MP-E65mm f/2.8 Macro

I haven't bought any lenses for a while, but today I splashed out on the above Macro lens. I haven't even attached it to my camera yet, but interested in hearing if anyone has any tips on using this lens. I do have the MT-24EX as well, but will be needing a focusing rail I'm guessing. Can anyone recommend a make and where to purchase in Melbourne?

Thanks in advance,

Barry

I only use a focus rail for staged shots in the apartment (water drops and large focus stacks). The majority of the time it's hand held. I don't know much about your flash but you'd probably be better off spending the money on diffusing your flash.

I'd say just get out there and find some bugs and don't worry about the rail.

Any reputable camera store will have them. Try Camera Lane/Camera Exchange/Vanbar/Teds/M​ichaels in the city. One of them will have one. If not, eBay is only a click away!

I should have added that I use his macro rail purchased from ebay. here's the link http://cgi.ebay.com …ain_0&hash=item​3cb4725b69

I'm happy with it.

Barry,

I've several focussing rails over the past few years and can maybe offer some pointers.

Initially I had the same (or similar) to the one "paxonator" suggests. It was okay for smaller bodies (30D size) but not stable enough with a 1srs body.
Next up was the Manfrotto version.....it simply didn't cut it for me.
Following on, I used a Velbon Supe Mag Slider.....nice piece of kit but I was frustrated by the backlash in the system when using it horizontally.

I've finally settled on a Novoflex Castel Cross-Q for my needs. Works well with a 1srs body, nice and stable and mates well with a RRS Arca plate when I use a lens without a tripod mount.
If you're soley going to use your 5DII then the Velbon would be adequate but the 1D may prove a little weighty

It's no surprise that the rails I've tried increase in price as the quality and usability go up the scale.

Bob

I would suggest looking in both the Macro Images forum, and the Macro Talk forum on here.

One of the best users of this lens is Lord V, here is a link to a "TIPS" thread he started. It may help:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=807056

Thanks for all of the above tips... some very useful advice so far... I guess it will take some time to work my way through it all...
Cheers...

barryvj171 wrote in post #11896629
Thanks for all of the above tips... some very useful advice so far... I guess it will take some time to work my way through it all...
Cheers...

Advice eh... this lens is amazing, attach a flash and get shooting! The view finder gets rather dark when the magnification does up. And, unlike the tilt shift lenses, this lens has NO focus confirm what so ever, but who needs that in macro anyways?

I rented one of these last Summer and it is an amazing lens. The main problems I had was a very dark viewfinder and keeping the lens steady. Your average working distance is about one and a half inches and any slight movement seems really magnified in the viewfinder. You don"t have to shoot on a rail. If you use a flash with diffuser you can shoot hand held. Lord V or Lord Venitari as he is sometimes known uses a beanpole to steady the camera. There was also an excellent macro photographer who posted in the fred miranda forums. He also used this lens and had some tutorials on line as well as youtube. His user name was Delantech.

If shooting live subjects you might find a tripod and focus rail too cumbersome. I mainly use mine for ground-dwelling wildlife and for that use it handheld, with my left hand touching the ground to steady the lens at its end. I'll use either the MT-24EX, or a hotshoe gun on a macro bracket, so shutter speeds are not a problem, just getting accurate focus. It comes with practice. At lower magnifications you can handhold at higher levels on leaves in bushes etc.

The other thing to remember for best results is not to stop down all the way. Although your depth of field may suffer slightly by opening up, sharpness suffers quite badly by stopping down, especially at higher magnifications. I use f/8-f/11 at 1X, opening to f/5.6-f/7.1 at 4X or 5X. I noticed an immediate sharpness improvement compared to f/16.

To expand upon MAdWeasel's point about the image quality, simply put each time you increase the magnification of the lens the actual aperture decreases, even though the camera body itself reports no change (its only reporting based on the aperture blades themselves). Thus as you increase the magnification your aperture is already getting smaller, you're gaining the depth of field, but you're also running fast into where diffraction makes a noticable softness on your photos - the result is you have to open up the aperture (on the camera's readout) in order to retain optimum sharpness.
http://www.flickr.com …4/sets/72157623​350445656/
Have a look through that set there (fullsize accessable on all) to see how things change as you change the magnification.


Also as for the focusing rail Canon Bob has really summed things up - the cheap ebay rails I've found to be fairly strong enough and are good for a budget choice. Thereafter its really the domain of either Novoflex or Stackshot auto rails
http://www.cognisys-inc.com …d7523bb31c6aa57​0e885287aa
Both different and costly approaches (though sometimes you can get lucky with novoflex rails selling cheap second hand when shops/ebayers don't realise their current market worth).

Lighting and diffusion is a complex area and slightly tricky with the twinflash because you don't have all that much room to play with on the flash heads. There are several methods out there and I'd recommend reading the following pages and blogs for advice on this (note NoCroppingzone has some great allround macro shooting advice with the MPE)
http://nocroppingzone.​blogspot.com/
http://www.juzaforum.c​om …viewtopic.php?f​=2&t=12633

You can also check out
http://www.juzaforum.c​om …/viewtopic.php?​f=2&t=4901
for a collection of macro shooting ideas as well, of course, as the macro section here on POTN which has some great articles by LordV and also other authors.

Madweasel wrote in post #11900861
The other thing to remember for best results is not to stop down all the way. Although your depth of field may suffer slightly by opening up, sharpness suffers quite badly by stopping down, especially at higher magnifications. I use f/8-f/11 at 1X, opening to f/5.6-f/7.1 at 4X or 5X. I noticed an immediate sharpness improvement compared to f/16.

Thanks for this info mate... that's really useful to know... Cheers...

Overread wrote in post #11901089
To expand upon MAdWeasel's point about the image quality, simply put each time you increase the magnification of the lens the actual aperture decreases, even though the camera body itself reports no change (its only reporting based on the aperture blades themselves). Thus as you increase the magnification your aperture is already getting smaller, you're gaining the depth of field, but you're also running fast into where diffraction makes a noticable softness on your photos - the result is you have to open up the aperture (on the camera's readout) in order to retain optimum sharpness.
http://www.flickr.com …4/sets/72157623​350445656/
Have a look through that set there (fullsize accessable on all) to see how things change as you change the magnification.


Also as for the focusing rail Canon Bob has really summed things up - the cheap ebay rails I've found to be fairly strong enough and are good for a budget choice. Thereafter its really the domain of either Novoflex or Stackshot auto rails
http://www.cognisys-inc.com …d7523bb31c6aa57​0e885287aa
Both different and costly approaches (though sometimes you can get lucky with novoflex rails selling cheap second hand when shops/ebayers don't realise their current market worth).

Lighting and diffusion is a complex area and slightly tricky with the twinflash because you don't have all that much room to play with on the flash heads. There are several methods out there and I'd recommend reading the following pages and blogs for advice on this (note NoCroppingzone has some great allround macro shooting advice with the MPE)
http://nocroppingzone.​blogspot.com/
http://www.juzaforum.c​om …viewtopic.php?f​=2&t=12633

You can also check out
http://www.juzaforum.c​om …/viewtopic.php?​f=2&t=4901
for a collection of macro shooting ideas as well, of course, as the macro section here on POTN which has some great articles by LordV and also other authors.

Thanks also for taking the time to write all this down for me, including all the links. I really appreciate the effort you went to. The Stackshot rail seems like the go, any idea what I can buy one and how much they are? Do you have one?

Kind Regards,
Barry

The only place I know to get them is from the stackshot website itself. I also don't own one myself, though linden.g does use one (as well as a few other products by the same company)
http://www.flickr.com/​people/13084997@N03/
He's a friendly chap so I'm sure if you have any specific questions he'd be happy to answer them for you if you send him a flickr mail.