Thanks, Charlotte. I'd not quite got the history right.

I'd like to see the results of your new experiment.

I'll post a few more examples later. I might even go out now and see what I can do.

Mind you, my K5 have just developed the mirror slap problem, so it's boxed up ready to go back to SRS tomorrow. Thank goodness for warranties!
I'll have to use the K-r for a while.

Edit: Forgot to answer your question about ISO, Charlotte. i switched from ISO100 to 200 so as to use LESS flash. I rarely get too much of a problem, but there are sometimes bright spots on insects and leaves.

Damn, I knew someone would start asking questions!

Like I said, I copied the setup. perhaps Nass will come and answer the technicalities. Charlotte might know more than I.

The Nikkor is a very sharp lens. That I know. But I've no doubt you could use different combinations of lenses to do the job, but I don't know what the results would be. The 35-80 is a little long. It is really just a tube, but the advantage is that you can see what you are doing because the aperture doesn't close until you take the shot. Closing down the Nikkor would reduce the amount of light. What else would result I don't know. If you use the zoom at much less than the full 80mm, then vignetting results.

The reason this zoom is good to use is that it is cheap, and it is plastic. The front glass is moulded into the plastic, but you can just cut the plastic out round the outside and the glass comes out. The back glass is more difficult and fiddly, because of the contacts. These need to go back in place when you put the back together after removing the glass.

I was going to experiment with closing down the Nikkor a bit, but now I've got this setup working it's so much fun I haven't bothered.

You do need a steady hand, mind you!!

Having posted a few recent macros with the DFA100, I thought I'd post a few taken with a different macro setup. Apart from the K5, the remainder cost around 100 quid in total from ebay (plus postage). It entails:
A butchered (glass removed) Pentax F35-80mm zoom
Adaptor rings
Reversed Nikon Nikkor 50mm/f2.8 EL lens
Pentax AF something 500 flash (can't remember exactly)
Cheap diffuser.

I copied the setup exactly from Charlotte, who, I believe, got the idea from Nass.

All shots taken at 1/160th sec, ISO200, f32 on the zoom, the Nikkor wide open. Light varied by setting the flash, usually at 1/8 or 1/16.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this setup. You have to get very close, which is both good and bad, the depth of field is tiny, you can only get small insects fully in the frame, and the flash causes reflections and the background often is black, something which I have got used to.

I'll post some more if anyone is interested.

1.



2.



3.



4.



5.



6.



7.



8.

Thanks John. I didn't mean to sound impatient. Thanks for the response. I'll post some shots with that setup when I have the time, later today, hopefully.

Do you want true macro for insects etc, or just flowers, in which case a different option might be better?

If I ever get an answer to the question I have posed to the Mods........

Nice one, Charlotte!

Yes, the male scorpion fly. The female isn't so pronounced! We have quite a lot of them here, so not difficult to find. This one was in the back garden.

As my return to posting photos on the forum, I thought I'd post some recent macros for c&c. I've commented on David's, so now feel ok to post my own! Even if I've done some of the things that David has!!

All have been taken with my K5 (probably) and my DFA 100mm macro.

I have also a question for the Mods. I have a macro setup which is a K5, butchered Pentax zoom, reversed Nikkor 50/2.8 EL, and Pentax flash. Is that too much non-Pentax to post here?

Anyway, onto the legal shots..........

1.



2.



3.



4.



5.



6.



7.



8.



That'll do. Don't want you to get bored!

I have been a miserable git recently, and still have my moments. I'm hardly enthused by anything. Even david's thread about "What's happened....." didn't get me going, but I am trying to snap out of it.

Fortunately, this thread has provided me with a bit of a kick. One of the things I have carried on doing is take macros. i decided it was about time I put up some shots for c&c, but thought it only fair that I had a go at David's shots first, then he can get me back!

So, here goes.......

I quite like Blue Eyes, though I would prefer a square crop and a central position, and I'm not keen on the grassy straggle, so I prefer the 2nd one.

The 2 Early lunches, for me, need more of the scene in focus to work. the 2nd one works better, but the fly needs to be in focus too.

I'm not keen on Eye. I took one very similar last year, and haven't bothered since. The body is out of focus and, probably, needs to be more out of focus for the viewer to just concentrate on the eye.

Clinging On would be good if the whole damselfly had been in focus, but the wings aren't.

Is Damsel in Distress the same fly as in the previous shots? I've never seen one in this state, so that's interesting in itself. But I prefer whole ones.

Female Common Blue is nearly excellent, but a side on shot really needs the whole fly in focus, and it goes out of focus as you go down the body.

The Bumble Bee's head is in darkness, and thus has lost detail. Pity. Strange behaviour!

I like Launch Pad from an alien-look perspective. But i don't think you've caught the fly's best side!

I don't like Yellow and Green. If you are going to do a head in focus shot then the head really needs to be nearest to the lens.

David, I'm pretty certain you posted these just to get comments going on the forum again, because I know you have done many far better shots than these!!