This couple were on the ground just outside my lounge room door.

[reh321]

This couple were on the ground just outside my lounge room door.

and taken without a "macro" lens!!

[K2 to K50]

and taken without a "macro" lens!!

Yeah, was just going back inside my lounge room, and had the 550-300mm PLM on the KP. So used the glass door to prop myself, and shot hand-held. I have been very pleased with results from "close" shooting with the 55-300mm PLM although mostly with a tripod.

See

Yeh, I know - another red dragonfly! - PentaxForums.com
and
Caught !! - PentaxForums.com

But of course, the 100mm 2.8 Macro is the better choice, time permitting for a lens change!

[bladerunner6]

Excellent shot

[MSL]

I have been very pleased with results from "close" shooting with the 55-300mm PLM although mostly with a tripod.

If you are willing to crop a bit, and most modern sensors give you plenty of pixels to play with, you don't need a macro lends to get up close. For these subjects I'm not sure how much closer and personal you would want to get

Hand held can be hit and miss although you can compensate a little for unsteady hands by using burst mode. There's weren't my best macro and I've since learned to PP them a bit better but you can do well even with inexpensive gear.
Another cheap macro setup - PentaxForums.com

[K2 to K50]

If you are willing to crop a bit, and most modern sensors give you plenty of pixels to play with, you don't need a macro lends to get up close. For these subjects I'm not sure how much closer and personal you would want to get

Hand held can be hit and miss although you can compensate a little for unsteady hands by using burst mode. There's weren't my best macro and I've since learned to PP them a bit better but you can do well even with inexpensive gear.
Another cheap macro setup - PentaxForums.com

Very nice shots, MSL. The ants shots came out very well, as well as the flower shots.

I actually own a film era set of extension tubes, which I have yet to really play with, mainly because I will lose the auto focus, and my eyes are hopeless at manual focus. Have tried (only once or twice) magnification in Live View for better manual focus, but still very hit and miss.

I do own the PENTAX-DFA 100mm f/2.8 WR Macro Lens, and also a film era 50mm Pentax M F1.4 Macro lens (which I have used 2 or 3 times since going digital 2 yrs ago). This 50mm Macro is very small, compared to my 3 modern lenses.

[MSL]

I actually own a film era set of extension tubes, which I have yet to really play with, mainly because I will lose the auto focus, and my eyes are hopeless at manual focus. Have tried (only once or twice) magnification in Live View for better manual focus, but still very hit and miss.

Focus can be challenging, especially for moving creatures and if there's any wind. It is still largely hit and miss for me, and I do depend on burst mode to get one or two usable shots out of a bunch. Wide open, I probably do better with MF than AF for some of my lenses because they probably need calibration.


The other option that sometimes works is to focus on something relatively large (like a full flower) and then not worry about fine tuning for insects but rather hope/expect they'll be fully in focus at some point. A bit of a variation on pray and spray. A lot depends on how much you care about the outcome too. Most of those bug shots were taken in my backyard in the overgrown weeds. So low cost for me whether they turned out or not, and most of the time it was just me wanting an excuse to play with the camera.

One thing that does help is a fast lens. It is a lot easier to focus when you are at f.17 or f2.8 (for a 90 mm macro lens) than something that only starts at f4 or above.

[Tonytee]

A very nice capture of two Hover Flies doin' the Nasty.

RR