Thanks - I'm almost as red as the ladybird

That was my first ever macro shoot - probably just go downhill from now on.

I suspect the quality of the M 50mm is just as good as many of the expensive macro lenses. The 'proper' lenses just make it easier. I had to get within a few inches of the ladybird and the DOF was tiny.

I tried lots of set-up shots, but, as mentioned earlier, the ladybird upped and left just as I was ready.

In the end I picked it up, turned it around in my direction and waited for it to come into focus when I was able to take a quick burst of shots. This was the best one.

I forgot the exif won't be complete so it was 1/320 at f8, ISO 200. It was nice and sunny which probably helped with the lighting and giving me the ability to use a reasonably fast shutter speed. I did play around a little with sharpness and contrast in Paintshop Pro as well.

I have to confess that I did come close to using a dead one so it stayed still, but it was too dull. The live one was nice and shiny, if a little grumpy. It probably helped that it had just woken up if it's anything like my kids in the morning.

Is there any way of preserving the image size and clarity, but keeping further away from the subject? I have a 135mm manual lens as well, but presumably I would need to add 135mm of tubes for the same image ratio which would be a bit unwieldy.

Pete has a 3x macro converter for sale which I've been considering. If I understand it correctly that might get me the same image ratio from further away, but I'm concerned about the impact on image quality. I'd rather spend a long time getting one decent image than get lots of poor ones.

This macro thing is a bit addictive, though. I've just come in from a hunt in the polytunnel for more victims......

Thanks for the advice on the macro rail. I'm certain that would have made it easier. Micro adjustments by moving a tripod back and forth on a gravel path with a fence in the way isn't ideal.

Thanks John - I was looking in the same place as the fortnightly one.

Finally some decent weather so I thought I'd get out and try to take a few macro photos with my ultra expensive set-up of M 50mm 1.7 (as new - £24) and Ashai Pentax 50mm auto extension tube bought for £8.

I learned that you need a great deal of patience, co-operative subjects and a focus rail for the tripod. I can be patient, the ladybird I rudely awakened from hibernation wasn't co-operative and I don't have a focus rail.

After much humping about of my new tripod to try and get in the focus range of around 1/10 millimetre (so it seemed) I did manage to get a few pictures of which this is the best, presumably though sheer luck rather than anything else.

It's not earth shattering, but does show just how sharp a cheap manual set up can be if you work at it. It would actually stand a fair bit more magnification before losing the sharpness, so very impressed with this old lens.

[IMG]http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp15/chriseast/ladybird.jpg[/IMG]

No ladybirds were harmed during the making of this photo

Any suggestions for a cheap yet decent focus rail for my tripod gratefully received. Anyone used this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Focusing-Slider-Olympus-Pentax-digital/dp/B004MC4YDQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1330259701&sr=8-2

Unless I'm going completely mad I can see the discussion area for the macro competition (obviously), but can't see the actual competition itself. Come to that I can't see any of the weekly competition entries, so presumably I'm missing something?

I've just bought a Redsnapper RSH-12 ball head which is superb. It's £59.95 plus postage, but there is a 10% discount code available. It's at least the equal of anything else I've seen/tried for double the price.

http://www.redsnapperuk.com/camera-accessories/RSH-12_Ball_head.html

Already past the BIN price

He is only a year old which is why we decided in the end to have the operation done. It's very unusual in cats and even more unusual to need both doing. We are amazed at how he has recovered. He is back more or less 100% after 6 weeks - running, jumping etc. He lacks a little spring still and can't quite reach where he used to, but is getting stronger every day.

We expect him to recover fully and have no further problems. The joints are gone now and his legs just held with muscle and fibre so he can't break them again!

He had this on both hips

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femoral_head_ostectomy

Got in terrible pain just after Christmas and turned out to have snapped both ball and socket joints in his back hips. From the X-ray it seems that they were very thin and probably mal-formed due to a problem during the mother's pregnancy. It was odd becuase he is a big boned and sturdy cat everywhere else - weighs almost 7kg and he isn't fat (or fully grown).

Amazingly 6 weeks after the operation he is almost back to normal despite not having any ball and socket joints in his hips any longer. It took a fair bit or hard thinking whether or not to go ahead with the operation, but it was worth it in the end, even if I did have to sell my two FA 50mm's to help pay for it!

Six weeks down the line, £1600 lighter and I can still only stroke half of mine

[IMG]http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp15/chriseast/013.jpg[/IMG]

Sorry, it's me not making myself clear as usual.

My K-r manually focusses perfectly with large apertures whilst using the viewfinder. On the occasions it doesn't it's down to my error, not the camera.

It is hard to get perfect focus with large apertures sometimes because of the shallow DOF, but once it's in focus in the viewfinder, it's in focus in the resulting photo.

Dan is clearly a fairly experienced photgrapher and he is finding that this isn't the case with his K-r. It's in focus in the viewfinder, but not in the photo. This leads me to suspect that the camera has a problem. The obvious answer is to try another K-r and see if the problem is still there. If it isn't problem solved.

If it is still there then his lenses/technique need to be looked at next.