deanimator

I replaced my ancient non-IS 18-55mm Canon kit lens and non-IS Promaster 70-300mm with the Canon STM 18-55mm and 55-250mm and have been very pleased.

I get those occasionally when shooting macro on a stand with flash. Since I switched from Amazon Basics speedlights to a Flashpoint strobe it happens much less, but it still happens once in a ...

It depends to a large extent on WHICH 18-55 "kit lens" you're talking about. I started out in digital photography with a Canon 350D with the original non-IS 18-55 kit lens. When I upgraded to a ...

So is Smith & Wesson, but they still managed to damage an expensive (and no longer produced) revolver which I sent them for repair. Their initial customer service was as bad as their work.  After a ...

(1) Unless I missed it, you didn't say exactly HOW the images are unsatisfactory. Examples would help.

My stuff's usually arranged, in a light tent for proper diffusion.

I use live view, but almost exclusively for night macro, and my 500mm mirror lenses on a tripod, using a tablet for control.  Everything else not on my macro rig is by view finder.

I chose to replace my ancient Canon non-IS 18-55 kit lens and Promaster non-IS 70-300 with the Canon STM versions of the 18-55 and 55-250 respectively.  I've been very happy with both.

I use the 50mm manual from my 35mm Minolta XG-1.  It works great reversed, especially onto tubes or bellows.

I have no location experience beyond our local parks, but I do own the Tokina 100mm macro lens and it's an amazing value for the money.  You could do much worse.

Here's what I use for outdoor macro, which is almost exclusively nighttime shots of spiders: It's just a couple of Vello flash brackets connected to a central symmetrical bracket which attaches to ...

If all I had to take photographs was a cell phone, I'd never take another photograph as long as I lived. 80% of my photography is studio macro photography, frequently with microscope objectives.  ...

I routinely open twice that many in Elements, and with good reason. If I take a stack of 300 images, I'm not going to individually adjust the exposure, contrast and sharpness of each one.  I'm ...

Depending upon the size of the subject, I may stack 200 images or more.  I only do image stacking indoors on my table top macro rig.  Most of my macro is of non-live subjects.

Unless I anticipate using a different lens next time, the last one I used stays on. Right now, my camera is sitting on my macro rig (vertical post, Wemacro and bellows).  Until I plan to use it off ...

If that's what works for you, that's great. On the other hand, it would be completely unworkable for me. (1) I simply can't take a decent picture with a point and shoot. I learned on 35mm SLRs and ...

I've used it with the OTG connection, but I prefer the Bluetooth so that I can keep my tablet on AC.  My ASUS ZenTab doesn't allow simultaneous charging and USB.

I use Zerene as well. The combination of Wemacro and Zerene is an excellent one.

I think you'll like it.

They're also very good about expanding and improving their product line. When people complained that their stage couldn't be oriented vertically, they modified it to allow vertical shooting.