Macro shutterspeed

[doenoe]

Hey there
im probably gonna buy a macro lens next month (the sigma 105mm)
Then i started thinking about the shutterspeeds. Cause normally you use a shutterspeed thats about the same number as your focal length (50mm: 1/50 300mm: 1/320 etc etc) This especially goes for the bigger zooms.
Now the question, does this rule (not really a rule offcourse) go for macro lenses too? Cause your magnifaction is bigger then a normal lens, so i guess you can get camera-shake faster too....right or wrong? So would you need faster speeds then your focal length is?
Thanks for any answers.
Greetz Daan

 

[gizmo2071]

If your shooting with available light you need to use a fast'ish shutter speed, but if your using Flash then I wouldn't worry about it too much. With Flash I'm happy to go down to 25th/60th of a second to get keep a decent Aperture. In availble light I wouldn't go below 125th.
Pressuming this is handheld insect macro that is.

 

[el_shorty]

That rule does not apply to macro, camera shake is magnified greatly in macro, that's why is always recommended to use a tripod. I use a tripod with about 50% of my macro shots, mostly flowers and still life, and I use flash for the other 50%, bugs and small animals.

 

[RacePhoto]

Tripod or a fixed mounting of some sort! You need to watch depth of field and get the focus sharp and steady.

Only exception would be if you are trying to shoot a macro of something that's moving, which is really a challenge.

Next addition to the lens collection is the 100mm Canon Macro. I like the longer length, so I can get good and close, without being "good and close".

 

[sabbath999]

You can get the VR version of the macro if you are a Nikon user, but in practice it doesn't work well. The thing about macro is that you want your subject matter CRISP. If you are shooting outdoors, the wind is always blowing your subjects around a lot, so really you have both the camera shake and subject shake to deal with. I generally shoot with a flash whenever possible, but obviously there at times when you don't want to do that.

Obviously, the best answer is "try it and see what works for you"...

 

[Garbz]

That rule does not apply to macro, camera shake is magnified greatly in macro, that's why is always recommended to use a tripod. I use a tripod with about 50% of my macro shots, mostly flowers and still life, and I use flash for the other 50%, bugs and small animals.

Depends on the macro lens. Some macro lenses just change focus when you get closer the rule still applies perfectly. (ofcourse corrected for camera crop factor 50mm = 1/75th)

Some lenses on the other hand like the NikkorMicro AF 105mm f/2.8 dramatically changes it's focal length, almost double when it focuses on close objects due to near focus correction. In this case if you can figure out the new focal length the rule still applies.

Being closer to someone doesn't make the camera shake any different.

 

[Sideburns]

Depends on the macro lens. Some macro lenses just change focus when you get closer the rule still applies perfectly. (ofcourse corrected for camera crop factor 50mm = 1/75th)

Some lenses on the other hand like the NikkorMicro AF 105mm f/2.8 dramatically changes it's focal length, almost double when it focuses on close objects due to near focus correction. In this case if you can figure out the new focal length the rule still applies.

Being closer to someone doesn't make the camera shake any different.

Technically, it does.

It's like the rules for subject movement and distance/focal length.

Whether it's you or the subject moving, you're still making it more pronounced by being super close and using a long focal length.

 

[JerryPH]

In the end, macro doesn't bend the rules of photography anymore than non-macro.

You want the fastest shutter speed that permits you to freeze any motion or action (unless it is blur you desire) and mostly that speed will depend on if you are using a flash or using ambient lighting and how much of it there is.

Most macro photography is done on a tripod, so make sure you have a nice stable one.

I own the Sigma 105mm macro, its very nice and wonderfully sharp.

The full picture:

A flickr reduced size picture from a crop of a 100% view of the above pic:

 

[doenoe]

yeah, ill be using it for insects and stuff most of the time. So i wont be using a tripod. I will use a flash. Got a 430EX with a difuser on it. I made some shoots with my Sigma 70-300, which look pretty good (you can see some on my website, in the insecten gallerie). But i just wanna get closer then i can with the 70-300. I shall use a bigger f-number then i used too, when i get the 105mm.
Its just gonna be trial and error for me i guess. But in the end ill probably get some nice pics with it
Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Garbz]

Technically, it does.

It's like the rules for subject movement and distance/focal length.

Whether it's you or the subject moving, you're still making it more pronounced by being super close and using a long focal length.

I don't see how it does. When you're shooting at 100mm and you apply a shake that produces for example a 2mm vertical linear change during exposure the final image will have a 2mm vertical smudges on it regardless how far the subject is from the lens. Furthermore the blur will be uniform across the entire sensor assuming the subjects are still.

What you are talking about (I think anyway) is subject motion which indeed is related to how close it is to the lens, and on top of which VR won't be able to fix. But camera shake is only a function of how much movement the camera is subjected to and the focal length. And aside from the focal length changing during near focusing on many lenses the rules don't change.

 

[soylentgreen]

It really is a matter of how slow of a shutter-speed you can maintain and still get crisp shots. Technique and practice will help if you are hand-holding a lot. A steady platform is prefered, but not always feasible. With my 60mm I can get to about 1/30th with no problem. My 180 on the other hand, should be tripod mounted since it is much more robust and much harder to hand-hold without getting micro-blur. DOF is a major concern, so stopping down to a say f/5.6 or beyond limits your shutter-speed even more especially at low ISO.

 

[doenoe]

Im probably gonna shoot with f11 or something like that. Should be do-able. I did get some shots with my 70-300 on f11, but it was really light then and used the flash. But i think i can get the hang of the slower shutter speeds. Just need some practice
Thanks for the interesting read everybody