Good Macro lens for Canon 400d?

[mantis147]

Hi Mantis147,
As LondonDragon above says, you need flash to get a small aperture as macro has very small depth of field and also at macro scales a small movement is amplified so you need a fast shutter speed as well.

when I see what Alex08 has achieved with a Benq compact I'm tempted to buy one rather than use my DSLR!
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/yellow-passion-nano-with-yellow-shrimp.31420/page-3#post-381690
cheers phil

Yeah i understand the lighting issue and am i correct that the fast shutter speed is dictated by the camera rather than the lens?

 

[X3NiTH]

Confused me now! how do you use a iphone with a 50mm lens?

Phone in one hand lens in the other, line them up, get focus, take picture!

Couldn't be simpler!

 

[Another Phil]

the fast shutter speed is dictated by the camera rather than the lens

Yep, that's right, and off-camera flash is needed to avoid glare off the glass (and macro distances mean the front of the lens blocks the on-camera flash anyway) [sorry if you know all this already].

X3NiTH's idea is good; try the lens reversed as well.

cheers phil

 

[X3NiTH]

Yeah i understand the lighting issue and am i correct that the fast shutter speed is dictated by the camera rather than the lens?

Shutter speed is a camera setting. If you need to freeze a subject in motion you need a fast shutter speed, if you need lots of depth of field for more of the subject in focus you need a narrow aperture, doing both requires either more light 'or' a higher ISO setting. When you run out of ISO and you can't get the desired depth of field at the needed shutter speed and if you can't add more light then you either have to make compromises in the depth of field or the shutter speed.

You will quickly run out of light shooting high shutter speeds and narrow apertures when doing aquarium photography especially macro unless you add more light. Bumping the ISO isn't always an option as higher ISO degrades the image quality, most cameras usually have a limit to how high you can put the ISO before you start introducing large amounts of noise

Lenses can be described as fast or slow, given the same length lens, say a 50mm, then an f/1.8 would be a fast lens and f/5.6 would be a slow lens.

 

[mantis147]

Yep, that's right, and off-camera flash is needed to avoid glare off the glass (and macro distances mean the front of the lens blocks the on-camera flash anyway) [sorry if you know all this already].

X3NiTH's idea is good; try the lens reversed as well.

cheers phil

i have noticed this with the flash and it get annoying when the flash automatically pops up when taking a pic!

I got a reverse mount this week but it must be the wrong one as it wont mount to the camera it looks too small, although the screw thread fits the lens ok.

 

[mantis147]

Shutter speed is a camera setting. If you need to freeze a subject in motion you need a fast shutter speed, if you need lots of depth of field for more of the subject in focus you need a narrow aperture, doing both requires either more light 'or' a higher ISO setting. When you run out of ISO and you can't get the desired depth of field at the needed shutter speed and if you can't add more light then you either have to make compromises in the depth of field or the shutter speed.

You will quickly run out of light shooting high shutter speeds and narrow apertures when doing aquarium photography especially macro unless you add more light. Bumping the ISO isn't always an option as higher ISO degrades the image quality, most cameras usually have a limit to how high you can put the ISO before you start introducing large amounts of noise

Lenses can be described as fast or slow, given the same length lens, say a 50mm, then an f/1.8 would be a fast lens and f/5.6 would be a slow lens.

Great info Cheers, a 50mm lens is on my list for doing portrait pictures of my kids/family.

 

[mantis147]

Right as expected I have now upgraded my Camera lol!

i ended up getting the Canon EOS 700d as it had the viewfinder and got the extra £50 cashback too. It has the 18-55mm IS STM lens which it better than my old 18-55mm on the 400d. I also got a HAMA Tripod and a Yongnuo YN-565 EX ii flash.
So Im still in the hunt for a Macro Lens but can practice with cropping in the mean time as im now skint lol! Lighting correctly is now my next challenge as im totally new to external flashes, i did get a diffuser with it that may help.

My initial plan was to use the new flash with the Canon 400d but turned out it was not compatible with the software.

I presume the best method to get good light is by using the external flash remotely off the camera?

 

[Another Phil]

Hi Mantis147,

I presume the best method to get good light is by using the external flash remotely off the camera?

Yes, either from above the tank or through the front glass at enough of an angle that the light reflection doesn't shine into the camera.

I don't know your equipment but assuming you are using the pop-up flash to trigger the remote put a bit of foil in front of the pop-up so it can flash towards the remote but not flash onto the glass.

Camera on tripod set up, use the self timer or interval shooting to give yourself time to hold the remote flash in position to test lighting angles: unless you have a remote release.

Get spare flash-gun batteries

I'm Pentax and ancient flash-guns with slave-units so can't answer anything too technical.
cheers phil

 

[mantis147]

cheers for the info Phil, I have not figured out how to trigger the external flash off the camera one just yet but should get the hang of it soon.

The tripod make it so easy get the picture! not quite sure why i didnt get one 5 years ago when i had my 400d!

thanks for the tip on the batterys too!

 

[naughtymoose]

Mantis, I'm not sure if you can trigger the Yongnuo with the in-built 700d flash trigger. Have a look in the manual.

If not, try as per Phil's post above. Alternatively, save for a wireless flash trigger.