Equipment for extreme macro

Hi. I've been doing regular macro photograpy for years using Nikon equipment. I'd like to get into extreme macro, but I'm not sure of the best way to proceed. I know about focus stacking -- it's the equipment that I'm wondering about. Can someone recommend a good Nikon setup that would allow me to get 5X magnification, more or less? I get the impression that not many people use Nikon for extreme macro. Would it be worth it in the long run to switch to Canon? Thanks.

Here's my current setup:
Nikon D750
AF Micro Nikkor 60mm
Tamron SP Di AF 180mm 1:3.5

In addition to this Forum, I recommend checking out www.photomacrography.net. There are a lot of experts there who can help with your question, and beginners are as welcome as pros.

ZilverHaylide wrote:

Saabster wrote:

ZilverHaylide wrote:

trobinson41 wrote:

Hi. I've been doing regular macro photograpy for years using Nikon equipment. I'd like to get into extreme macro, but I'm not sure of the best way to proceed. I know about focus stacking -- it's the equipment that I'm wondering about. Can someone recommend a good Nikon setup that would allow me to get 5X magnification, more or less? I get the impression that not many people use Nikon for extreme macro. Would it be worth it in the long run to switch to Canon? Thanks.

Here's my current setup:
Nikon D750
AF Micro Nikkor 60mm
Tamron SP Di AF 180mm 1:3.5

If I remember correctly, Jim Kasson at his personal blog said that he thought the focus bracketing steps built into the Nikon mirrorless (Z7? Z7ii? Not sure which one) weren't close enough for really critical results. Not sure if that has since been corrected in firmware, or not. Not sure what the situation is with Nikon DSLRs (ie the D850)

But I doubt that you'd gain a solution to that issue by a switch to Canon, at least not for extreme macro, where depth-of-field is extremely thin, and any built-in focus bracketing has probably not been designed for that, that is, probably doesn't have fine-enough steps either. Not even sure what built-in focus bracketing is available in Canon. I think that some, but not all, Canon mirrorless bodies have it; be aware that even when the body has it, it only works with certain lenses -- I remember someone complaining in a DPReview post that info about it not being possible with that lens was only found in some obscure place in the lens' user manual. Don't know whether any Canon DSLRs have it.

Canon does have the supposedly fairly-good 65mm 1-5x macro lens for DSLRs but I believe that's manual focus, so built-in focus bracketing is irrelevant for that. I think it does have electronic diaphram actuation, so that is an advantage. Some of the Chinese lensmakers are now producing some lenses that, like that Canon, cover a range of magnifications and go greater than 1:1, you'd have to explore.

(EDIT: here's one review, looks like it's a lens well worth considering for what you want:

LAOWA 25MM F/2.8 2.5-5X ULTRA MACRO LENS TEST.

https://www.closeuphotography.com/laowa-25mm-macro-lens-test )

Whatever the brand of camera, you will probably need a good quality programmable motorized focusing rail in order to get the fine-enough movement steps you'll need for extreme macro focus bracketing. (Sorry, no experience on which to base a recommendation).

In addition, though you probably wouldn't be using a 100-105mm for extreme macro, if interested in macro you might want one for other uses. And if switching to mirrorless, be aware that the Canon mirrorless 100mm lens reportedly has significant focus shift problems when stopping down (reported several places, I think (IIRC) best at The-Digital-Picture.com). Whereas the Nikon 105 macro for mirrorless has gotten excellent reviews.

A couple of good sites for macro principles and lens reviews:

www.coinimaging.com

(Besides its tests under the "macro lens tests" tab, the above site also has a lot of good information/tutorials under the "articles" tab).

www.closeuphotography.com

(Note only a single "p" right after the "u"!)

I have the Laowa 25mm 2.5-5x for my Pentax K-1 it's a fully manual lens and I use a macro rail to (manual) to move the lens in small increments to different focus points.

Here's a 5x focus stack of a strawberry taken with the setup above.

Nice. How many shots total did you stack? And what was the distance increment between shots? Any other technical details you remember or recorded? Any recommendations for manual focus rails? -- I've noticed they can vary quite a bit in price.

15 Pixel Shift images converted to TIFF in Rawtherapee then focus stacked in both Affinity 1.9.1 As it was a manual rail, I have no idea how much I moved it at a time.

trobinson41 wrote:

Hi. I've been doing regular macro photograpy for years using Nikon equipment. I'd like to get into extreme macro, but I'm not sure of the best way to proceed. I know about focus stacking -- it's the equipment that I'm wondering about. Can someone recommend a good Nikon setup that would allow me to get 5X magnification, more or less?

Well, if you'd like to try your hand at 3x, you've got almost everything you need.

You have a 180mm telephoto that:

• performs well at infinity. Yes, that is important.
• has a decent foot. That is important, too.

You have a 60mm macro that:

• performs well at infinity.
• has an aperture ring.

You need three other things:

1. a "macro coupling ring". That is a double male filter thread ring that has the right size threads and thread it on the lens. They cost $5-$20, depending on where you shop.
2. a focusing rail. Worm screws are better than rack and pinion, in my opinion. You want one with a clamp that can rotate or is set fore-aft. NiSi makes a nice one
3. a remote release. 

Any two lenses that perform well at infinity can deliver pretty good macro at a magnification equal to the ratio of their focal lengths. Mount your 180mm on the camera, put it on manual focus, set it to infinity, and lock it (a bit of gaffers tape works great). Call it the "rear lens".

Take your 60mm, put it on manual focus, set it to infinity, lock it, and thread the front onto the 180mm. Call it the front lens. Unlock the aperture and set it to f/5.6 or f/8. You now have a 3x macro lens. Congratulations.

The important thing to remember is that the front lens is not a "closeup lens", it is the lens that is doing the heavy lifting. It is also the lens in charge of controlling aperture. You adjust the rear lens's aperture for maximum contrast.

I'll touch on microscope objectives and bellows in the next post.

I get the impression that not many people use Nikon for extreme macro.

Where would you get that impression?

Would it be worth it in the long run to switch to Canon?

No. Canon doesn’t have as nice stuff. Their lenses don’t stop down when removed from the camera (unless you're me, and you're not me so don’t worry about it) and they don’t have as nice bellows. They don't make microscopes or microscope objectives.

Thanks.

Here's my current setup:
Nikon D750
AF Micro Nikkor 60mm
Tamron SP Di AF 180mm 1:3.5

You'll hear a lot about people using "microscope objectives" at magnification from 2x up to around 40x.

• They’re surprisingly affordable.
• They taper down to a relatively small end, making it easier to move lights in around your subject.
• Some have simply amazing optical quality.

Microscope objectives come in two main flavors: "fixed tube length" and "infinity". A fixed tube length objective focuses on your subject and projects a focused image directly on your camera's sensor. That's the kind you use with a bellows.

An infinity objective focuses on your subject and projects an image that focuses at infinity. A second lens farther up the microscope tube takes that image at infinity and focuses it on an eyepiece or camera sensor. The most popular tube length spec is 200mm. Hey, guess what! Your 180mm lens is a great "tube lens". It's good at grabbing images at infinity and focusing them on your sensor. That's exactly what we did with the reversed 60mm and the macro coupling ring: we built an infinity microscope: the 60mm "front lens" is our microscope objective, and the 180mm "rear lens" is the tube lens.

Or, you could look at Olympus objectives. They deviate from the industry conventions and use a 180mm tube lenses, so your objective will perform as marked.

So a fairly simple adapter that looks like a lens cap with a hole threaded in one of the standard objective threads gets you going. Make sure you get the right adapter for your objective. Now, remember I said the industry standard for tube lenses is 200mm? Your 180mm will work just one, but the magnification will be 10% less (180mm/200mm) than whatever is printed on the objective.

A "starter" objective could be a Nikon 4x "plan", the "black" objective, which goes for around $120 new. The adapter to stick it on your 180 is about $20. It has a working distance of around 30mm.

A step up is a 5x "plan APO" about $200 used if you keep an eye on the bay of e.

The Mitutoyo 5x plan APO is a long working distance objective that's extremely good, but around $700 new and almost unheard of on the used market. They get snatched up fast.

You really need to just do some research on my posts on the Olympus forum here and understand what I do and can accomplish with the setup I've created.  Many hundreds now use it and it would be well-worth it to invest in a setup that doesn't have to have the newest Olympus camera.  The em1 mark 2 would suffice.

39 images stacked

trobinson41 wrote:

Hi. I've been doing regular macro photograpy for years using Nikon equipment. I'd like to get into extreme macro, but I'm not sure of the best way to proceed. I know about focus stacking -- it's the equipment that I'm wondering about. Can someone recommend a good Nikon setup that would allow me to get 5X magnification, more or less? I get the impression that not many people use Nikon for extreme macro. Would it be worth it in the long run to switch to Canon? Thanks.

Here's my current setup:
Nikon D750
AF Micro Nikkor 60mm
Tamron SP Di AF 180mm 1:3.5

Here's a thread you need to read over....

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/64350035

trobinson41 wrote:

Hi. I've been doing regular macro photograpy for years using Nikon equipment. I'd like to get into extreme macro, but I'm not sure of the best way to proceed. I know about focus stacking -- it's the equipment that I'm wondering about. Can someone recommend a good Nikon setup that would allow me to get 5X magnification, more or less? I get the impression that not many people use Nikon for extreme macro. Would it be worth it in the long run to switch to Canon? Thanks.

Here's my current setup:
Nikon D750
AF Micro Nikkor 60mm
Tamron SP Di AF 180mm 1:3.5

another thread of mine... and don't let anyone tell you that Olympus isn't good because its not one of the big three.....check out my images on 1of1images on instagram or just look at my posts here.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/63337282

oneofone25 wrote:

You really need to just do some research on my posts on the Olympus forum here

Do I?

1. I think you meant to reply to someone else.
2. Someone worth bothering with would have provided some useful info here, not said "you should go digging for my posts somewhere else."

oneofone25 wrote:

trobinson41 wrote:

Hi. I've been doing regular macro photograpy for years using Nikon equipment. I'd like to get into extreme macro, but I'm not sure of the best way to proceed. I know about focus stacking -- it's the equipment that I'm wondering about. Can someone recommend a good Nikon setup that would allow me to get 5X magnification, more or less? I get the impression that not many people use Nikon for extreme macro. Would it be worth it in the long run to switch to Canon? Thanks.

Here's my current setup:
Nikon D750
AF Micro Nikkor 60mm
Tamron SP Di AF 180mm 1:3.5

another thread of mine... and don't let anyone tell you that Olympus isn't good because its not one of the big three.....check out my images on 1of1images on instagram or just look at my posts here.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/63337282

Thanks. You have the basic technique down, and there's one snowflake that isn’t bad. The rest of them simply suffer from bland lighting. Spend some time working on that instead of engaging in brand evangelism and you might produce some work that is genuinely good instead of just "big fish in a small pond" good.

trobinson41 wrote:

Hi. I've been doing regular macro photograpy for years using Nikon equipment. I'd like to get into extreme macro, but I'm not sure of the best way to proceed. I know about focus stacking -- it's the equipment that I'm wondering about.

Here's my current setup:
Nikon D750
AF Micro Nikkor 60mm
Tamron SP Di AF 180mm 1:3.5

I've dug up the notes from a macro photography workshop I used to teach back in the before time. It's a bit dated, and the only thing it shares in common with my WIP "The Macronomicon" is the name, but it does have some interesting notes on how coupling and bellows work.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BxKR63NlKUrAw4epwt2AO4McLz12EX4v?usp=sharing

Let me know if you find it useful, or if you have any trouble accessing it.

And if you only manage to take one thing away from it, let it be the words "light everything like a portrait". It doesn't matter what you're shooting: an insect, a rock, a flower, a coin, a watch, a car, a building... figure out its personality and let the lighting speak to that and you've got a picture people will remember.

Joseph S Wisniewski wrote:

oneofone25 wrote:

You really need to just do some research on my posts on the Olympus forum here

Do I?

1. I think you meant to reply to someone else.
2. Someone worth bothering with would have provided some useful info here, not said "you should go digging for my posts somewhere else."

I did mean to respond to someone else.  My apologies.  I had a busy day yesterday and did want to get them at least some information about my work as my intent was to come back to the thread today and give a full explanation of my setup and how it can provide excellent results.

Joseph S Wisniewski wrote:

oneofone25 wrote:

trobinson41 wrote:

Hi. I've been doing regular macro photograpy for years using Nikon equipment. I'd like to get into extreme macro, but I'm not sure of the best way to proceed. I know about focus stacking -- it's the equipment that I'm wondering about. Can someone recommend a good Nikon setup that would allow me to get 5X magnification, more or less? I get the impression that not many people use Nikon for extreme macro. Would it be worth it in the long run to switch to Canon? Thanks.

Here's my current setup:
Nikon D750
AF Micro Nikkor 60mm
Tamron SP Di AF 180mm 1:3.5

another thread of mine... and don't let anyone tell you that Olympus isn't good because its not one of the big three.....check out my images on 1of1images on instagram or just look at my posts here.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/63337282

Thanks. You have the basic technique down, and there's one snowflake that isn’t bad. The rest of them simply suffer from bland lighting. Spend some time working on that instead of engaging in brand evangelism and you might produce some work that is genuinely good instead of just "big fish in a small pond" good.

yes, that thread was started back in 2019 when I first came up with the idea regarding the use of the 2x MC-20 teleconverter to be used with the wonderful Olympus 60mm macro lens.  When you use that teleconverter with a KENKO 16mm extension tube to attach it to the 60mm macro lens, you get a 2.4x magnification when the lens is set at 1:1 with full ability to focus bracket up to 999 images.  The lens should be set between 1/10 and 3/10 for the size of the steps.  I use this in the wild for focus bracketing snowflakes, spiders, webs, and other interesting objects with no issues.

Add a Raynox 250 and you have 5.5x magnification on a micro 4/3 sensor with excellent stabilization.  The Raynox 202 gives you about 7x magnificaton and the Raynox 505 gives you 9.5x or so, which is a field of view of about 1.8mm.

In regard to the poor lighting, I would love to know which you refer to.  That was my first year of serious delving into macro-photography as before I tried a reversed Helios lens on the end of a Panasonic FZ1000.

Here's some more recent shots which show what the lens setup is capable of...most with the Raynox 250 attached

Stack of 39 images at 4x magnification

5.5x magnification - dew drops in a spider web

60+ images stacked

Florinda Coccinea spider with prey - under 4mm field of view

stack of 50+ images

Fly head from the side at 5x magnification - stack of more than 100 images

Florinda Coccinea spider under its dew-filled web

about 3.5x magnificatin

Phidippus putnami with dew

Habronattus Coecatus jumping spider with prey, 2.5x magnification

a sand garnet measuring 0.2mm wide balanced on another grain of sand - both from Bandon, Oregon.  9.5x magnification - just under 1mm field of view

the molted head piece and jaws of a jumping spider I set with each other - 5x magnification