gardenersassistant

0.5X, thinking in full frame terms, sounds about right to me for the boundary between close-up and macro. (I tend to think in terms of a scene width of "around an inch".) At the boundary between ...

Consider a scene that is 18mm wide and 12mm deep. With a full frame camera operating at 1:1 that scene will occupy 1/4 of the area of the sensor. With a micro four thirds camera operating at 1:1 ...

There is a very clear and unambiguous definition of macro: when the image on the sensor is the same size as (1:1), or larger than, the object being photographed. However, this definition can be ...

That is all very helpful, and reassuring. Thank you. I was trying to establish what @phatonycmu meant about IS and manual focusing, and he/she did not qualify the reference to FF as referring to ...

Perhaps I have misunderstood, but are you saying that FF is not good for hand-held working, even with a FF camera that has IBIS? (That would rule out FF for me.) Am I right in thinking some Sony ...

I agree that PP is a very personal thing, with people preferring very different "looks" to images, and I don't think there is any "right" or "wrong" involved. FWIW here is another way of rendering ...

It is so difficult to pin down.I suppose hiring some kit for a few days would be the only way to find out. I have a bit of a question in my mind about hiring though. During my investigations of ...

Yes, I explore angles a lot, and apertures and framing. For me backgrounds are an integral part of a close-up that I put quite a lot of effort into coupling harmoniously (to my eye at least) with ...

That is very informative. Thank you. I don't do much long tele, just an occasional birds in flight session at the local boating lake and marina, and my 70D and 55-250 EF-S work fine for that. When ...

That is something I can't do at the moment. I produce images 1300 pixels high. Especially with my invertebrate images they are often (in my view) at the edge of the possible in terms of size. ...

Thank you for this detailed response. It is very informative. This is the sort of thing that matters to me. Could I ask another question please. You say you  used the A7 for a couple of years. Does ...

I shoot mainly close-up/macro. For invertebrates I'm convinced that my bridge and MFT kit is, for most of my subject matter, the best fit to my needs, preferences etc (long story, not relevant ...

I think that is very helpful and well presented, with some excellent rare examples in difficult shooting circumstances which very much prove  your point. Thank you for taking the time to prepare ...

I can't find an IS switch on my 45-175.

Thanks. Changing the lens made a big difference. It has a spot (presumably) on the sensor. I couldn't get rid of it (using blower, static-charged brush, dry wipes or wetted wipes). I took it to the ...

I did a very brief (7 minute) test session at the boating pond with the 45-200 on my G5. Using a non-PZ lens solved the target acquisition and framing issue. It was as easy (and as hard) as with ...

OK. Thanks Eric.

Excellent!

I think hand-holding may be practical. Lightroom does auto-alignment. Here are a couple of 5-shot exposure brackets I just shot hand-held. (I didn't optimise the exposure range - I simply used a 1 ...

Thanks Lowell. I do that with the top end, but not with the bottom end. I find it too often produces a heavy, dark look that I don't like for my images. I usually move the Black point down and ...