Best Tele Macro

spraynpray

That is a low light shot in a woodland glade using my own home-made flash set-up Larry. It basically means great portability and consistency for any shot taken with any given lens. Change the lens, then adjust the flashes and you're good to go. Takes the harsnes out of bright shots providing the bright light doesn't over power the IR flashes (SB700 x 2). Here is a shot of it on my old D7100 (which is the body that the above shot came from) and in that guise it is triggered using the internal flash as master with the SB700's as slaves. On my D850 I couple it to the hot shoe with a cable and use one SB as the master and the other as the remote slave. The great thing about it is that I get to use the flashes for portraiture when I want and the investment is only the ebay sourced arms and a few bits and pieces.

FreezeAction

spraynpray said:

That is a low light shot in a woodland glade using my own home-made flash set-up Larry. It basically means great portability and consistency for any shot taken with any given lens. Change the lens, then adjust the flashes and you're good to go. Takes the harsnes out of bright shots providing the bright light doesn't over power the IR flashes (SB700 x 2). Here is a shot of it on my old D7100 (which is the body that the above shot came from) and in that guise it is triggered using the internal flash as master with the SB700's as slaves. On my D850 I couple it to the hot shoe with a cable and use one SB as the master and the other as the remote slave. The great thing about it is that I get to use the flashes for portraiture when I want and the investment is only the ebay sourced arms and a few bits and pieces.

I like it. I have 2 Phottix Mitros that could be slaves to the popup flash on my D7200. Normally I use flash stands but I like the mobility of your setup. In the late afternoons butterflies on the bushes here at home like the shady side of the garden so this should solve the lighting problems here as well as the outdoor garden at an experiment station near here that is shaded by trees most of the day. Possibly a trigger could be used to take advantage of the high cycle speed of the flash heads. I have the winter to get it all together. Thanks for sharing this Andrew.

spraynpray

You're welcome Larry. Funny thing is that I gave a talk on macro photography to some local clubs and some time later during an inter-club competition I saw a very familiar image come up but was instantly confused because I didn't remember taking it - you guessed it, the photographer built a replica of my gear and got really good results very quickly! The light from it should light the subject obliquely to pick up the detail without giving the boring lighting of a ringflash. You can play with ratios if you like, but I always shoot withthem balanced.

FreezeAction

I look at the 105mm f2.8G as a short tele Macro. Sometimes you take what you can get. These are well over my head and I wasn't going to turn the shot down for any reasons. This is out of the D7200 and 105mm f2.8G Macro. I've done worse than this and the people who have seen the 20x24 luster prints love it.

NSXTypeR

spraynpray said:

'Pukka' is a word that originated on the Indian sub-continent I believe, but it just means a lens that has been designed and built for use close to the subject.

My sharpest lens ever was a Nikkor 60mm D but it sounded like a braying Donkey while focussing and was also slow to aquire focus so I swapped it for a 60mm G which was silent and fast but not quite as good on sharpness.

Like you I don't spend a fortune on gear (my money is all going into this new house) but I do plan to buy another lens to round out my meagre collection, most likely the Sigma 180mm APO. It is sharp enough and gives a bigger camera to subject seperation which helps with some jumpy species.

Thanks for the clarification.

I've heard some of the AF-D lenses autofocus, it's scary how loud they get. In a quiet museum DSLRs shutters are surprisingly loud, can't imagine adding an AF-D motor to the mix.

NSXTypeR

FreezeAction said:

I look at the 105mm f2.8G as a short tele Macro. Sometimes you take what you can get. These are well over my head and I wasn't going to turn the shot down for any reasons. This is out of the D7200 and 105mm f2.8G Macro. I've done worse than this and the people who have seen the 20x24 luster prints love it.

That's similar to me, I shoot with a D7000 with 105mm macro.

spraynpray

Oh yeah, as Monarchs are rare migrant visitors to England, I would be chuffed to see one let alone photograph it!

The 105 is a macro lens of course so it would be much better than the 70-200 f4 (even though that is a fab lens when used at its normal distances).

Nice shot. It looks pretty straight from camera - you could improve the noise and sharpening further quite easily you know?

FreezeAction

spraynpray said:

Oh yeah, as Monarchs are rare migrant visitors to England, I would be chuffed to see one let alone photograph it!

The 105 is a macro lens of course so it would be much better than the 70-200 f4 (even though that is a fab lens when used at its normal distances).

Nice shot. It looks pretty straight from camera - you could improve the noise and sharpening further quite easily you know?

Yes I know. It will be doctored a lot before final prints are made. That was one of the first times I've seen monarchs in the wild. None came to my place. Those are about 10 miles away. The monarchs were easier to use the 105 on than any other large species. The cloudless Sulphur species were easier to shoot at 500mm... If I can lure some to stop next summer then just maybe get them at eye level from the turkey blind. If they were not high up they were in the shadow of tall trees and I didn't think about fill flash until the frost hit us. I want a flash setup like yours before we head for Costa Rica in January if all goes as planned. My friend is going to take us to a place where the parrots will light on our arms out of the trees. Not what I'm really interested in like their butterflies and hummingbirds but I take what comes.

mhedges

@spraynpray did you see the post on the blog about the wireless macro flash system? Looks a lot like your setup, except with yours you can also use the flashes for regular use.

spraynpray

@mhedges: I have just seen it. Would be nice not to struggle on very bright days (with the IR coupling), and it looks lighter too but I am having a lot of problems getting another lens purchase past the wife - I think she would divorce me if I added a flash to my list too! The dual flash set-up is best used up close with shorter lenses because with a greater working distance the light starts to be too straight on to lift the detail. I can use longer arms with my set-up but it is very unwieldy then. If I get a telemacro it will be mainly for available light work.