This theme will run from today, July 23rd until Wednesday July 30th. Get creative with macro!

Rosemary (rmtagg) won week 10 (color black and white) with this incredible photo...

[schmikey]

I do not have a macro lens either - maybe someday... but I am going through a period of very low LBA (didn't think that was possible did you!?!) Here's my entry - taken in the spring - a very determined patch of grass growing through a crack in asphalt...



Mike

[rmtagg]

It's the caterpillar of the Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly and he's eating up all of my parsley and dill.

Very nicely done. Love the colors

Someone here is very busy...

wonder who that would bee??

thanks for the comments on my Fly photo. It really did hit the spot.(I miss on many shots)
Regarding the lens the Vivitar Series 105 Macro has become recognised as real gem for Macro photography.
Its Manual and not a new lens. However, popularity for this lens seems to be increasing. I think you may have to pay upwards from about $400 if you see one.
Maybe even more, I am not that sure of its current going price.
I highly recommend it anyway.

Looks like that lens does a very nice job!

Well, then I'm going to take you seriously on three words: "unique" and "very close".

But the macro ratio is not very high, since the photo is taken with the DA10-17 fish eye. Is this acceptable? At least I have not used a fish eye like this before, but I'm sure many others have. To me it is unique, and I can guarantee you that it was very close. I held the camera right below the bee without looking through the viewfinder, and it was close enough to disturb the bee so I had to chase it (and several of it sisters) around the bush. OK, it wasn't taken this week, but earlier this summer. But the bush and the bees are still around.

By the way Timbo13, cropping doesn't change the macro magnification ratio. This is defined according to how an object is projected on the picture frame in the camera (in the old days the 24x36, 4.5x6 or 6x7 etc film frames, now the 16x24 mm sensor). So with the digital DSLR, take a picture of a 12 mm bug. If it covers half the sensor width, it is 1:1. If you crop it to using just half the sensor, it is still 1:1, independent on what sort of enlargement you do. To take more extreme example: I can go out in the garden, take a picture with the normal lens and then find a bug somewhere in the photo (likely considering how much wasps and earwigs we have had lately disturbing our barberque evenings ), zoom in with some software, crop and print it so it comes out life size on the paper, or the screen (wont be so good resolution though), but it still isn't a 1:1 macro. At least this is what my mentors told me long ago. I don't think digital change this.

Neat photo Bees my be my nemesis! But dont tell anyone!

Sorta-macro's taken with my Promaster 70-300 (1:2) last night.
A toy dinosaur shot, and a chunk of pyrite crystal. The setup was a couple of sheets of typing paper propped up against my desk bookshelf, with a halogen reading lamp hanging over the subjects just out of view. Post processing limited to resizing and tweaking the gamma, contrast, & sharpness in Irfanview.

If we're only putting one picture up for consideration, let's go with #2 below...

Jim

I had a good chuckle when I scrolled down and saw your dino pic Well done

[rmtagg]

People can guess but I doubt if anyone in a million years would guess. I'll tell you later if you are really interested. I will tell you that it isn't animal or mineral.

Does it have anything to do with a flower or plant????

Here is my entry: a dry leave...


Taken today, using K10d and DA35Macro Ltd. Boy that is a fun lens!

I love leaf pics, nice job

Well, I think we could say that subject is not present in this shot

Oh, something not so nice happend to the owner of those wings! Interesting pic, don't ever think I have seen one like this before

Since the only "macro" lens I have is my Quantaray 70-300 here is my addition. It came from this weekend at Como park (https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-your-photos/33180-crop-not.html). It is a Water Lily bulb begining to bloom underwater with just a small part of it starting to poke out of the water:

Beautiful color saturation and lighting Nicely done!

[rmtagg]

I do not have a macro lens either - maybe someday... but I am going through a period of very low LBA (didn't think that was possible did you!?!) Here's my entry - taken in the spring - a very determined patch of grass growing through a crack in asphalt...


Mike

Mike, life is just better in macro, lol even the everyday mundane things we are use to seeing then become interesting.

[timbo13]

By the way Timbo13, cropping doesn't change the macro magnification ratio. This is defined according to how an object is projected on the picture frame in the camera (in the old days the 24x36, 4.5x6 or 6x7 etc film frames, now the 16x24 mm sensor). So with the digital DSLR, take a picture of a 12 mm bug. If it covers half the sensor width, it is 1:1. If you crop it to using just half the sensor, it is still 1:1, independent on what sort of enlargement you do. To take more extreme example: I can go out in the garden, take a picture with the normal lens and then find a bug somewhere in the photo (likely considering how much wasps and earwigs we have had lately disturbing our barberque evenings ), zoom in with some software, crop and print it so it comes out life size on the paper, or the screen (wont be so good resolution though), but it still isn't a 1:1 macro. At least this is what my mentors told me long ago. I don't think digital change this.

thanks, Douglas, for your explanation. I think I sort of knew all this in the back of my brain somewhere but now it is much clearer! I would love a nice macro lens, it's probably my next addition but the money isn't there right now. I posted my picture mostly for fun and to play with the idea of measuring small things.

I used to do a lot of imaging small things professionally ( I worked in R&D for a computer storage device company ) and I miss the access to the neat toys I used to use! The world of the very small is really wonderful. I enjoy seeing the macro images in this thread and elsewhere in the forum.

[slowpez]

Took this two days ago right after a rainstorm. Primarily for practice which some days doesn't seem to be helping. Cropped it a bunch.

[rmtagg]

Took this two days ago right after a rainstorm. Primarily for practice which some days doesn't seem to be helping. Cropped it a bunch.

Susan, that is one very birght flower What kind is it???

[slowpez]

Susan, that is one very birght flower What kind is it???

I think it's a Gerbera Daisy. Found it in my neighbor's yard. She has all colors from yellow to pale pink to this fiery pinky red.

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

thanks, Douglas, for your explanation. I think I sort of knew all this in the back of my brain somewhere but now it is much clearer! I would love a nice macro lens, it's probably my next addition but the money isn't there right now. I posted my picture mostly for fun and to play with the idea of measuring small things.

I used to do a lot of imaging small things professionally ( I worked in R&D for a computer storage device company ) and I miss the access to the neat toys I used to use! The world of the very small is really wonderful. I enjoy seeing the macro images in this thread and elsewhere in the forum.

Well, if you read threads here and elsewhere it is quite common to see that people believe that a 1:1 capable macro lens becomes capable of 1.5:1 when they put it on a digital camera. I can see how they think, but it's not how it is defined.

As for macro lens, there is many other cheaper ways. One very handy is to get a vivitar macro 2x converter (also sold as Kenko, soligor, Ricoh and others, I think Kenko made all of them) which can turn a 50 mm f1.8 lens into a 100 mm f3.6 1:1 macro lens, a 100 mm lens into a 200 mm 1:2 macro lens etc. Suddenly all your lenses become macro lenses. And if you start with a good fast lens, you get a rather decent substitute for a real macro. With KA bayonet they go for 50-100 euros and with just K for much less. Panagor had a similar device that was a 3x converter, but I don't think it is worth to lose that much more light, and I don't think they can be found with KA.

Interesting job you had. Care to guess how large the hard drives will be able to be in the future? Will they keep up with the pixel-race?

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

Someone here is very busy...

That's a very good picture. I've been chasing bee's this summer not only with the fish-eye (where it is at least easy to get them somewhere in the picture frame) but around 1:2 and 1:1, so I've learned the hard way how much work there is likely to be behind this. Still I have not got the whole of a bee that sharp.

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

here is your cookie

Best macro so far.

[rmtagg]

Best macro so far.

Hm, yum, lol

[timbo13]

As for macro lens, there is many other cheaper ways. One very handy is to get a vivitar macro 2x converter (also sold as Kenko, soligor, Ricoh and others, I think Kenko made all of them) which can turn a 50 mm f1.8 lens into a 100 mm f3.6 1:1 macro lens, a 100 mm lens into a 200 mm 1:2 macro lens etc. Suddenly all your lenses become macro lenses. And if you start with a good fast lens, you get a rather decent substitute for a real macro. With KA bayonet they go for 50-100 euros and with just K for much less. Panagor had a similar device that was a 3x converter, but I don't think it is worth to lose that much more light, and I don't think they can be found with KA.

Interesting job you had. Care to guess how large the hard drives will be able to be in the future? Will they keep up with the pixel-race?

thanks again, Douglas! I am learning a lot reading this and some other helpful threads. I already have an M 50mm/f1.7 so this is a possible option.

as far as hard drives, I worked with tape drives and it was 10 years ago, so I'm somewhat out of touch. There are a lot of very smart people working on it, I think they will keep up with the pixels just fine.

[kevindt]

That's a very good picture. I've been chasing bee's this summer not only with the fish-eye (where it is at least easy to get them somewhere in the picture frame) but around 1:2 and 1:1, so I've learned the hard way how much work there is likely to be behind this. Still I have not got the whole of a bee that sharp.

Thank you, Douglas. These were very busy bees (about 50 of them working on one bush). This one was better behaved than most of the rest (and they were all far too busy to bother about me and my camera.

(K 20d plus a Vivitar Series 1 105/2.5 bought before the price rocketed up, with a Lester Dine ring flash modified to give adjustable output levels).

[kevindt]

Well, if you read threads here and elsewhere it is quite common to see that people believe that a 1:1 capable macro lens becomes capable of 1.5:1 when they put it on a digital camera. I can see how they think, but it's not how it is defined.

As for macro lens, there is many other cheaper ways. One very handy is to get a vivitar macro 2x converter (also sold as Kenko, soligor, Ricoh and others, I think Kenko made all of them) which can turn a 50 mm f1.8 lens into a 100 mm f3.6 1:1 macro lens, a 100 mm lens into a 200 mm 1:2 macro lens etc. Suddenly all your lenses become macro lenses. And if you start with a good fast lens, you get a rather decent substitute for a real macro. With KA bayonet they go for 50-100 euros and with just K for much less. Panagor had a similar device that was a 3x converter, but I don't think it is worth to lose that much more light, and I don't think they can be found with KA.

Interesting job you had. Care to guess how large the hard drives will be able to be in the future? Will they keep up with the pixel-race?

I would echo that. Before I got my Vivitar 105, I took a lot of macros with one of the Vivitar 2x macro focusing converters on a PK-A/R mount with a 50/1.4 or a 50/1.7. They give very good image quality with a good lens in front of them, and a pretty flat field. Reversing the 50 mm lens on the camera with a reversing ring will also get you real high magnification ratios but with very short working distance, for the cost of a cheap 49 mm to K reversing ring, and cheap extension rings (no optics, so price is not particularly related to quality) are another old but cheap way to do good macros.