|
|
|
|
 #2423 22 Apr 2020 at 5.09pm | |   |
|
In reply to Post #2422
I've got plenty of them 
With the general lower cost of glass in mft land its too easy to say "I'd only get £100 for that I might as well keep it"
My cull took a bit of a twist with the failed body upgrade. Whereas the em5 line fit in a pocket with a small prime, the em1 line don't, sooooo I'll be keeping the 5ii when I get the em1.
Which means I need to have a cull elsewhere, I think I can part with my 45 1.8 and I've never liked my 75-300. I do need to get rid of a selection of nissin and yongnuo flashes but I'm not sure flashes have much resale value.
|
|
|
|
|
#2422 22 Apr 2020 at 4.24pm | | |
|
In reply to Post #2421
1 in - 2 out
Gotta be ruthless or you end up with cupboardfulls of redundant toys 
Decided to sell my 400 5.6.
It owes me nothing at this stage and I just don't use it.
That may well pay for the Raynox AND a tube of Pringles 
|
|
|
|
|
#2421 22 Apr 2020 at 4.12pm | | |
|
In reply to Post #2420
I can but its a balance, getting enough of the subject sharp and clearing the background, and the transitions tend to look a bit scruffy to me, whereas with a longer focal length it's cleaner. Sort of sharp-bit soft-wtf is that vs sharp-bit soft-fuzzy-I think that's a flower  If everything stayed still for a stack @2.8 it'd be nice
I think I'd be tempted by a macro at around 120mm, but I don't know of a native one and tbh my bank balance can't keep up with my wants
|
|
|
|
|
#2420 22 Apr 2020 at 3.35pm | | |
|
In reply to Post #2418
Can you not lower the aperture to throw the B/G out?
If it's out of focus you can get away with blowing it a bit more.
|
|
|
|
|
#2419 22 Apr 2020 at 3.34pm | | |
|
In reply to Post #2418
Double post
|
|
|
|
|
#2418 22 Apr 2020 at 3.10pm | | |
|
In reply to Post #2417
The difference in the bottom two can be seen in the highlights in the droplets, having the two light sources doubles the amount of specular highlights. I'm thinking blocking the sun is the way to go if you can do it without spooking the subject, as that's the smallest light source, I'll see if I can find something hairy either dead or very patient.
I had two flashes on the bag I picked up today, so I was using one to lift the background, looked nice despite me not getting anything worth sharing. One of the downsides to the shorter focal length is the cluttered backgrounds in certain situations, if I lift them till they're just clipping it might be better. I'm sure I'll have a play with that in future.
|
|
|
|
|
#2417 22 Apr 2020 at 11.18am | | |
|
In reply to Post #2416
Apart from a slightly different focal point I can't see a difference in the bottom 2 at all.
Next thing I'm going to try is a more flared diffuser, as you say, to widen the source
It's a trade-off between function and portability/subject-scaring. Obviously the wider you make it, the worse it is for getting in. under leaves etc.
@ Yonny - thanks 
|
|
|
|
|
#2416 22 Apr 2020 at 10.58am | | |
|
No prizes for guessing, but one shot is direct Sun, one Sun with fill from a low angle in the same direction as the sun and one lit by softbox blocking the sun
Straight from camera jpegs
|
|
|
|
|
#2415 22 Apr 2020 at 8.49am | | |
|
Some incredible shots here lads 
|
|
|
|
|
#2414 22 Apr 2020 at 8.44am | | |
|
In reply to Post #2413
My big rig
I even put the hood on to give it a phallic extension the flash will be a similar size to yours for scale. I have a thin layer of diffusion at the joint and a slice of bog roll behind the lid. It's easy to see why I have the grip on, it's really unbalanced with that flash, olympus not making one for the mkiii was probably the biggest reason I backed it
Today I'll have a go like this, the flippy screen helps when you can't get in position with the viewfinder, it's a bit too bright out for it to show in the pic but the screen is set so when I turn the focus knob it magnifies the view x3 and turns on focus peaking, basically the are in focus will glow
I reckon I'll need 1/4 to half power to get f8 with this box, I'd love to try it with my ad200s but that'll have to wait. I could use a smaller 4 inch box but with this I can actually block the sun to lose those harsh specular highlights
I could actually go a bit smaller using my nissin i40 controlled with the clip on flash that's the size of a matchbox, but it hasn't got the guts for that box and can be a bit hit and miss as it needs line of sight
|
|
|
|
|
#2413 22 Apr 2020 at 7.16am | | |
|
In reply to Post #2412
Nope - it's really hard on the elbow and wrist 
Just a few grams shy of 3Kg.
A quick grab shot is fine but holding and waiting for optimum pose gets painful quick.
I'll get a lighter set-up when the world goes back to being a big shopping mall again but I think the lens will stay.
My bird rig is well over 4Kg.
|
|
|
|
|
#2412 21 Apr 2020 at 8.32pm | | |
|
In reply to Post #2411
You must have some guns throwing that around💪
I'll do some pics tomorrow of my macro rig, and my streamlined alternative
|
|
|
|
|
#2411 21 Apr 2020 at 8.06pm | | |
|
In reply to Post #2410
Nice one - I'll have a good read of that 
This is the current best...
Tube is foil-lined, doubled up freezer bag on the front
|
|
|
|
|
#2410 21 Apr 2020 at 7.20pm | | |
|
In reply to Post #2409
brilliant source of info for all things flash
I read through 101 102 and 103 over a few days and revisited bits quite regularly. Not much specifically for macro but all the principals and techniques can be scaled down.
I think I'm going back to my juggling technique, separating the camera and flash makes it a bit more controllable and also let's me use a bigger diffuser. I've gotta try and get my kit back from Dorset, my big flashes might cope with cross polarising, 10inch softbox and still give me rapid recycling.
Because of the shapes and textures angles don't really help us, so polarising aside all we can really do is make the relative size of the light source bigger, so we either make it bigger, put it closer or both. Pringles tubes are popular for macro because they achieve both. With my rig and a pringles tube diffuser, at mfd it's roughly equivalent to using a 4ft brolly for a headshot, but that still isn't enough for a lot of bugs, and it wants an extra bit of diffusion or you get the dodgy donut effect you see on my bee pic below, a couple of sheets of bog roll works well but costs light again
|
|
|
|
|
#2409 21 Apr 2020 at 5.42pm | | |
|
4 layers of clear freezer bag seems to work well.
(Click for full)
|
|
