Olympus STF-8 a game changer for my macro photos

I recently bought Olympus 60mm macro and STF-8 macro flash. Yesterday, I went out specifically to use it, get the hang of it, without any other distractions.

I have to say I am very happy with the possibilities this opens up. I'm a total noob when it comes to this stuff, but some of the recent macro related threads here gave me some much needed inspiration and a kick in the rear to go out and try do learn something new.

Anyway, I came back home very happy with what I got out of my little "macro walk".

I know those are not that great or interesting, but the important thing for me is that this is better than 95% of macro type photos I've taken over the years (I took a few with Oly 30mm that I quite like, but not many).

As for the shooting experience, I was really struggling with slow AF of the 60. Tried getting a shot of a bee on a flower, and AF was usually too slow to focus before the bee moved on to another place. Here's one that turned up well, but it's not as close up as I would have liked.

And at least for now, I'm having problems judging by hand how far away I am from minimal focus distance. So quite often I get too close and the lens never focuses. I guess it's a side effect of me using just the 30mm up until now. That one focuses so close you have to be careful not to jam the front of the lens into your subject.

And apropos the 30mm, I will have to try the STF-8 on it as well. Its really short MFD makes lighting very tricky in many situations. I'm hoping that STF-8 will solve this problem.

I mainly wanted to share my excitement with this post, but tips&tricks, advice and constructive criticism are more than welcome.

That's a great start!  Thanks for putting those photos up.  I am a little out of practice, but I have the same setup--60 mac and stf-8.

What you might try is just presetting the focus distance for what you think you may need, and then move back and forth with camera to get focus.  I think you can do that with focus peaking on.  Also preset a button for magnify if you have time to use it for a check.  The 60 mm focal length is really good for what you are doing, and the extra reach helps by giving you some room for movement to achieve focus maybe without disturbing the subject.  Maybe.

I use the dial on the side of the lens to get to 1:1 focus quickly, then back off some manually from there.  The manual focus is VERY slow, but also very precise.

There are a lot of folks here that are experts at using that lens and flash.  I bet they will chime in and provide some good suggestions for you.

Joe

Excellent results. Thanks for posting

Astrotripper wrote:

I recently bought Olympus 60mm macro and STF-8 macro flash. Yesterday, I went out specifically to use it, get the hang of it, without any other distractions.

I have to say I am very happy with the possibilities this opens up. I'm a total noob when it comes to this stuff, but some of the recent macro related threads here gave me some much needed inspiration and a kick in the rear to go out and try do learn something new.

Anyway, I came back home very happy with what I got out of my little "macro walk".

I know those are not that great or interesting, but the important thing for me is that this is better than 95% of macro type photos I've taken over the years (I took a few with Oly 30mm that I quite like, but not many).

As for the shooting experience, I was really struggling with slow AF of the 60. Tried getting a shot of a bee on a flower, and AF was usually too slow to focus before the bee moved on to another place. Here's one that turned up well, but it's not as close up as I would have liked.

And at least for now, I'm having problems judging by hand how far away I am from minimal focus distance. So quite often I get too close and the lens never focuses. I guess it's a side effect of me using just the 30mm up until now. That one focuses so close you have to be careful not to jam the front of the lens into your subject.

And apropos the 30mm, I will have to try the STF-8 on it as well. Its really short MFD makes lighting very tricky in many situations. I'm hoping that STF-8 will solve this problem.

I mainly wanted to share my excitement with this post, but tips&tricks, advice and constructive criticism are more than welcome.

Great shots. Really nice...but, and I'm not an expert when it comes to things like this but that image of the ant with the parade of bugs looks like you may have been shooting in the middle of a tick infestation. Maybe someone could confirm that those bugs are or aren't ticks? If they are you may want to avoid that area, check your clothes and yourself for bites, and keep any pets away from there. Ticks are bad news.

If they're not ticks, well...then nevermind.

will focus wrote:

Astrotripper wrote:

Great shots. Really nice...but, and I'm not an expert when it comes to things like this but that image of the ant with the parade of bugs looks like you may have been shooting in the middle of a tick infestation. Maybe someone could confirm that those bugs are or aren't ticks? If they are you may want to avoid that area, check your clothes and yourself for bites, and keep any pets away from there. Ticks are bad news.

If they're not ticks, well...then nevermind.

Yeah, while I was photographing, this thought crossed my mind. But looking at the photo up close, none of those look like the ticks I know. But if someone with more knowledge on insect could chime in, that would be great.

Thank you for your concern and advice.

Joe Lynch wrote:

That's a great start! Thanks for putting those photos up. I am a little out of practice, but I have the same setup--60 mac and stf-8.

What you might try is just presetting the focus distance for what you think you may need, and then move back and forth with camera to get focus. I think you can do that with focus peaking on. Also preset a button for magnify if you have time to use it for a check.

Good idea. I was trying to do that at 1:1 magnification, but that was just too much for me to get a handle on. I completely do not have the feel for it yet. I should probably start with a bit longer distance.

Also, now that you mentioned it, There's the Prefocus mode on recent Olympus cameras that I have never really used. Maybe that would be helpful as well. Like use the lever to go to 1:1, and a prefocus button to go to 1:2 or something like that. Will have to play around with this.

Thanks for the tips.

Astrotripper wrote:

will focus wrote:

Astrotripper wrote:

Great shots. Really nice...but, and I'm not an expert when it comes to things like this but that image of the ant with the parade of bugs looks like you may have been shooting in the middle of a tick infestation. Maybe someone could confirm that those bugs are or aren't ticks? If they are you may want to avoid that area, check your clothes and yourself for bites, and keep any pets away from there. Ticks are bad news.

If they're not ticks, well...then nevermind.

Yeah, while I was photographing, this thought crossed my mind. But looking at the photo up close, none of those look like the ticks I know. But if someone with more knowledge on insect could chime in, that would be great.

Thank you for your concern and advice.

They're aphids with one of their ant "minders", who may be "milking" one of them. Aphids and ants form a symbiotic relationship where the aphids provide a honey-like substance to the ants and the ants protect the aphids.

Great shot by the way.

Dick

Dick Barbour wrote:

Astrotripper wrote:

will focus wrote:

Astrotripper wrote:

Great shots. Really nice...but, and I'm not an expert when it comes to things like this but that image of the ant with the parade of bugs looks like you may have been shooting in the middle of a tick infestation. Maybe someone could confirm that those bugs are or aren't ticks? If they are you may want to avoid that area, check your clothes and yourself for bites, and keep any pets away from there. Ticks are bad news.

If they're not ticks, well...then nevermind.

Yeah, while I was photographing, this thought crossed my mind. But looking at the photo up close, none of those look like the ticks I know. But if someone with more knowledge on insect could chime in, that would be great.

Thank you for your concern and advice.

They're aphids with one of their ant "minders", who may be "milking" one of them. Aphids and ants form a symbiotic relationship where the aphids provide a honey-like substance to the ants and the ants protect the aphids.

Great shot by the way.

Dick

Thank you for this explanation. I was wondering what was going on with all those little ones and ants going around. Fascinating.

It would also explain the behaviour of some of the ants. I might have annoyed them a bit by trying to get a decent shot (had too take quite a few to end up with something usable). Some started "reaching out" towards the lens, raising their front body in what looked like some sort of battle stance. I guess they felt threatened.

Astrotripper wrote:

Dick Barbour wrote:

Astrotripper wrote:

will focus wrote:

Astrotripper wrote:

Great shots. Really nice...but, and I'm not an expert when it comes to things like this but that image of the ant with the parade of bugs looks like you may have been shooting in the middle of a tick infestation. Maybe someone could confirm that those bugs are or aren't ticks? If they are you may want to avoid that area, check your clothes and yourself for bites, and keep any pets away from there. Ticks are bad news.

If they're not ticks, well...then nevermind.

Yeah, while I was photographing, this thought crossed my mind. But looking at the photo up close, none of those look like the ticks I know. But if someone with more knowledge on insect could chime in, that would be great.

Thank you for your concern and advice.

They're aphids with one of their ant "minders", who may be "milking" one of them. Aphids and ants form a symbiotic relationship where the aphids provide a honey-like substance to the ants and the ants protect the aphids.

Great shot by the way.

Dick

Thank you for this explanation. I was wondering what was going on with all those little ones and ants going around. Fascinating.

It would also explain the behaviour of some of the ants. I might have annoyed them a bit by trying to get a decent shot (had too take quite a few to end up with something usable). Some started "reaching out" towards the lens, raising their front body in what looked like some sort of battle stance. I guess they felt threatened.

You're welcome. Nobody likes a flash in their face, even ants.  

Dick Barbour wrote:

Astrotripper wrote:

will focus wrote:

Astrotripper wrote:

Great shots. Really nice...but, and I'm not an expert when it comes to things like this but that image of the ant with the parade of bugs looks like you may have been shooting in the middle of a tick infestation. Maybe someone could confirm that those bugs are or aren't ticks? If they are you may want to avoid that area, check your clothes and yourself for bites, and keep any pets away from there. Ticks are bad news.

If they're not ticks, well...then nevermind.

Yeah, while I was photographing, this thought crossed my mind. But looking at the photo up close, none of those look like the ticks I know. But if someone with more knowledge on insect could chime in, that would be great.

Thank you for your concern and advice.

They're aphids with one of their ant "minders", who may be "milking" one of them. Aphids and ants form a symbiotic relationship where the aphids provide a honey-like substance to the ants and the ants protect the aphids.

Great shot by the way.

Dick

That's good to know. In the future if I see this behavior between ants and bugs I'll know not to run away screaming in terror.

Dick Barbour wrote:

Nobody likes a flash in their face, even ants.

I always feel a bit mean taking flash macro photos of insects. They really don't like it!

sbszine wrote:

Dick Barbour wrote:

Nobody likes a flash in their face, even ants.

I always feel a bit mean taking flash macro photos of insects. They really don't like it!

That's probably why you don't see many portraits of killer bees.