Yeah that's classic K10D GX10 noise (and banding) I almost never go over 100iso!
I use a radio remote and everything on manual. The scene is lit by the light reflected off the paper, rather than direct pin light from the flash head.
I am going to try a 2 litre milk bottle painted white on top. The paper works well but it often scares off the insect.

thanks Gareth - yep, 47mm of tubes. I'm a real close-up junkie

Can't claim to be new to macro - I'm just new to proper macro lenses
I normally reverse a 28 onto tubes which gets super duper close but you have to virtually touch the fly and they're not keen on that...
I use a normal flash with a sheet of paper taped to it, to spread out the light above the insect just like the sky. I sometimes hand-hold the flash.
The biggest advantage of a proper lens is you can turn round and photograph the deer behind you
But before you go out and buy (or steal ) a macro lens, here's a couple with my 99pence lens.


.

Finally got me a proper macro! whoo hoo!
D-FA 100mm Macro arrived yesterday and I stole a few minutes to snap the flies in the garden. I immediately realised I would need extension tubes and the old problem of having to get really close hasn't entirely gone away, but the lens is beautifully sharp and so far I'm very pleased.
Most of my snaps suffered from motion blur despite the flash because the ambient sunlight was strong enough to create a residual image but not strong enough to get me to f16 on iso 100. (roll on K20D)
These are OK, but some more practice is needed with this new setup.


.

Took possession of Snootchies' Flash this week (thanks Bob) and immediately tried it out in its most common use for me - macro.
This isn't much of a photo but I thought I'd share the spectacle of this fella's weaponry! They are folded in two! I wouldn't want to be his victim

Male(?), Zebra(?) jumping spider, about 5mm.



more macro photography

your first one has a nice quality to it Roger. worth a little experimentation with saturation and selective sharpening (as opposed to all over) in PP
I think all the usual things help to overcome whatever limitations your equipment has, but just having the camera available is priceless.
I know a lot of members have the fuji 9600 so I make no apologies for submitting these

Twoz me wot got the flash I'm afraid. Still mourning the loss of my Metz

Is the *ist DS the one with the good high-ISO performance?

My 58 af-1 is still broken after going pop last November.
I sent it to Intro2020, the official (and only?) service dept who wanted £178 for a new tube and PCB. I complained that that would nearly buy a new gun and that it shouldn't have gone pop in the first place. They offered to knock off £20.
I contacted Metz.de asking to be made an exception and given the parts free and they said Intro2020 were correct to charge and nothing else could be done. Intro2020 have the monopoly apparently.

Does anyone know if there is any way to get the part myself and fix my beloved flash? I feel like I've lost an arm

They're beautiful Tim. Fascinating, I could stare at them all for ages.
Love the Altai one best.

got some sensor dust on the that last post, tsk tsk.

As above, but create a transparent PNG rather than a GIF, then you'll get nice anti-aliased edges against any background.