Lens comparison for macro work

John K wrote:

RazorSharpWO wrote:

I also agree with John's assessment that light is more important than gear.

This is especially true when you're shooting "a single image" @ f/8-f/16 ... or beyond.

Agreed, but do not discount light quality with respect to stacking.

I don't believe I "discounted" anything 🤔

In fact, I would say I'm more meticulous when it comes to "light quality" than most, especially with stacking, but really in any context. To the extent I won't even bother to take photographs the moment the sun comes out ... how many people can say that?

For wildlife photography, I am either shooting pre-dawn, on overcast days, or after the sun disappears ... which means before most people wake up ... or after most go home for the day.

Very easy to lose a lot of detail if the light is not diffused properly, and it will impact a stacked image as much as a single frame.

This is a good subject and a somewhat complicated one.

To the extent even the word, "diffused" is itself a non-specific description.

Diffused by what, with what?

Naturally, our own views are personal, and subjective, but for me the greatest diffuser of all is cloud cover on an overcast, glowing day. Nothing can take the place of natural light, the subtle nuances, especially when diffused during the optimal daylight hours by clouds.

Here is my natural light, field-stacking solution @ 1:1:

Nikon D850 + Voigtländer 125 APO-Macro + Hejnar Micrometer Macro Rail

This is a 58-image stack I took of a young praying mantid nymph, live in the field, before the sun came out:

58-Image Stack, live subject, 1:2, as found in the field. Natural light.

No, it's not perfect. There are some halos on the translucent legs, but it's "good enough."
If I decide to do a studio stack, I use the same set up as above, except instead of natural light, I used Yuji High-CRI LED Bulbs , custom-diffused. I might also deploy an automated macro rail, rather than a manual micrometer-rail, depending on magnification.

In the example below, I also used a WeMacro Automated Rail + the Laowa 25mm f/2.8 Ultra Macro, for increased magnification, with high-CRI LED lights:

41-Image Stack, live subject, 2.5x, studio. Yuji-LED Lighting.

When I the side stacking is an appropriate, I use a diffused flash like most of you do. There are many East-Asian macro photographers, who are blessed with a plethora of macro life in their tropical climates. I purchased many different, custom-made diffusers from each of them. I've also experimented with some of my own.

Here's an example of the type of diffused flash set up I use, if I'm going to take a single-image macro shot (I rarely use the white tray below). I also handhold rather than deploy a tripod, which was used in this case for illustration:

Nikon D850 + Laowa 25mm f/2.8 Ultra Macro + SE Asian Macro Diffuser.

An image taken with this basic set up, except the lens was a Zoom Nikkor 28-85mm AI-S, reversed:

Single Image, live-subject, 4.5x, live in the field. Diffused flash.

Pretty average, I know.

I don't have anywhere near the experience you, or Nick, has deploying flash techniques, mainly because I try to avoid the use of flash (though I understand it's required in many contexts). However, given all of the advances and lenses, software, etc., I should perhaps rethink my own prejudices 🤔

As you well know also, in the studio, lighting is more easily controlled.
In the field, we can attempt to achieve control, but natural light varies.
For the most part, I just try to achieve optimal natural light, live in the field.

Within this context, when working in the field, over time most of us can pretty much just walk out there and see whether the lighting = "a good day" ... or whether it would be better served to turn-around, and go back inside, waiting for more optimal lighting conditions 😅