Re: Micro 4/3rds vs. Full Frame
Raanani wrote:
In macro photography, if shooting without flash, you miss light painfully. I'd imagine the FF would offer an advantage of better image quality at higher iso, in comparison to M43. I guess also the FF sensors have more pixels, which allows achieving better detail level. On the other hand, many M43 machines have focus bracketing which I find a very attractive option. The sensor stabilization is an obvious advantage of M43 too. So at the end of the day, it's worth having both
Whether light is a limiting factor depends on how close you are to the subject and also how good the ambient light is. When I shoot "macro" with m4/3, most often I am shooting with a 60mm macro (think 120mm FF), and so at a minimum I am at a focus distance of 4" from the front of the lens. It is rare at that magnification of 1:1 that light is much of a problem. However, when I add a Raynox 250 for a magnification of about 1.5:1 or something like that, and if the ambient light is poor, then I start to notice that my working distance is cutting into the amount of light on the subject. I shoot a lot of mosses and typically focus stack in camera, using a tripod. Since I am focus stacking I still shoot at F5.6 or even wider. With the 60 macro having it's greatest resolution in the range of F4 to F5.6 and with a lens that is designed for m4/3 the images can be very sharp. But I shoot mostly plants - Focus Stacks of mosses, and handheld single images of flowering plants. It is typical not to be able to Focus Stack flowering plants in nature because there is invariably some wind.
I do shoot a lot of bees and occasionally other insects with the 60 macro handheld in very good light and with single images. I don't worry about the magnification on these images, I just try to contemplate composition and work to get good focus - not easy - and freeze the subject. Most of these are something less than 1:1 - perhaps 1:2 or 1:3. The limitation is a particular bee's tolerance for my proximity. But composition is what really matters.
Excellent stabilization is extremely helpful in many images and makes a tripod not necessary but for low light high magnification shots.