Help with photography

[sebastianbawn]

I have had in my possesion for the last year a Nikon D40X. I think its the bees, but do have 2 questions I hope someone can help me with.

Firstly, I want to take some super-macro shots (i.e, be able to get good shots of spiders pedipalps, etc). I have macro filters, the screw on kind, but these dont appear to be that good. can anyone suggest a better item?

Secondly, My local zoo has a nocturnal section. Flash photography is not allowed which I respect, but how can I take pics of animals in dark places with no additional flash?

Any help appreciated

[pressld2]

For the macro you really need a dedicated macro lens and there are a lot of WAB members using the Sigma 105/150/180mm lenses. I have the 150 and rate it extremely highly. If you want to get in really close - i.e. frame-filling shots of just the pedipalps then you will need to combine the macro lens with a set of extension tubes and even this may not get you as close as you would like. The other alternative is a lens capable of significantly better than 1:1 but I'm not sure where you would get such a beast and suspect that it would be horribly expensive. Having got the lens you will then need the light. Macro lenses at their closest focus have very narrow depth of field and it gets even narrower with extension tubes. This means you will want a small aperture and I rarely use anything wider than f11 and am usually on f16 or smaller. If your subject is static, like fungi or flowers on a windless day or in a studio, then you can use long exposures to get the aperture you need. Spiders tend to sit very still too. Many insects however are much more active and for these you will probably want to use off-camera flash.

Speaking of flash, photographing the nocturnal animals without one will very likely prove impossible. Even with a tripod and remote release and even at high ISOs you will almost certainly need slow shutter speeds and any movement of the animals will record as a blur. Next time you're there try setting your camera to ISO 1600 and the lens to max aperture and see what shutter speed you can get. If you can get above 1/30th of a second it might be worth trying a few shots but the results will have a lot of digital noise at that ISO setting.

Dave P.

[sebastianbawn]

Wow thanks. I was looking at getting a macro lens, at least now I have an idea of what to look for. I will try the high ISO, such a shame there isnt a magic way of doing it!. Thanks for your help

[pressld2]

You won't regret it! Here's a couple of examples taken with the Sigma 150mm, a full set of Kenko extension tubes and 3 lens-mounted macro flashes...



Dave P.

[sebastianbawn]

That is exactly what I am looking for! When you say 3 lens-mounted flashes, could you explain that to me. Wow those lens arent cheap!

[pressld2]

Instead of using the camera's own pop-up flash or a flash connected to the camera's hot-shoe, you can mount flash guns onto the front of the lens for close-up work. See the Nikon site at Nikon UK - Products - Catalogue - Speedlights - Remote Kit R1 - Overview for details of their macro flash kit. The illustration on that page shows two flashes mounted on the camera's lens but I usually use three, one on full power as a key light and the other two on reduced power as fill-in flashes.

Dave P.

[Jason Green]

Originally Posted by sebastianbawn

...I want to take some super-macro shots (i.e, be able to get good shots of spiders pedipalps, etc). I have macro filters, the screw on kind, but these dont appear to be that good. can anyone suggest a better item?

Yes, a dedicated macro lenns, 1:1 would be good but I agree with Dave's point: the closer you get the lower the DoF and so pedipalps would show less clearly.

I'm certainly not suggesting this as another idea, but I use a Fuji S5600 prosumer, and managed this tegenaria sp. spider simply by holding a standard 3in magnifying glass to the fully extended 310mm telephoto lens, 24cms away. This is slightly cropped but even in the original it more than fills the screen. The DoF isn't too low, either.

Originally Posted by sebastianbawn

Secondly, My local zoo has a nocturnal section. Flash photography is not allowed which I respect, but how can I take pics of animals in dark places with no additional flash?

Try for a high ISO and use a tripod...

Originally Posted by pressld2

...a full set of Kenko extension tubes and 3 lens-mounted macro flashes...
Dave P.

- I thought Kenco only processed coffee beans! What next, PG Tips macro lenses !!

[squishy]

the lens make is kenko jason (dont worry, i've made that joke several time's to )

maybe it's worth looking into a multi element screw on macro converter. they are not the same as the kind of set you have, because they have 2 or 3 optical elements, to give better results. they screw on to your lens like the other filters. there are a couple of this kind of thing you can get, there's the canon 500D screw-on macro, and a set of raynox lenses. i recently bought one of the raynox lenses (the DCR 250) and i have been very pleased with what it does. the one i ordered was only £35 delivered from a reputable seller on eBay (a buy it now, not auction) and for that money, i would recommend it to anyone who has ever pointed a lens at an insect/flower (the DCR 250 i bought comes with a 'universal' snap on mount, that will fit any lens with a filter size from 52mm-67mm).

try one out. i dont think you can go wrong with it for that price.

here are some images taken with it on my fujifilm S9600:



(all those subjects are very small )

[squishy]

Originally Posted by pressld2

lens capable of significantly better than 1:1 but I'm not sure where you would get such a beast and suspect that it would be horribly expensive



Dave P.

for canon users there is the MPE 65, which is capable (i think) of about 5:1. but it's a canon EF mount, so no joy on a D40