DSLRUsers.com

Just having an initial play with some of my new toys...

All 3 shots were taken with the 80-400VR lens @ 400mm. As I don't yet have an Arca-Swiss lens plate for this lens, it was mounted on my monopod. The SB-800 was in the hot-shoe at -1EV.

Hoya close-up filters transformed the lens into a high-powered macro lens. The VR worked well with the +1 & +2 filters, but was struggling with the +4 - especially with my shaky hands
They're not quite in focus (the viewfinder becomes a little blurry with these filters fitted), but it'll give you some idea of the magnifications possible with this combination...


+1 filter at about 50cm (closest distance at 400mm) 1/30s at f29


+2 filter at about 30cm (closest distance at 400mm) 1/30s at f40


+4 filter at about 15cm (closest distance at 400mm) 1/30s at f40

Cool, did you do any at +7? (+1, +2, +4)

Glad you found a better subject than my scalp this time.

- Rog

Excellent stuff. Any chance of doing some insects?

I'll try to find something more interesting soon, but I had to try rog's suggestion first...

+4+2+1 = +7 but impossible to focus well... almost zero DOF, even at F40. Unsurprisingly there's also a lot of fringeing going on...

Interesting, now set up a sensor and trigger to capture the moment the match lights up. :p

- R

rog wrote:Interesting, now set up a sensor and trigger to capture the moment the match lights up. :p

- R

Bah!!! You guys are never satisfied

Great shots, particularly as they weren't taken using a nice solid tripod. Evan though the lens is a VR it's still a heavy outfit to try and hold steady.


Bob.

OK... especially for thaddeus... here's an insect...
OK... it's a dead insect (it had a run in with a spider the night before), but I can't contemplate trying to capture something that won't keep still yet...

This one was taken with the +4 filter - after 10 shots I finally captured one where the head was in focus... If I'm going to pursue this, I think that I'll need a macro-rail

Wow, that's incredible! Thanks! When are you geting the macro rail?

thaddeus wrote:Wow, that's incredible! Thanks! When are you geting the macro rail?

Will this lust never end... :-S

Nice! Yes, live insects are more challenging, I've got a few creepy closeups of live spiders that were an interesting experience to capture.

If you want to get really technical with insects/macro, check out what one guy did here:
http://users.skynet.be/fotoopa/laser_module1_E.htm

rog wrote:If you want to get really technical with insects/macro, check out what one guy did here:
http://users.skynet.be/fotoopa/laser_module1_E.htm

Wow!!! Thanks for the link - MAJOR LEAGUE geeky (Erm... I mean that's very creative) - but such great results...

I think if Mrs Leek saw me walking round the garden with one of those contraptions, she'd probably think it had all gone too far

How quickly we forget (or how easily we miss) posts

The insect contraption was covered in this thread back in August.

And I have no idea why I remember useless stuff like this


Edit: And thanks John for showing me why I should never consider macro photography (specialist lens and equipment lust has to be worse than the common garden variety )