It can become expensive, but it can also be done on a budget. My ringflash was a cheap viltrox jy.... something or other, I'll look it up, cost me 20 quid, but works really well. Bellows or ext tubes, I will say that if you fancy stacking then maybe bellows as it already has a rail built in that can be mounted to a tripod. And a diffuser, I made mine from coffee tin an a plastic mixing bowl.

Cheers guys, I will either get it working the way I want or I will revert back to my ringflash, I have a few empty coffee tins, that I plan on re-purposing

Is it possible to unfriend people on here ????? only joking Steve, I am not even going to try

2 more from yesterday


IMGP7167ed1sm by dr.shutter, on Flickr


IMGP7109ed2sm by dr.shutter, on Flickr

I changed my flash this week and have found some good points and some bad, hopefully the bad is something that I can overcome.
The biggest issue is specular highlights, but that is mainly down to diffusing, I also need to come up with a hood for my lens as I had one built into the ringflash diffuser I used to use. I havent manage to eliminate the specular highlights but I have gotten them down by about 80% Id say.

Here are a few flies from today, not quite where I want them to be yet, but getting there
Click through to flickr for larger sizes and more detail.


IMGP7051ed2sm by dr.shutter, on Flickr


IMGP7069ed2sm by dr.shutter, on Flickr


IMGP7105ed2sm by dr.shutter, on Flickr


IMGP7114ed2sm by dr.shutter, on Flickr


IMGP7205ed2sm by dr.shutter, on Flickr

Hi Steve you are a bad man. Bad man

Everytime I've been out shooting I'd take a few, 2 weeks it's taken me to get this one. this is it for me. No more please.

The ferrofluid wasnt my idea, I saw it on YouTube, ordered it from Amazon and instant weirdness. The spikes range from about 3mm to maybe 6mm in length. The closer the magnet, the smaller, tighter the spikes. Pretty cool stuff, but with plenty of warnings, skin / eyes.
Cheers again
Derek

Cheers Peter. It's a liquid
Its ferrofluid and that's how it reacts when you bring a magnet in from underneath

I had a long spiel written out about issues with diffusing my new flash, but my pc just hiccuped and it disappeared, Im not writing it all out again, anyway its something Im still working on.


2019-05-04_10-58-44-01 by dr.shutter, on Flickr


2019-05-04_10-58-37-01 by dr.shutter, on Flickr


2019-05-04_10-58-52-01 by dr.shutter, on Flickr

Its great to see you trying out something new, Excellent idea trying it out on something dead, no fear of it flying away
I think you could possibly make things a little easier on yourself by not trying all 3 ext tubes at the same time, build up to the extra magnification. the higher the magnification, the shallower the DOF.
I dont know that lens you are using, but at f29 you are probably suffering from diffraction, if you reduce the magnification, you wont need to stop down as much.
Some kind of flash is going to help a lot, and dont worry about getting it all in focus from the start, get comfortable getting different parts in focus, Mess about, enjoy the experimenting, and keep showing us your images as you progress, You will get plenty of advice and help, as there are lots of macro shooters on here.
I am looking forward to seeing more, and great shooting btw.

Derek

Ctracking shot, really pops. Well spotted and taken

Just fabulous images, Happy shooting

Yep, that's my thoughts too, ah well at least you should get your refund. So no real great loss. It was definitely worth a try. 👍👍👍