Macro question

[Agent_matt]

People taking all these fancy/impressive pictures with closeup's of plants, insects and the like do you need a tripod to get such focused images?

 

[funkyphantom]

its not easy to use a tripod photographing insects with a tripod m8. Just set your macro lense to 1:1 and move forwards or backwards to focus. Oh and take lots of picures, and hope thats what i do

 

[dirtybeatfreak]

double post, i r noob

 

[dirtybeatfreak]

yup, make sure your using manual focus and rock back and forth till your in focus then shoot loads lol

always good to check your pics on the screen aswell to try check for your dof etc (zooming in helps)

 

[SilverPenguin]

Use a tripod!! Unless you are using fast shutter speeds its very easy to get blurred images when doing macro. Up your ISO to help with that. You want as big a DOF as you can get and that means your going to lose a lot of light which means slower shutter speeds. If your using flash then that will help a lot when doing hand held.

A tripod will give you MUCH better results especially if you want to print big. If web size is all you care about you will be able to get away with some softness but not too much. The thing with macro is getting the very narrow DOF in the right place.

This was taken at 1/10 second, no flash, ISO 400 with a 105mm Sigma (so 160mm or so with the sensor crop factor, so the shutter speed was way too slow to use handheld).

 

[Nicos Rex]

I am no bug hunter but a strong case can be made both for and against the use of a tripod. Indeed the arguments on both sides have been made cogently above.

There is a sort of compromise that should be considered. A monopod with practice can give shake-free exposures up to about a second or so and allows the forward and backward movement for focusing - it is also going to be lighter to lug around and quicker to set up and move with.

 

[Amp34]

Some insects you can use a tripod on, some you can't. Flys and flyie things usually you will need to do it free hand and hope as they move around way too much for a tripod. Beetles and creepy crawlies on the other hand you should usually be able to use a tripod if you want.

Plants, well they don't really move so use the tripod on them if you want. Same with any inanimate object.

Me personally, I use a tripod in the garden sometimes but usually just do it free hand. And as alangelluk says take lots of shots, it is quite difficult to get a good focus first shot.

I wonder when - or if - they will ever make an IS macro lens?

 

[SilverPenguin]

I wonder when - or if - they will ever make an IS macro lens?

Nikon do the 105 VR but from owner reviews the VR isn't as good as a proper support. My guess is its fine for those that don't require razor sharp images when viewed at %100 magnification. If you do, nothing beats proper support when the shutter speeds go low.