Macro - with and without a Macro Lens

Macro has always been a fascination for me and I love nothing better than to get out on a bright day and take a few shots. Recent posts of macro images shot with non-macro lenses inspired me to get outside today and shoot a few images, with and without a dedicated macro lens. Hope you find these interesting, all are with the K-5iis.

Little Hoverfly on Water Forget-Me-Not - SMC Pentax K55 F.8 & Extension Tubes, F8, ISO 400





Late Summer Feeding - Pentax-A 50mm F1.7 & Extension Tubes





Hello Smiler! - Sigma 105mm DG EX Macro





Ghostly Fly - Pentax-M 50mm F1.4 & Extension Tubes




All are in natural light, hand-held with no camera support. CC invited as always.

Regards
David

Nice set David, Can I just ask. On the shots with extension tubes. What was the tube length ?

Hi Stuart, I think they were all with a full set - 68mm, but it's possible that the hoverfly ones might have been with 56mm; I can't quite remember which length I had on when taking these.

Also, apologies for some lack of info on some of these, I forgot to add the aperture values:

#1 Pentax K55 F1.8 set at F8
#2 Pentax-A 50mm F1.7 set at F8
#3 Sigma 105mm DG EX Macro F2.8 set at F8
#4 Pentax-M 50mm F1.4 set at F8

Regards
David

Great set set David I see your getting ready then lol

my Macro with out the Macro and it was lovely too! shot with the pentax 50mm lens and K-O1

All great David. Something for me to aim at in the future.
Question! Are these hand held or mono/tripod mounted? If so how do you get the little creatures to stay still long enough to set up???????
CHEERS Vic.

Hi Vic, all of these are hand-held, there was no camera support used. It's tricky because they don't stay still!! Worse still the wind blows and plants move about all over the place, but basically you need to learn how to overcome these issues. A lot of it is about being in the right place at the right time - i.e. learn which insects go where and wait for them to come!

It all takes a lot of practice and the keeper rate can be very low, but it's very rewarding when you get a good shot.

Regards
David

Thanks David. CHEERS Vic.

They are all superb David. Level of detail is staggering.

I take my hat off to you because having just spent the weekend playing with my A50 1.7 and Ebay extension tubes, i know exactly how difficult this is. The DoF is so shallow that just a small amount of movement by the subject or yourself and the shot is ruined. My keeper rate was 0%, so practice and patience must be the name of the game.

David, have you tried "catch in focus" it may give a few more keepers although you are doing pretty well. not envious , much

Great set of pictures - you must have been really 'up close and personal' with the critters !

"have you tried "catch in focus"" - Is there any way to use 'catch in focus' with OLD manual extension tubes [the sort I have] other than using the lens wide open in AV mode ?
Regards Gary

Hi Joe, Hi Gary, thank you very much for your comments and questions about 'catch in focus'. The K-5 User Manual, P134 explains how Catch In Focus works, with any manual focus lens as follows:

1. Attach a proper lens to the camera
2. Set the focus mode lever to AF.S
3. Set the focus on a position the subject will pass
4. Press the Shutter Release button fully. The shutter is released automatically when the subject comes into focus at the set position.

Based on the above, I would imagine that CIF should work with Extension Tubes and also with any manual focus lens, but I can't seem to get this working on my K-5iis with tubes. I don't use it anyway, but it would be nice if anyone can give any further insight as to using this with tubes.

Regards
David

A really nice set.

I am getting really interested in macro now.

Regards

Jeff

an alternative for 3 is to move the camera to the subject with the shutter release held down.
it does not require a manual lens, it can be an af lens that has a switch to switch to manual focus, i use an af lens (FA50)on a 2x manual macro converter this disconnects the lens from the camera. this lens also works with my Jessops extension tubes but it seems to be a lot more difficult to lock focus with these, have only tried this tonight so the light is not very good and the set up may prove better in good daylight. these tubes do not allow af David so any lens on the end of them becomes a manual focus lens and the aperture is controlled by the camera
have just done this with 44mm of extension tube, lens focus set to infinity

Don't forget that CIF triggers at a different point if you
move the lens in towards the subject compared to if you
move away from the subject.

There are also two different points if you use the focus
ring from infinity or from min. distance on the lens.

Using f/8 to f/11 might lose this in the DOF.

You can of course change it to suit with the built in lens
adjustment compensation.

--