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Equipment for extreme macro

Started 7 months ago | Questions thread
oneofone25
oneofone25 Senior Member • Posts: 1,586
Re: Some notes from a workshop I gave

c h u n k wrote:

c h u n k wrote:

oneofone25 wrote:

c h u n k wrote:

RE The (yet another) brand vs brand tribalism, I think its pretty obvious that Olympus/M43 is very capable, and for some maybe even the best option, *WHEN* photographing only macro magnifications in a studio with controlled lighting. Its limitations are when your photography is more diverse than just macro in a studio or basic macro in the field. I just think that should be mentioned when people start advertising a camera system in an otherwise brand neutral thread, or really, he shoots Nikon so not sure why selling cameras for Olympus came up. Seems like it should have been solutions within and for Nikon.

See, that's what I do not get....why only in a studio with controlled lighting?

Here's a video of my setup outdoors...

EM1 Mark 2 with the MC-20 teleconverter, 16mm Pixco extension tube, Olympus 60mm macro lens and a Raynox 250. I backed off of 1:1 a little which gives me 5x magnification.

Focus bracket mode 1/10

245 images stacked. I had my iso at 320, and f stop at f5.6 which I have since found that f4.5 is sharper with my setup....

here's the final image I had from my stack. I was pretty happy with it.

What is that a picture of?

Ugh, I edited my post and added a ton but it didnt save for some reason.

In essence I said 1) I also said "basic macro in the field". This shot isnt stressing camera settings or any limitations. Its when you are in scenarios you have to start jacking up ISO or areas smaller sensors have drawbacks with the optics, like wider FOV or scenarios you want shallower DOF. That isnt saying you cant get good portraits or landscape photos or that you absolutely have to stay at base ISO. But its saying there are limitations you have to work within OR just buy a larger sensor. The same is true for FF or APSC vs Medium format, but thankfully I dont really have a need for medium format. Because my primary interest is macro, I looked at m4/3, whether it was adding a system or changing systems and it was a very fast hard no after a little research.

Im not going to get into a my camera brand can beat up your camera brand thing, but...You are clearly a knowledgeable photographer, and even if you solely shoot macro, you needed to learn general photography too, so Im sure you know the limitations even if they dont effect your work. I just think its good practice to include the cons, especially when its in a thread someone says they shoot Nikon and you attempt to sell them on an entirely different system.

of course.  For me it was about ease and speed of photographing detailed forcus brackets out in the field at 5x or more.  I didn't care about full frame or not since most of the subjects I am interested in are best around 4x magnification, which is about 2x full-frame.  There are limitations of course - but once I get inside my office, and I switch to a microscope objective and the Qool Rail 250 I feel like its an even playing field...you just either have a field of view of X or you have 3/4ths of that, or 1/2 that.

I have yet to see a system that can do 7.5x with focus bracketing in the field without need of a rail...and something that can do even focus bracketed shots up to 999.  That is why I went with my setup, because it is unprecedented for out in the field...for photographing snowflakes at 7.5x for a field of view of just over 2mm for the final image...

I am not saying it is the sharpest, but I do believe it is the most efficient and provides good enough results to compete with other systems....

I do agree with you though.  thank you for your post...

 oneofone25's gear list:oneofone25's gear list
OM-1 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm F2.8 Macro Samyang 16mm F2 +1 more
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