Hey, how’s it going? I’m Andy Jones and this is episode 67 of the Photography Q&A podcast.
I’m very pleased to announce the podcast has passed 6,000 downloads in 94 countries. I was looking through the cities where people download from and I have 9 downloads from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, formally called Saigon. If you are the person responsible for those downloads please get in touch with me.
This week’s question was asked by a relative of mine at the annual family cricket match. I say annual because due to the pandemic, it’s only the 2nd one in 4 years.
The question was…
What is macro photography?
Macro is extreme close-up photography of anything or any detail that is hard to see with the naked eye. Subjects such as insects, and flowers are ake macro favorites. You can take macro shots of absolutely anything small. A macro image shows a subject larger than life size.
To get started you need a camera with a lens that magnifies the subject, a flash, and a diffuser You don’t need anything special, you could use your phone and buy a macro lens from Amazon. Prices for these lenses go from $15 to $60 and higher. The image quality will be better than you think, and it’s not a bad way to dip your feet in the macro water.
This is one type of photography where a cropped frame camera is more sort after than a full-frame body. The reason is that the cropped sensor is smaller and the subject will cover more of the frame than a larger full-frame sensor.
So don’t worry about your camera body, they all work.
So I’m going to list three options. There are photographers that like the do-it-yourself way of shooting macro. It involves reversing lenses and adding extension tubes and making your own diffuser. I’m going to give that a miss today.
So the first option you have is…
Extension Tubes
I’ve mentioned my experience with extension tubes in past episodes. Problems aside, it was me using them that got me hooked on macro photography.
There is nothing fancy about extension tubes, they are exactly what they say. They extend your lens away from the camera body, and this magnifies the subject. My set had 13, 21, and 31mm tubes. Within 30 minutes of receiving them, I had captured a ladybug on a dandelion and I was hooked. I used my 50mm f/1.4 lens with the tubes and was able to get almost 1.5x magnification with all the tubes mounted together. You can use any combination of the tubes to get different magnification. Experiment and see.
I paid $30 for a no-name brand, and they were super lightweight plastic. If you are considering buying some, make sure you buy a known brand and pay a few dollars more. You will avoid the flexing and error issues I had.
Conversion Lens
Now I haven’t used one of these. They are a small lens that fits on the front of a regular lens. I have seen lots of images by photographers that use them and they are impressive. The most frequently used are the Raynox DCR-150 and 250. The 150 is 1.5x and the 250 is 2.5x magnification. The Raynox DCR-150 costs $70, and the DCR-250 is $72. They are probably a better option than the extension tubes, but the magnification is fixed.
Lenses
Most macro lenses have a focal length of 60 - 105mm. The big difference between lenses is the magnification they offer. Some offer 1:1, which means if the insect you photograph is 10mm long it will cover 10mm of your camera's sensor. Your crop sensor might be 23 mm wide so the insect will not fill the frame.
My lens offers 2:1, or 2x magnification, so a 10mm insect would cover 20mm of the 23mm sensor. Now you don’t have to shoot everything at 2x magnification, you can use as much as you need up to 2x.
There are macro lenses available that give 5x magnification or 5:1, but the depth of field at 5x will be microscopic. I have trouble at 2x and need to focus stack on some occasions to get a usable image, so the 5x would be difficult to use.
There are lots of brands that make macro lenses. The most expensive are Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc. The cheaper option is the third-party ones, like sigma, Laowa, 7Artisans, Tamron, and Tokina.
The most popular at the moment is Laowa made by Venus optics in China. They specialize in macro lenses and the image quality is incredible. My Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x lens cost $500 and it is tack sharp. You can use it for regular photo shoots as it focuses from infinity to 2x magnification.
Now the more expensive lenses offer autofocus, but autofocus doesn’t work well when shooting macro. Most lenses are manual focus only. I hadn’t manually focused a lens for over 40 years and was a little worried about it. But, I got into it straight away, it’s just like riding a bike.
There are lots of reviews on youtube, do a search for macro photography.
For macro, you really need a flash and a diffuser. Without them, you will need to use very fast shutter speeds and high ISO. Using a flash through a diffuser is like setting up a studio around the subject. I use 1/60 of a second and a low ISO with a flash, the results are sharp and evenly lit. The first diffuser I used was a Sto-Fen model I already had. Then I got one that fits on the lens, it’s pear-shaped and about 12 inches long. When the light hits, it spreads the light out and reduces shadows.
Since then I have ordered a Pope Shield diffuser. They are made by a macro photographer and got good reviews. I think they are made in Europe, and I’m still waiting a month after ordering. I’ll let you know if it works when I get it.
OK, so that is all I know about macro photography. I’ll put links to everything I mentioned in the show notes. Check out my Instagram account and have a look at my daily photos, which at the moment are all macro photos. Again the link is in the show notes.
I’ll be back next week with more waffle, have a good one, bye for now.