Today's catch

[crimbfighter]

I'm building myself a macro flash rig, and I finally got the basic structure done. Took it out for a test spin. Next I'm getting to work on the light diffuser.

1.


2. I was getting eaten alive by these guys...


3. Industrious little fella


4.


5.


6. Love was in the air for this couple


6.1


7.


8. This one was a little noisy and the light was a but unbalanced, but still liked it.

 

[Derrel]

Wow...these are pretty impressive. The mosquito...wow!

 

[John Hunt]

Very nice work!

 

[annamaria]

Really nice set, but the bee is my favorite.

 

[crimbfighter]

Wow...these are pretty impressive. The mosquito...wow!

Thanks Darrel!

Very nice work!

Thank you!

Really nice set, but the bee is my favorite.

Thanks! I liked the bee the best, as well. They're probably the toughest subject yet for me. They are always such movers cruising from flower to flower nearly too fast to get set up..

 

[Braineack]

awesome!

 

[tirediron]

Agree, excellent! Can we see the rig?

 

[crimbfighter]

awesome!

Thanks!

Agree, excellent! Can we see the rig?

Thank you! And most certainly.

Here's the overall rig with my 70-200 and 68mm of extension tubes attached. The arm gives me a lot of flexibility in positioning the flash. I can move it from side to side easily and with one hand. I used epoxy and put a male and female 1/4-20 threaded knob inside the first and last segment of the arm. I was hesitant to mount it right to the hot shoe mount, but it seems to be handling the weight just fine. I also wasn't sure it it was going to support the SB-600, but it can handle it. For this photo I threw on the SB-700. It is pushing the weight limit, for sure, because if I jar the camera, the arm will slip a little. I am exploring lighter flashes to fix this issue. I may purchase an SB-R200 as it's about half the weight of the SB-600. I also have the option to add or remove segments as I need to, as well as adding in Y fittings so in theory I could add a second flash for only a few dollars. Once I figure out which flash I'm using, then I'm going to start working on the light diffuser. I may DIY one or I might buy a small softbox meant for on camera flash.

The rig is also triggered by the BIF using it in commander mode, so there are no wires running about. The one problem I've found with using the CLS system, is that there are a few insects that have such fast reaction times that the flash pulses from the BIF cause them to move before the main flash can fire. Fortunately I've found that not to be common, yet. There are still a few other kinks to work out, but it's coming along.


I have a choice of using this mini ball head between the arm and the hot shoe mount. I found it gives me extra reach and flexibility. The down side is that it's one more set of threads to come loose. I have the option to remove it and put a 1/4-20 hot shoe thread adapter right on the arm, which is also a little more solid. Once I decide which option I want to go with, I'm probably going to use thread locker on the threads to make it more solid and reduce the possibility of the mounts coming loose.


Here I just threaded it right into the flash stand. This way I can easily mount and dismount the flash. I can also add any other standard lighting mounts should I want to try something different since it's the standard 1/4-20 thread. I can also use the stand provided with the SB-R200 if I buy one.

 

[FITBMX]

Wonderful set, and a super cool rig!!!

 

[tirediron]

Please don't do that! You are putting wayyyy more strain on the pentaprism housing than it was designed for. Head over to eBay and spend $10 on a cheap flash bracket.

 

[crimbfighter]

Please don't do that! You are putting wayyyy more strain on the pentaprism housing than it was designed for. Head over to eBay and spend $10 on a cheap flash bracket.

Soooo, what you're saying is I should mount it like this? As I mentiined, I was initially hesitant, but it seemed to handle the weight ok. I admit I didn't think about the stress added to the pentaprism housing. I actually have a flash bracket that I tried once, it just felt kinda clunky. Perhaps I'll use it anyway.

 

[Gary A.]

I echo the others ... well done.

 

[crimbfighter]

I echo the others ... well done.

Thanks!

 

[annamaria]

Wow...these are pretty impressive. The mosquito...wow!

Thanks Darrel!

Very nice work!

Thank you!

Really nice set, but the bee is my favorite.

Thanks! I liked the bee the best, as well. They're probably the toughest subject yet for me. They are always such movers cruising from flower to flower nearly too fast to get set up..

I know they are busy little bees (no pun intended) but seriously they don't sit still long enough.

 

[crimbfighter]

Please don't do that! You are putting wayyyy more strain on the pentaprism housing than it was designed for. Head over to eBay and spend $10 on a cheap flash bracket.

Alright tirediron, you were right... I can admit it when I was headed down the wrong path! I made some adjustments to my rig. When using my 70-200 I decided to put the flash bracket I have right on the tripod mount. This shortens up the arm which increases stability. Mounting it right to the tripod mount also betters the center of gravity making the whole rig more balanced in my hand.




This shows how easily you an adjust the orientation of the flash with the mini ball head. Along with my diffuser, I'm also working on how to mount a reflector opposite the flash. I might fabricate a second smaller arm to come off the other side. There are two hot shoe mounts on the flash bracket, so I could easily use the second one to hold the reflector arm. Yet another super easy method to change the orientation of the flash is to simply loosen the tripod collar and swivel the whole rig to any orientation I want within the 360 degree arc.



It also works well then to move the flash bracket to the camera body when using a shorter lens. Pictured here with my 85mm + 68mm of extension tubes.