Camera Labs

Robber Fly Portrait by Gustavo Mazzarollo, on Flickr

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http://www.gmazza.com

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That's awesome.

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Nikon D800E & D700 bodies + Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f4.5-5.6G ED VR, 50mm F1.4G, 16-35mm f/4G VR, 105 F2.8 VR macro, 70-300mm lenses. A couple of filters, Giotto tripod & ballhead. Lowepro Slingshot 302 AW

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldcarlos/

Virtually no depth of field - what f# was this taken at?
Greg

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Nexstar 11 GPS, 2 x Sky 90, M25C, MaximDL, Photshop CS3, Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions, 7 foot Pulsar fibreglass dome, Canon 40D, 100mm macro lens, 28-200mm zoom lens, 17-55mm f#2.8 zoom lens, 100-400mm zoom lens, 1.4x converter, 2x converter.
http://www.newforestobservatory.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12801949@N02/

This was shoot at f/5.6, but considering the extension of the lens the effective aperture is f/33.6

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http://www.gmazza.com

Flickr

Why do you have less than 5mm (?) depth of focus at f#33.6??
I would understand if this was f#5.6 but not f#33.6.
Can you explain (simply ?
Greg

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Nexstar 11 GPS, 2 x Sky 90, M25C, MaximDL, Photshop CS3, Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions, 7 foot Pulsar fibreglass dome, Canon 40D, 100mm macro lens, 28-200mm zoom lens, 17-55mm f#2.8 zoom lens, 100-400mm zoom lens, 1.4x converter, 2x converter.
http://www.newforestobservatory.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12801949@N02/

from what i see it the closer you are the smaller depth of field is, and gmazza is know to get ultra close (i recon this fly was max 5 or 10 cm from the front element of the lens) and with extension at 5x you are working with 325 mm at super close distance witch gets you supper shallow..

correct me if i'm wrong..

btw gmazza another great shot..

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nikon d90 --->af-s dx 18-105mm; tamron 90mm macro

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Having tried using the MP-E65 at 5x myself, I can definitely confirm the DoF is practically none unless you stop far too far into diffraction limiting. Then it only improves to "hardly anything". Certainly the DoF shrinks pretty fast at close focus/higher magnifications.

Oh, equation for effective aperture at higher magnification is along the line of

effective_aperture = set_aperture * (1+ magnification)

e.g. if you set f/16 nominal at 5x magnificaiton, the effective aperture is f/96. Unfortunately the effective aperture is what affects exposure and diffraction, so you get no light and soft image at that setting. Shooting wide open sharpens it a lot, but then you don't have DoF... gmazza does wonders in that respect finding the balance point. I haven't found it myself...

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Ahh thank you for the explanation Popo I knew the MP-E65 lens was difficult to use, but didn't realise it was that picky. Very pleased I chose the 100mm Canon macro now.

So the only solution for a reasonable depth of focus with the MP-E65 lens would be something like the Helicon Remote software (tough to implement on a live subject)?

Greg

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Nexstar 11 GPS, 2 x Sky 90, M25C, MaximDL, Photshop CS3, Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions, 7 foot Pulsar fibreglass dome, Canon 40D, 100mm macro lens, 28-200mm zoom lens, 17-55mm f#2.8 zoom lens, 100-400mm zoom lens, 1.4x converter, 2x converter.
http://www.newforestobservatory.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12801949@N02/

Unfortunately Helicon Remote wont work directly with the MP-E65 as it is manual "focus". Even if it could be, the focus is tied to the magnification and also changes the working distance, so things could go bad quickly. If you want to do a deep focus stack with it, then a motorised rail would help a lot. gmazza has used aperture bracketing before to work around that, one for the main detail and one to add relative DoF.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Helicon Remote is configured to run with a focus rail [StackShot macro rail].
Greg

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Nexstar 11 GPS, 2 x Sky 90, M25C, MaximDL, Photshop CS3, Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions, 7 foot Pulsar fibreglass dome, Canon 40D, 100mm macro lens, 28-200mm zoom lens, 17-55mm f#2.8 zoom lens, 100-400mm zoom lens, 1.4x converter, 2x converter.
http://www.newforestobservatory.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12801949@N02/

Doh! I'm out of date on that one. I thought it only did focus control.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Great shot Gmazza

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Canon 400D. BG-E3. canon 18-55mm. canon 28-80mm. sigma 70-300mm APO macro.

Awesome pattern in the eyes!

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Flickr

Thanks folks,

I have lost the track of topics, but popo is correct, as the lens extend, the aperture blades in this lens are positioned near the frontal element (the MP-E is a reversed lens from the start)so the "hole" the sensor "sees" is much smaller than the dialed aperture, f/16 @5x result in a effective aperture of f/96, as already said, well into diffraction territory.

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Blog
http://www.gmazza.com

Flickr