New Macro lens- does it suck or do I ???

Sigma 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical HF for Pentax

05/29/2007 07:54:44 PM · #1

I have this EF-S 60 mm macro lens and I can't seem to get the results that I want...ie: sharpness, focus..
I am shooting in aperture priority most of the time , varying the settings to see what works- getting a good result maybe 30% of the time- any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Jewellian

Pentax *ist DL

05/29/2007 07:56:48 PM · #2

hand held? or tripod? got some examples we can see?

05/29/2007 08:00:49 PM · #3

Macro is not easy. The DoF is narrow, and lighting is difficult since you are often using a small aperture, like f/16. That leads to slower shutter speeds and to shake problems.
The answer to the above is practice, practice, practice. If you have a flash (other than the on-camera flash), try mounting a reflector (like this one) and using the flash to fill.
BTW, if you're getting acceptable results 30% of the time that's pretty good! The throw-away ratio for macro tends to be pretty high.

05/29/2007 08:02:09 PM · #4

523726[thumb][/thumb]

Originally posted by Jewellian:

hand held? or tripod? got some examples we can see?

monopod

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

05/29/2007 08:03:34 PM · #5

Try this technique... set focus to manual and set the lens to the focus distance that gives the magnification you want. Now approach the subject, and move the camera back and forth to get proper focus. Shoot several shots while moving ever so slightly forward/back.
It's harder than you think to *not* rock back & forth! Bracing yourself on something, if possible, can greatly enhance your "hit rate" with focus.

PHOTOKID

05/29/2007 08:03:36 PM · #6

Originally posted by patio127:

Originally posted by Jewellian:
hand held? or tripod? got some examples we can see?

monopod

A little help from a friend :)

PhotoDave

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

05/29/2007 08:04:43 PM · #7

fixing link

05/29/2007 08:04:50 PM · #8

Originally posted by patio127:

523726[thumb][/thumb]
Originally posted by Jewellian:
hand held? or tripod? got some examples we can see?

monopod

05/29/2007 08:16:27 PM · #9

Originally posted by patio127:

Originally posted by patio127:
523726[thumb][/thumb]
Originally posted by Jewellian:
hand held? or tripod? got some examples we can see?

monopod

05/29/2007 08:18:53 PM · #10

Looks like you got accurate focus on this shot. The contrast is low because the subject is in shade. The brightly lit background is a distraction. When shooting insect macros, you want to keep them sunlit, and try to get them against a darker background. An option, as I mentioned above, is to use fill flash to brighten the subject area and freeze motion. This will serve to darken the background, since exposure will be reduced.

05/29/2007 08:19:17 PM · #11

there's another one that is BAD...

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

05/29/2007 08:23:42 PM · #12

Originally posted by kirbic:

Thank you, very much- that advice seems good to me and you are so kind to respond...

Monique64

Canon EOS-30D

05/29/2007 08:23:45 PM · #13

Just looked at your picture with the bee. I have been taking shots this morning because my Mock Orange has all these flowers and there are heaps of bees and butterflys and I have the identical shot!

I dont have a macro lens but use a screw on macro filter to achieve the same sort of affect.

trevytrev

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

05/29/2007 08:26:23 PM · #14

The manuel focus technique described by kirbic works well for me as well especially on stationary objects like flowers or slow bugs. I will switch over to auto focus on fast moving bugs like bees or flies. Just keep shooting and find what works for you and expect a lot of crap images b/c of focus issues. Good luck and enjoy your lens!

05/29/2007 08:30:53 PM · #15

Thank you ! Am so happy that it's not all me ! I will keep experimenting...

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

05/29/2007 08:49:52 PM · #16

Originally posted by patio127:

there's another one that is BAD...

that makes a lot of sense- thank you !

MattO

Nikon D4

05/29/2007 09:39:38 PM · #17

If you look at my portfolio, you will see that my love for photography involves macro work. Depending on how and where you shoot 30% keeper rate isnt all that bad. I'm pretty critical of my own work as far as focal point, sharpness and so forth. If I could get 30% keeper rate I'd be happy. Its not unusual for me to shoot 75-150 shots and actually keep and process 20 or so, then actually show maybe 10. Once you get down to 1:1 magnification or more your keeper rate will really drop especially doing bugs, flowers with wind and so forth. I dont shoot with a monopod or a tripod, all of mine is handheld with a macro-ringflash. The biggest thing as said earlier is practice, practice, practice. Oh and welcome to the world as most people will never see it. Macro-land is alot of fun.

MattO

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

05/29/2007 09:52:29 PM · #18

Originally posted by kirbic:

Try this technique... set focus to manual and set the lens to the focus distance that gives the magnification you want. Now approach the subject, and move the camera back and forth to get proper focus.

I just purchased a 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens from Canon and I read this same thing in the instructions but it doesn't make sense to me (see bold text). Could you please explain a bit more?

MattO

Nikon D4

05/29/2007 10:07:07 PM · #19

Originally posted by skylercall:

Originally posted by kirbic:
Try this technique... set focus to manual and set the lens to the focus distance that gives the magnification you want. Now approach the subject, and move the camera back and forth to get proper focus.

I just purchased a 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens from Canon and I read this same thing in the instructions but it doesn't make sense to me (see bold text). Could you please explain a bit more?

On the lens in the focal window on the lens it gives you magnification index. 1:1 1:1.5 1:2 1:3 and 1:5. The top line in the window in yellow is this number.

Focus switch to manual, turn the focal magnification to what you want. Say 1.5 then move the camera foward or backwards until you get Focus confirmation from your camera and then fire the shutter.

MattO

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

05/29/2007 10:34:32 PM · #20

Originally posted by MattO:

Okay, that makes sense now. Thank you.

Next question: is it still 1:1 on a 1.6x crop sensor (I think that is what I have)?

MattO

Nikon D4

05/29/2007 10:35:32 PM · #21

Originally posted by skylercall:

Originally posted by MattO:
On the lens in the focal window on the lens it gives you magnification index. 1:1 1:1.5 1:2 1:3 and 1:5. The top line in the window in yellow is this number.

Focus switch to manual, turn the focal magnification to what you want. Say 1.5 then move the camera foward or backwards until you get Focus confirmation from your camera and then fire the shutter.

MattO

Okay, that makes sense now. Thank you.

Next question: is it still 1:1 on a 1.6x crop sensor (I think that is what I have)?

Yes its still 1:1 on a 1.6, on a 1.3(mine) or full frame 5D.

MattO

05/29/2007 10:43:25 PM · #22

I still have a lot to learn. Any good links? Now I am trying to figure out how I, before putting my eye behind the viewfinder, would know what magnification I want for any particular shot.

05/29/2007 10:51:48 PM · #23

Originally posted by skylercall:

I still have a lot to learn. Any good links? Now I am trying to figure out how I, before putting my eye behind the viewfinder, would know what magnification I want for any particular shot.

Here's an easy way to think about it. Your sensor is about 23mm across. That's just under an inch. So at 1:1, an object a little less than an inch in length will fill the frame horizontally. For 1:2, it become sabout 2 inches, 1:4 is about 4inches, etcetera.
If you can visualise the size of your subject and the framing you'd like to achieve yoiu should be able to make a mental estimate of the magnification necessary to achieve that framing. Set it to your estimate, frame it, tweak as needed, reframe, shoot.