New toys, part II

Wow that's small! I would like a little more room on the left and a touch more focus on the head but considering the extreme conditions of this shot, this is pretty nice with a lovely contrast in colors.

- Luke

To get this sharp image at 4x and HH is fantastic. Does this lens have IS? Also are the flash attached to the lens and if so the whole set up must be fairly heavy for HH.

Wow Dan...that's crazy. I agree with Luke mainly. Nice detail and lighting here too.

Out of curiosity, how close was the lens to this guy? And how touchy is the focus ring on that thing - i.e. how much do you have to turn it to alter focus significantly?

The lens - I've worked with most of Canon's lineup from 17 to 600. This is probably the toughest lens I have ever worked with. There is no focus ring and is manual focus only. Focus is achieved by one of two methods:

- Set the magnification and physically move the lens until things come into focus.

- Start at 1:1, find the subject, increase the magnification until you get what you want and tweak the focus from there.

I've used both and the preferred method depends on wind and subject activity.

The ideal method, which works well in a studio setup, is to use a macro rail. The problem is that a macro rail doesn't respond quickly to real world outdoor conditions, wind and escaping subjects being the main issues.

Handheld is a compromise but results in a controlled "spray and pray" method of shooting. It also introduces a third source of motion. My success rate is somewhere around the 5-10%, depending on the wind and subject. The next image I plan to post is at 5x, but with a still insect and *no* wind. It took about 5 shots to get something comfortably sharp because of my lack of steadiness at that magnification.

I'm looking at getting a small monopod to help with control.

The lens does not have IS. I suspect that IS isn't fine enough to catch the motions at these magnifications.

Most of the sharpness with handheld is due to full flash. I am shooting at a low ISO and a good 4-5 stops under the ambient light, if not more. This eliminates motion as a source of unsharpness but still leaves the issue of having the plane of focus exactly where you want it.

Weight - fortunately, the lens and flash seems fairly well balanced. The 5D is a midweight camera and the flash control unit has the batteries in it and is hot shoe mounted, which helps a lot. The actual flash units (MR-24, twin flash unit rather than the ring flash) are pretty light. Only around 4-5x does the weight really seem noticeable, more because everything is extended about 8" out.

And yes, a couple of hours of shooting does produce some very tired hands and wrists.

I find this lens/flash combo is far easier to handle than the 180 macro, even at 1:4 on the 180. The weight of the 180 is a lot further forward and I almost never shoot that lens handheld, even with full flash.

I am using the Stofen Omnibounce diffusers on the flash unit as well. I am not a big fan of full flash but these go far towards evening the light out. For some of my subjects, it would be like having a 40' softbox for a human. I can live with that type of full flash

For working distance, at 1:1 it is about 4" (10 cm). At 3:1, it is about 2" (5 cm). At 5:1, about 1.5" (4 cm).