and off of the viewfinder frame. I don't shoot much from a tripod and really want to use the viewfinder in its standard geometry, with the camera pressed against my face as usual. This works best for hand-held field macro, for me.

I've also looked into electronic viewfinder gadgets, that seem to consist of a small device that attaches to the viewfinder, creating an image of what the viewfinder sees on a small LCD screen. At the moment, I can't see much difference between that and LiveView, unless one has a need for remote control of the camera through such a device.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[paint_the_light]

a magic spray that makes all bugs happy to sit and pose while i get the shots i want

[Idlefrog]

Originally Posted by paint_the_light

a magic spray that makes all bugs happy to sit and pose while i get the shots i want

Me too!

[BasAndrews]

So Idlefrog, you want a spray that keeps you happy?

There are probably laws about that.

For me I would like a Brian or Kurt that holds the camera frames the picture and sorts all the technical stuff. In music recording it was known as a talent plugin.