I am so rusty when it comes to macro. I received my MP-E 65mm f/2.8 macro lens this evening from my crack dealer...
B&H. I've been mentally prepping myself for the summer months by coming up with a new strategy for extreme macro. I got great results from the reverse mount technique last year, but had little control over magnification. Getting enough light in my shots was another factor. My eventual goal is to purchase the Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite Ringlite Flash, but it's quite pricey with a street price of around $650.00, so I chose a cheaper route. I ordered the ST-E2 (Speedlite Transmitter). It's a wireless controller for the E-TTL wireless autoflash system. The ST-E2 can control up to two Speedlite 550EX or 420EX slave groups in one of four channels. The flash ratio between the two groups can also be controlled and it supports focal plane flash (flash greater than x-sync). I figured that since the guide number of my 550-EX is 180@55m and the MT-24EX is only 72@22m, I could use the ST-E2 to trigger the 550-EX as a slave and I could handhold it near my subject. The shot above is a test run. Obviously, I have a lot to learn. For example, the DOF issue for normal macro is unruly however, extreme macro is extremely unruly. I shot the critter in the photo above with an aperture of f/8 and at a magnification of about 2.5x... that means the effective aperture is really about f/28 to f/30 since extension was used to achieve the magnification. That tiny little depth of field was all I got at approximately f/30! It's a crazy trade off between DOF and softness due to shrinking aperture and how that effects the optical quality of the data reaching the film/sensor. For example, a shot at 5x magnification and f/16 (the minimum aperture of the lens) equates to an effective focal aperture of f/96. Crazy. Anyhoo, I'll get better with practice and hopefully have better subjects to practice on... this unknown bug on the back door was the only one I could find at this hour. I had trouble focusing because manual focus is all the lens supports and it was dark! Dark! The light from the flash was about all there was. Hopefully, more aesthetically pleasing results will soon follow. I have had a stressful day and think I'll go enjoy a beer on the couch ala Homer Simpson. Goodnight!
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