Mollym/CA wrote in post #2134017
Better than the ring flash? I would sure like to see some pictures. No one is saying that either flash washes out the pictures --a problem I've had with the built-in and hot shoe flashes.
molly
The ring flashes have a number of issues. They give very flat lighting although the Canon on is in fact two half rings that you can control the ratio of. Ring flashed tend to give ring shaped highlights in reflective subjects.
The twin flash is wider apart and gives better modelling. The heads can be adjust for tilt and independantly roatated around the axis. The heads caneven be dismounted and used seperatly, they have little tripod screw threads in the bottom to aid this.
Any flash that is on axis will give flat boring light. So many get conventional flashes off axis using brackets.
Take a look at the macro section. If you don't mind bugs you can go through my bug shots on my web page, some of which are with the twin flash.
Mollym/CA wrote in post #2134017I notice that an Amazon reviewer who seems to be interested in the same minutiae as I comments that you can't see anything with the 68mm at 5x (so let the camera and flash do it), and another (who lives in the Arabian desert) says he uses his indoors (his palace no doubt) and it still sucks dust. That would seem to let me off dreaming about 5x magnification, but do you have anything to add? (Probably the impossible dream for monetary reasons no matter what--)
I guess you mean 65mm not 68mm. The MP-E 65mm is challenging to use and can not give lower magnification than life size. Thus you need a conventional macro lens also. I would suggest you start with an ordinary macro lens and get the hang of that unless yoy specifically need the magnification.
The MP-E can be used to 5X in the field but anything more than about 3X gets challenging. It is a fantastic lens and if you are into macro is a major reason to get a Canon camera; Nikon have nothing to touch it.
Having used bellows and macrophoto lenses in the past there is no way I would use those in the field.
If using the MP-E at high magnification I use a monopod with a lightweight ball head to held steady the rig for acurate focus.
I have not noticed a dust issue in particular with this lens, although it does grow in length by a factor of three between 1X and 5X.
Dust is an issue for macro work on DSLRs due to the large fstops numbers used, you will need to get used to cleaning your sensor and using the clone stamp.
Mollym/CA wrote in post #2134017"The issue about depth of field is one you can't get around "
I don't want to, actually, beyond a certain point --being able to blur out all the junk is half the fun of macro. But I'd like to get a little further down into a flower than the tips of the anthers.
"The best thing is to use a tripod and stop down"
Tripods are impractical in rough ground and undergrowth but I do use a monopod when possible, or a wadded up jacket or something
if it's a mushroom right on the ground. The stopping down part should go better with the flash, if the 10D co-operates and allows the MT24 to do its stuff with an aperture-priority setting. (It has a setting to allow fill flash with the AV setting but I can't say the results have been stellar, so far)
OK I use tripods with mushrooms. On flat ground I can get away with a general light weight pod. You might want to look at something like the benbo tripods which are very flexible - rough ground is not an issue, nor is having a leg immersed in 2 ft of water. They have a lateral arm that can be used for low level work. I understand some of the top Gitzos have this sort of facility. I have had a benbo for 25 years, I recently replaced my old Gitzo head for a Kirk head when the Gitzo cracked.
If your fungi are very small you might want to get a focus slide from Kirk or Really Right Stuff.
Mollym/CA wrote in post #2134017"If this still gives insufficient focus try focus stacking either using layers in photoshop or by using
focus stack software."
Wow. What a demo. I'll see what my Photoshop books say about stacking with its layers. Surely there's some trick of adjusting transparency? (Probably explained right here when I get to those sections--)
Thanks a lot. I'm one click away from the 100mm Canon macro...
molly
OK if you want to do this with layers all you do is copy each frame into the same PSD file as a layer (just select all, copy and past into the new doc.)
Select one pair and set the blend mode to difference, use the move tool to align them (ideally the shots cancel out and you get a black screen).
Switch the blend mode back to normal and add a mask to the upper layer. Select a black ink (assuming the mask is filled with white) and a soft edged brush with opacity and flow of 100%. Paint out where you want the layer below to show through.
It's easier to do than explain.
Finally you might want to have a look at my research page on macro hardware which might have helpful info and links.
Im not sure if this will put you off or not but here is a shot of a greenfly taken at 4X with the MP-E 65mm in my garden. The lighting is the MT-24. This example is focus stacked from 2 frames.
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And a mushroom, natural light, tripod 100mm macro, f16, probably about 3cm high
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