Budget Macro of a Spider

[Valls]

Hey friends! This was shot with a nikkor 55-200 + a magnifying glass in front of the lens, cuz I'm in a budget! hahaha

This is supposedly a Nephilla spider, but I'm no expert! If you know what it really is, please comment! otherwise, feel free to leave here your thoughts about the pic!

Cheers!

 

[tirediron]

All I can tell you is that it is a spider. You're getting surprisingly good results with your budget technique!

 

[Valls]

thanks! I feel the image is a bit soft with this technique... I tried coupling lens and it works better, but I didn't really wanna get close enough to use it with this particular spider! hahaha

 

[tirediron]

Don't blame you! Yes, it is a little soft, but it's usable and given what it cost, pretty darn respectable. There are a couple of other budget-friendly options which may yield slightly to significantly better results: Close up or macro "filters" such as these (NOT recommending these in particular, just an example). Depending on the quality they may not yield a lot of improvement but will mean that you don't have to hold two things, or, you can try a reversing ring which allows you to mount your lens backwards and focus in much more closely. Of course with this, you lose all automatic/electronic functionality of the lens.

 

[Valls]

I've been meaning to buy and try one of this close-up "filters" for a while now... I'm just not sure about which "brand" i should be looking for... I mean, probably most of them are chinese and will give me about the same result.. But there oughta be a "better than the rest" one... I mean, I've fixed my magnifying glass to a step up ring and attached to the front of the lens, so I don't really have to hold anything but the camera... But this magnifying glass I think has a +15 dioptry, so using a +4 hopefully won't affect sharpness as much and still provide me enough of a macro effect!

About the reversing ring, a friend here in the forum ("petrochemist" was his nickname) suggested the coupled reversed lens technique, where I mount my telephoto lens normally and hold (or attach with the help of a coupling ring) my wider lens in front of it, reversed... It gives pretty impressive macro shots! You can read more HERE if you're into this... It works as a charm! But then again, back to holding two things! hahaha (unless you buy the coupling ring, of course!)

Thanks for commenting, for the kindness and for the ideas!

 

[jcdeboever]

I don't think the softness deters the composition or exposure. It is well done and darn satisfying to look at, if you like spiders. I do.

 

[Valls]

Thanks!

 

[jcdeboever]

Thanks!

Keep them coming my brother.

 

[Overread]

Raynox and Canon both make high quality close up lens attachments which are worth getting; they use multi-elements and are very good for the money. Image degradation is really tiny for the magnification you get and they beat the cheap knock-off options by miles.

Raynox market a little bit toward the video market more than the DSLR; but their products are great; the DCR 150 and DCR 250 are good starting options whilst their MSN series are a higher level of magnification (higher cost too).


Canon makes two in the 250D and 500D; again great options.

Note when picking look at the "diopter" value for the close up lens attachments as this denotes their "power". A higher diopter value means more magnification; but also reduced working distance as a result.



Note these work best on longer focal length lenses; and by best I mean they give increased magnification. Extension tubes are another option ;but work best (give most magnification gain) on shorter focal length lenses.

 

[Valls]

Nice! I will surelly take a look at those you mentioned... if I can find any of those here in Brazil i will consider buying, for sure!

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[jcdeboever]

Nice! I will surelly take a look at those you mentioned... if I can find any of those here in Brazil i will consider buying, for sure!

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your doing fine.

 

[Valls]

Nice! I will surelly take a look at those you mentioned... if I can find any of those here in Brazil i will consider buying, for sure!

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your doing fine.

Always trying to get better! Hahaha

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[davholla]

I wonder if you are suffering from camera shake a bit. As someone who also has the problem I wonder if that could be doing this.

 

[Valls]

I wonder if you are suffering from camera shake a bit. As someone who also has the problem I wonder if that could be doing this.

Well, that is actually a good question! And after you asked, I checked my camera and noticed that I had (for whatever reason) my VR turned off, don't know for how long (cuz i don't remember turning it off)... Also, the big magnification and the lack of light (hence lower shutter speed to avoid high ISO noise) might have leaded to some camera shake, yes! Thanks for calling that out, btw! I will search for something to take a picture of and check if I had any shaking issue, by using a faster shutter (even if that means ISO noise, just to check if there was indeed camera shake)...

Thanks again!

 

[davholla]

I wonder if you are suffering from camera shake a bit. As someone who also has the problem I wonder if that could be doing this.

Well, that is actually a good question! And after you asked, I checked my camera and noticed that I had (for whatever reason) my VR turned off, don't know for how long (cuz i don't remember turning it off)... Also, the big magnification and the lack of light (hence lower shutter speed to avoid high ISO noise) might have leaded to some camera shake, yes! Thanks for calling that out, btw! I will search for something to take a picture of and check if I had any shaking issue, by using a faster shutter (even if that means ISO noise, just to check if there was indeed camera shake)...

Thanks again!

Possible solutions
1) Rest on something (ground etc)
2) Rest your hand on your chest
3) Use a stick, I recently saw this great way of taking photos
Me, cat and macro rig