How the sausage is made at 1000mm, 1/25 sec, f36, ISO 1400
Firespike feeds the Honeybees too
I like to combine different pieces of lens gear just to see what can be achieved. Unfortunately, there are many more
failures than satisfying results. This photo I like very much!
I don’t think of this as macro, but more closeup photography. Normally I use a bellows which allows infinite adjustment of the distance from the back of the lens to the sensor, but is best suited for still life shots of flowers, and a subject distance in inches. Since my new favorite closeup lens is the 200-500mm with a 2x converter, physically and electronically the bellows is not an option, so in this case I tried extension tubes. At 1000 mm the lens alone will focus to ~10’, with the extension tubes it is about 7’, so just a little gain in subject distance.
With this setup, everything has to come together at once, proper focus, which I find to be incredibly difficult, sufficient light, and subject/photographer preoccupation are prime. A major flaw is vignetting in the corners, but cropping takes care of that. No hand held, tripod mounted as the rig is 24” and 10+ lbs. Luckily the bee was drinking deeply and didn’t move, just long enough. This is the same position I shoot all my birdbath photos, through two panes of glass from my family room!
Hope to share more soon!
= new reply since forum marked as read
I use the 300 f4 (600 mm equ) with an extension tube for insects often.
For action shots I like the 12-100 (24-200) with a 16 mm tube and a flash with diffuser. I can also use the digital 2x for 400mm equ. Focus distance about 2 ft. It's a challenge to capture focus but the rest is so easy. Just not much of a keep ratio.
