First, get thee over to Photomacrography.net. It's where all the cool kids hang out. Start reading the forums and tutorials, ask questions, learn and grow.
https://www.photomacrography.net/
One of my favorite macro YouTubers is Allan Walls. Watch some of his videos.
https://www.youtube.com/c/AllanWallsPhotography
I've tried to give some quick answers to your questions (and cut out all the pictures. They make replying very difficult).
Khalaful wrote:
Back Story
Well, I'm a photographer and artist but working as an assistant and digital tech in NYC. I mainly shoot portrait and fine art but I hate to say I'm still not working professionally on both fields and it's really tough to enter and survive. Not only that, I doubt about what I'm doing while I'm almost at 30 as a jobless person. Because of this, I may need to find a full time job so that I can earn some money while I research and shoot more on weekend. Truth be told, I start shooting pics because of beetles I had when I was young so it would be very interesting to expand my career to macro photography.
You'll find it's one of the most difficult fields of photography to break into profitably.
I already watched Levon Biss' videos but there are few things that I need to figure out and research about equipments. I can not just spend too much money from the beginning for sure but at least I need to try.
There are lots of ways to get into this cheap. I've written elsewhere about "coupling" lenses. Give me a reasonably complete list of your lenses and I'll recommend some combos.
Enlarger lenses on tubes or bellows are also a good way to go.
So are microscope objectives.
I'm not new to macro photography but there are few things bothers me when I shot them.
Post some pictures of the problems you're having.
The only problem I have is budget but once I get a full time job, it wouldn't be.
Macro lens
It seems there are only few options for Sony mount including Sony 90mm, Sigma 105mm, and Laowa 90mm. Big beetles? That's totally fine but what if I need to shoot small insects?
You do what the rest of us do: skip those camera-maker "1:1 macro" lenses and set yourself up for something higher. My normal recommended starter setup for someone technically competent is a used bellows and a small selection of enlarger lenses, typically just a 50mm f2.8 and 105mm f5.6. The EL-Nikkors perform well and can be had for under $100 each, used and the pair on something like a Nikon PB-6 or Pentax autobellows covers the range from about 0.2x to 5x very well. The two bellows I recommended are full "three movement" bellows: front standard, rear standard (draw), and whole system (rack).
Then that's a problem. I wish Sony makes a GM grade
General Motors?
Godzilla vs. Mothra?
telephoto macro lens but so far, none. For now, I can stick with 90mm since I only have huge beetles such as rhino and stag beetles. They are huge for sure and I like them. But I do need to figure out how to shoot small insects in future.
Focus rail
Nici manual focus rail is a cheap option but not sure if I need StackShot or not.
You'll find more info if you spell it "Nisi". The rail you show is very nice, but it's $200, and for $300 you can get the basic WeMacro setup.
I have nothing but admiration for what Cognysis (the "StackShot" folks) did for both macro and high speed photography. They paved the way for a lot of others to follow, and made specialized gear a commodity. But that was 10+ years ago, and I can't see where they've done much new since. It looks like they're coasting, and I think they're seriously overpriced for what you get.
WeMacro makes a lovely little setup almost exactly half the price of StackShot, with a much more modern interface (controlled by their smartphone app over bluetooth, not by a 4-line text LCD interface from the 90s).
Autorail is better for sure. But for now, I would stick with a cheap one in order to figure out if I need higher end equipment or not. Honestly, StackShot isn't really expensive compared to Novoflex's CASTEL-MICRO Auto Step Motor Stack Rail System but it seems Novoflex product has an automatic system which shoots automatically for every single movement
No. The people in that video went to a lot of complex tinkering to get rear focus (bellows draw) with their stuff, and if you price the Novoflex it's over $3,000. I've been burned by Novoflex's overhyped reputation for "quality" before and only use their stuff if there's no other alternative.
which looks convenient. Not now tho.
Bellow Extension
B&H suggested this bellow extension if I need to shoot something really small. For now, I dont need it but not sure how small I can shoot with this one.
That's a great setup for someone with way too much money and zero experience. You'll be paying an enormous price for a feature (controlling a reverse-mounted lens) that is completely and utterly irrelevant in 2022.
Reverse-mounted wide-angle and normal lenses were "a thing" back in the 60s through 90s when there were no readily available alternatives, but that "internet" thing started letting people discuss what actually worked, share results of experiments rapidly, etc. and we learned that they kinda stink, except from the perspective of someone trying to sell you stuff like that Novoflex with those adapters and cable.
That was also the time it became easy for anyone to find used scientific gear, and a time where the microscopy industry was switching from "finite" to "infinity" objectives, which was the switch from "amazing" to "amazingly amazing", and just plain-old "amazing" is good enough with to start.
Seriously, look at a used Nikon PB-6 or Pentax bellows. They have the focus rail built in.
Or get a rail like the NiSi and some M42 tubes, clamps, and adapters. This is something I set up quickly for another dpReview user to shoot knife edges. The
Precision movement device?
That's my biggest issue for shooting macro. I have no idea what Levon Biss is using but I need something that I can move my subject's position very precisely. I guess I dont need to move my camera at all once I have that kind of device. Since I'm gonna shoot beetles, it would be nice if it can handle little bit heavy insects.
Tripod system or something else
Something else. Some form of macro stand that connects subject and camera without dealing with a trip down to the floor for the table and then back up from the floor for the tripod.
There are good discussions, both in this forum here and over at photomacrography about subject positioning systems. None of which involve Leofoto.
I have Manfrotto tripod and Leofoto G4 geared head but keeping them level with a subject is another problem. For Levon Biss, he made a custom table to match the level for both camera and subject. I can just use a light stand to hold the subject on top while I level the tripod to match its level. perfectly.
You seem to have really overblown this one particular person, whom I've never heard of, for some reason.
I just dont like G4 since it wobble slightly
Well, it is a $200 knock-off of a $1000+ Arca Swiss head. The genuine Arca is strong enough to hold a view camera. That's what Arca does. But...
It's not the best device for what you're doing.
and wasn't really useful for telephoto lens or something heavy. If I put some rails and equipment then it would be a problem. How unstable was it? It was impossible to shoot with 100-400 on G4 and I can see a lot of blurs. Maybe I need something more stable.
Light
I already have one AD200 and two Flashpoint BLAZ 300 but I'm still hesitating about the lighting system which I never tried for macro studio photography.
That's OK for portraits, but too big and awkward for macro. You want to get serious, build a small lighting "cage" or "frame", get a bunch of low-cost "bendy" arms and a bunch of tiny flashes with a good control system like Godox MF-12 flashes.
I already checked Levon Biss' setup
So did I. I don't know what he's doing with those huge flashes and snoots, but do something different.
but I need to test them first and I want to try creative ways. Since I'm shooting bugs, I dont need fancy equipments for sure. I just dont know how they works in real life.
So my questions are...
1. For a tiny insect, is it better to get a bellow extension OR a micro lens with an adapter just like Levon Biss used?
Define "tiny" and "better".
Microscope lenses with adapters have the highest quality as far as sharpness and contrast. They're also:
- Largely unusable for anything bigger than maybe 10mm. The most popular starter objectives are 4x (covers 6x9mm on full frame) and 10x (covers 2.4x3.6mm). The common size sequence for "metallurgical" objectives (from a microscopy standpoint, insects are metallurgical, not biological. Seriously) is 2.5x, 5x, 10x, 20x.
- Fixed magnification. Part of how they get such high quality is by being optimized for one particular magnification: you can't just rack a 210mm "tube length" 5x objective out to 315mm hoping to get 7.5x out of it.
- A little tricky for beginners, although modern tutorials help.
A bellows is versatile. They're also:
- Fragile, compared to tubes.
- Offer too many choices for lenses and you can drown in all the info out there.
The majority of my work is done with an old Nikon PB-4 bellows and a 50mm f/2.8 Leitz Photar lens. It's the size and form-factor of a 50mm enlarger lens, but is literally designed for precision macro work, but most of my friends in the field just use Nikon or Schneider Companon enlarger lenses. The Nikon EL-Nikkor 50mm f/2.8 (avold the f/4) is dang near the standard for this sort of work. Get the N version, it has better coatings than its predecessor.
The Schneider Companon 35mm f/4 and 28mm f/4 are a bit better than the Nikon at higher magnifications.
2. Do you think an auto focus rail like Stackshot would be better if I'm serious about macro photography?
Absolutely. Hand cranking a 100 shot stack gets boring after a while. Look seriously at WeMacro. Look at Allan Walls video on WeMacro.
3. For moving a subject precisely, what kind of product should I look for?
There are lots of correct answers.
- An XYR stage.
- A small mill table.
- A microscope stage.
- A couple of crossed macro rails.
I tend to go for the latter. Haoge makes a lovely $70 rail that is absolutely perfect for making a crossed rail positioning setup.
4. What's the best way to level both subject and camera? Just get a flat table to place all equipment?
Yep. A nice, flat 4-6ft table.
5. Do you think snoot lighting is enough to cover all kinds of macro photography?
I think it's such a silly thing to do that it doesn't really cover any kind of macro photography. Seriously, look at the tiny Godox flashes I mentioned earlier. Then look at some of the tutorials on making diffusers for them.
Oh, and avoid ring lights. They're great, if you're a dentist trying to shoot consistent pictures of teeth, but for any other work, well, who wants insects, gemstones, etc. that look like consistent pictures of teeth?
6. Is there additional equipment and gears that I should check?
I think I already mentioned enough to totally confuse you.
7. Any other advices or tips for Macro Studio photography?
Expand your world outside the orbit of Levon Bliss.
-- hide signature --
The term "mirrorless" is totally obsolete. It's time we call out EVIL for what it is. (Or, if you can't handle "Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens" then Frenchify it and call it "LIVE" for "Lens Interchangeable, Viewfinder Electronic" or "Viseur électronique").
-----
Stanley Joseph Wisniewski 1932-2019.
Dad, so much of you is in me.
-----
Christine Fleischer 1947-2014.
My soulmate. There are no other words.
-----
Rahon Klavanian 1912-2008.
Armenian genocide survivor, amazing cook, scrabble master, and loving grandmother. You will be missed.
----
Ciao! Joseph
www.swissarmyfork.com
