First Post - Planning on diving into macro photography!!

Alright... I'm sure it's somewhat of a religion thingie whether or not to use a tripod for macro shooting, but as I'm about to venture into macro photography and getting first part of my gear within a week, I decided to do some research in regards to what my next purchases should be, and I've come up with the following:

The lens I'm getting is the 150mm Sigma Macro... I've heard nothing BUT good things about this lens.

I can't afford a ring flash, and from what I can read - some people say that the lightning you can achieve with a Speedlite 580ex II with a softbox is unbeatable... so I figured.. fine - I got one of those.. let's gear up to be able to use that. So.. therefor I've found and planning to get the following:

LumiQuest SoftBox II - Looks great, and lots of people are praising their stuff.

Manfrotto 233B Flash Bracket along with a Giottos GH1004 mini ball head to mount my 580 on...
.. and finally Canon's OC-E3 shoe cord...

This should give me a fairly nice setup for handheld macro shooting, right?

I'm asking because I'm not only a newbie in macro photography.. but a newbie and very excited amateur photographer who didn't get his first DSLR until 9 months ago... Canon EOS 40D...

Macro photography is just so mindblowingly beautiful and definately my taste.

Btw.. here is a picture of a Manfrotto 233B. It is just not fitted with the ball-head I intend to put on it.....

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interesting setup, you might want to defuse your flash abit more than that tho!

amelsen wrote in post #5943332
Alright... I'm sure it's somewhat of a religion thingie whether or not to use a tripod for macro shooting, but as I'm about to venture into macro photography and getting first part of my gear within a week, I decided to do some research in regards to what my next purchases should be, and I've come up with the following:

The lens I'm getting is the 150mm Sigma Macro... I've heard nothing BUT good things about this lens.

I can't afford a ring flash, and from what I can read - some people say that the lightning you can achieve with a Speedlite 580ex II with a softbox is unbeatable... so I figured.. fine - I got one of those.. let's gear up to be able to use that. So.. therefor I've found and planning to get the following:

LumiQuest SoftBox II - Looks great, and lots of people are praising their stuff.

Manfrotto 233B Flash Bracket along with a Giottos GH1004 mini ball head to mount my 580 on...
.. and finally Canon's OC-E3 shoe cord...

This should give me a fairly nice setup for handheld macro shooting, right?

I'm asking because I'm not only a newbie in macro photography.. but a newbie and very excited amateur photographer who didn't get his first DSLR until 9 months ago... Canon EOS 40D...

Macro photography is just so mindblowingly beautiful and definately my taste.

Btw.. here is a picture of a Manfrotto 233B. It is just not fitted with the ball-head I intend to put on it.....

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From the Lumiquest website talking about the Softbox II:

Get the Lumiquest Softbox instead. It's more than enough diffusion.

Rest of the stuff looks like a good setup, although the bracket looks a touch big/heavy. Agreed about the handheld thing. Have fun!

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum! I use a sto-fen for a lot of my shots, it's not very good. I do plan to go with the Lumiquest myself, by all accounts it's excellent. I also intend to get a pair of Wimberley flash brackets.

I also use a Sigma 150mm and it is an excellent lens. Drawbacks? Weight and size. It will take getting used to, especially if you are new to macro. Bonus is the extra working distance, although it's not as vital as many would think.

Feel free to check out the macro photography tips on my website.

Dave

AHhh... good info.. I hadn't spotted that about the lumiquest - thanks =)

And.. I'm not sure about the manfrotto... I've read from some people who use it for macro photography who recommend it...

I would have preferred the Wimberley.. but boy thats expensive....

No worries.
I'm using the Novoflex Flash-Griff. Have you looked through the Macro Rig sticky thread here for some other ideas?

Hey Troy...

Actually.. I was having second thoughts about that Manfrotto after having talked to a few...

Another flash bracket I've seen is the Delta Flip Flash bracket.. and apparently they have a second model with an 18" flexible arm... that actually looks very useful...

Here's a picture of a rig fitted with it:

Pic not showing, but I know the bracket. I've read that it can be a bit wobbly, probably moreso with the 18" version. You don't need the length IMO. See the photo of my bracket in prev post? With my 430EX on that and the LQ Softbox, the diffuser is flush with the end of my 100mm lens and 68mm of tubes. I wish I had a photo I could show you.

... dang... thats not good..

Hrmm.. Not sure I like that one your linking to... also - I'm getting a sigma 150mm.. and if I need to have room for extension tubes as well.. and perhaps a tele converter...

... perhaps I should get the manfrotto 330B.

So many choices!

In all honesty, avoid the delta, not a very stable bracket - I should know, I've used one for nearly 2 years.

Dave

Thanks for the heads-up... I appreciate it.

Hrmm.. wonder if I can justify purchasing the wimberley...