Originally posted by K2 to K50 1: Did you use any tele-converter or magnifier for those bee (wasp??) shots, or just the 100mm Macro?
No just the lens.
Originally posted by K2 to K50 2: With the 100mm Macro, how close would you have to get to get that kind of shot ( and is what we see here the original, or cropped?)
I can't remember exactly. The minimum focus distance (MFD) is 30cm. I was probably close to that for the first two, but further for the third (you can see the difference in the DOF, even though the first two were f11 and f10 and the third f8). Each is cropped from the original 20mp (taken with the K-S2), but not massively: the first to 16.3mp, the second to 17.8mp and the third to 10mp.
Originally posted by K2 to K50 I ... am wondering for instance, how close the100mm Macro needs to get compared, say, to my old Pentax M 50mm Macro
I gather the M50 macro has a maximum magnification of about 1:2. So even at its MFD of 23cm you would only get half the magnification of the DFA 100. And it could be challenging at times to get as close as 23cm to an insect in the field. I've got the FA 50 f2.8 macro (which is a 1:1 lens) but I rarely use it for true macro. To get 1:1 reproduction you need to be at 19cm from the subject and that isn't easy for insects. One of the 1:1 macros in the 90mm - 105mm range is going to be easier for shooting things that move.
Originally posted by K2 to K50 The only working flash I have at the moment is the built-in flash on my K50: probably not that useful for close-ups.
This is a topic for another thread, but people have shown a lot of ingenuity in using their popup flash for macro. Here's just one example:
Macro with pop-up flash & snoot - PentaxForums.com Plenty of threads on PF about cheap flash/diffuser setups for macro.
Last edited by Des; 06-07-2019 at 01:53 PM.