MACRO ON A BUDGET

[FUJI]

I am passing on what I think is good advice should you want to do Macro Photography on a budget..........apparently a used Canon s5is has a superb macro ability.......they are 8mp.......so rather dated........For curiosity I am on the look out for a cheaply version, just to see if it is true.

There seems to be quite a few available.

FUJI

[ChrisLumix]

It looks about the same size as my Lumix FZ38, whose macro is fine except that it only operates at full wide, so you have to virtually place the camera on the thing you're shooting.

[Black Pearl]

Quite few of the super/hyper zooms operate the same with extreme macro at their wides setting.

Some Canon's I know can focus down to 1cm.....which is impressive (well kind of - more on that later) but it is just about impossible to get any light on your subject with it that close to the front element. I used to play with them in the shop when I was bored but never really got any usable results.

 

Back in the day quite a few Mini DV camcorders and their forerunners Hi8/Digital8 could focus down to 0cm - quite literally you could put a finger print on the front element and get it sharp. Darn clever but again utterly pointless as nothing physical could be lit well enough to get a good result.  

 

Fuji you would be better off just getting a set of macro tubes or a lens reverser or a lens/lens coupler to play with as they will be less expensive and with you're good DSLR/M4/3 body attached to the rig your results will be far superior.

Remember my Royal mail set-up? I shoved an old 50mm lens backwards into a tube and shoved the other lens unto the body of my D300s - now that focused close. Get a spare body cap, drill out the whole of the centre, glue it into a bit of drain pipe and bung some of your many lenses into the other end. With care the pipe (now with a lens mount) will fit your camera and you can have a play.

[FUJI]

Quite few of the super/hyper zooms operate the same with extreme macro at their wides setting.

Some Canon's I know can focus down to 1cm.....which is impressive (well kind of - more on that later) but it is just about impossible to get any light on your subject with it that close to the front element. I used to play with them in the shop when I was bored but never really got any usable results.

 

Back in the day quite a few Mini DV camcorders and their forerunners Hi8/Digital8 could focus down to 0cm - quite literally you could put a finger print on the front element and get it sharp. Darn clever but again utterly pointless as nothing physical could be lit well enough to get a good result.  

 

Fuji you would be better off just getting a set of macro tubes or a lens reverser or a lens/lens coupler to play with as they will be less expensive and with you're good DSLR/M4/3 body attached to the rig your results will be far superior.

Remember my Royal mail set-up? I shoved an old 50mm lens backwards into a tube and shoved the other lens unto the body of my D300s - now that focused close. Get a spare body cap, drill out the whole of the centre, glue it into a bit of drain pipe and bung some of your many lenses into the other end. With care the pipe (now with a lens mount) will fit your camera and you can have a play.

Cheers! BP,

Thanks for that, you are right, just didn't think, but was just passing on the idea..

I will drop the idea of acquiring that camera now.......as you know, I do have an excellent dedicated macro set up, plus a RAYNOX auxiliary macro lens, plus reversing rings.......always the experimenter me.

FUJI

[ChrisLumix]

Quite few of the super/hyper zooms operate the same with extreme macro at their wides setting.

Some Canon's I know can focus down to 1cm.....which is impressive (well kind of - more on that later) but it is just about impossible to get any light on your subject with it that close to the front element. I used to play with them in the shop when I was bored but never really got any usable results.

 

 

Yes, the FZ38 will focus down to 1 cm but you can still get light about an inch away - and because it's at full wide, it's 'seeing' much wider than the area covered by the camera itself. The Lumix also has something called Macro Zoom if I could only learn how to use it (I think it's just filling the frame with the same subject, but from further away at a longer focal length? I.e., at further away it will only focus down to maybe 30-60 cms, but because it is telephoto you're seeing the same thing). I've now confused myself!

[GrahamNfk]

I have a pair of C-mount spacer rings if you want to give your Fujian CCTV lens a try-out with close-up stuff. Would be interesting if that sort of thing would be another string to the CCTV lenses bow.