Macro – MP-E65 challenges slowly being mastered

[Dennis]

Hello,

Here are some quite detailed photos of jumping spiders and other small insects taken with the Canon MP-E65. The camera/lens was tripod mounted which has restricted me to shooting at the edge of shrubs and bushes only.

This lens goes from 1:1 to 5:1 and requires good technique. I found that shooting at F11 gave me a softer image with the 7D due to the effects of diffraction so I now shoot at F8 with this lens and the 7D combo.

As the slightest whiff of a breeze makes the subject quickly depart the frame, I resorted to clamping the branch to the tripod which also gave me a better angle of the spiders. If I work slowly and ever so gently, the spider settles down although I sometimes have to gently twist the twig to slowly rotate the spider into view.

For a couple of the shots I managed to grab 3 to 5 frames for focus stacking with Helicon. Using the MP-E65 is much more technically demanding than the 100mm F2.8 and is more akin to long focal length auto guiding when compared to wide field imaging!:)

Thanks for looking!

Dennis

[troypiggo]

It certainly is a beast to use. Well done.

Regarding the diffraction softening you're finding out about. I know Brian "LordV" Valentine did some testing a while ago, and recommends opening up the aperture as you increase the magnification. At 1:1 he shoots around f/11 as you mention. 2:1 I think he might drop to f/9 or so, 3:1 f/7 and so on down to 5:1 he might be down around f/5.6 or something. Those sort of mags, that close to subject, and those sort of apertures, the DoF is raaaaazor thin! No wonder you're getting into focus stacking territory.

[Dennis]

Hi Troy

Thanks. I’m really enjoying this new lens and the extraordinary micro world that it has opened up to my eyes. Here is the “eye of the spider”, what a beautiful creature it is.

Here is a link to a review of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II which has a table listing the Diffraction Limited Aperture values for several Canon DSLRs.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-II-DSLR-Digital-Camera-Review.aspx

Cheers

Dennis

[lacad01]

Great to see you're enjoying the new lens and challenges Dennis :thumbsup:

[troypiggo]

Thanks mate. Will go through that article in detail some time.

From what I understand, though, at macro distances and those higher magnifications the effects become even more pronounced. I think of it like the magnifications greater than 1:1 have a bigger effect on what the lens says the aperture is. So there's like an "effective aperture" that's actually higher than what the lens/camera is reporting.

The MP-E is a special lens that's kind of got a built in set of variable distance extension tubes. It gets its higher mags by putting more distance between the sensor and lens. You'll notice how the viewfinder gets darker at higher mags like 4:1 and 5:1. That's kind of this "effective aperture" reduction effect I'm talking about.

So at 5:1, if you have the lens/camera set to f/5.6, the diffraction effects are as though it's around that f/11 ballpark. That's my way of thinking about it, anyway.

You can certainly notice the effects on sharpness if you do some testing. I used teabags and toothbrushes, shooting fibres etc.

[Dennis]

Thanks Troy – here is an article I found that further describes what you have explained. Selecting f/16 at 5x results in an effective f/96.:eyepop:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-MP-E-65mm-1-5x-Macro-Lens-Review.aspx

Cheers

Dennis

[multiweb]

Wow! Narrow field macro. Fred will like that. :lol: :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[troypiggo]

That explains it much better than I can, and glad it confirms my findings.