Macro utter beginner

• zanzibar

  Member

  August 29, 2009 at 10:43 am

  Hi everybody,
  I’m a complete beginner at macro photography but am fascinated by the possibilities. I have a sigma 70-300m lens with a macro switch. My camera is a Nikon 1000d. What are the exact settings I need to take a shot of an insect. Is it something like … ‘close-up’ or ‘p’ setting with iso at 1,600. Any help greatly appreciated. :cry:
  Also do I need a tripod and cable with button?
  zanzibar
  pft

  Member

  September 4, 2009 at 8:25 am

  zanzibar wrote:

  I’m a complete beginner at macro photography but am fascinated by the possibilities. I have a sigma 70-300m lens with a macro switch. My camera is a Nikon 1000d. What are the exact settings I need to take a shot of an insect. Is it something like … ‘close-up’ or ‘p’ setting with iso at 1,600. Any help greatly appreciated. :cry:

  I don’t know anything about the camera, but I would suggest using the aperture priority (Av) mode to give you better control of the depth of field. The ‘close-up’ setting is probably all automatic but just geared towards close up.
  zanzibar wrote:

  Also do I need a tripod and cable with button?
  zanzibar

  You will need to keep the camera perfectly still so a tripod would be recommended. If you don’t have one you’ll have to rest it on something as the smallest movement will ruin your pictures. You don’t need a cable since you can make use of your camera’s self timer. I’ve just bought a cable but previously used a 2 second timer to avoid shaking the camera.

  I’m just learning myself and have been using a kit lens with some cheap macro extension tubes. You can see some results
  here.
  Deebo

  Participant

  September 4, 2009 at 10:23 am

  ~Hi Zanzibar
  I have the same lens, you need to get to the macro option between 200-300 mm to get good close up. I found that you need to crank up the ISO but be careful not to get to high or you will get lots of noise. To be honest I am disappointed with this lens so I bought a sigma 105mm which is a dedicated macro lens, its superb but tricky to get to grips with. Get a tripod or monopod as at 200-300 mm you will get shake that will throw the picture soft. Best to try and get a shutter speed of double or more the focal lenght to get sharpeness. Try the F8 or so.

  Good luck
  Dee
  zanzibar

  Member

  September 12, 2009 at 7:17 pm

  Hi Pft and Deebo, thanks very much for tips..I’ll try them out when I get a chance! :(
  steelydan

  Participant

  September 12, 2009 at 7:25 pm

  The Macro switch on your camera is not a “true” macro, but it will allow you to get closer than a normal zoom does. What you will find is that you will end up a good distance between the subject and you, if you shoot at 200mm or 300mm with the macro switch on, you will probably be in the region of 5 or 6 feet away from the subject you are trying to photograph.
  zanzibar

  Member

  September 18, 2009 at 1:22 pm

  thanks John
  davekeogh

  Participant

  October 13, 2009 at 11:32 pm

  zanzibar,

  I’d say one of the best things you can do if you want to play with macro is get yourself an old manual lens, and some extension tubes with the appropriate adaptor.
  Currently I have an assortment of lens I use for macro shots, but generally it’s an 55mm F2 Super Takumar. It’s an old Japanese lens, but it’s great. Then extension tubes push the lens out from the camera, it’s like holding a magnifying lens further and further away from your eye.

  Here’s a result from that setup:

  

  After a while I decided I’d get an external flash into the mix, so needed to trigger that off camera. A set of cheap chinese remotes let me do that.
  All in all my macro setup cost me
  Lens: 40 euro
  Tubes: 8 euro
  Remote Flash trigger: 8 euro
  Flash: 12 euro

  After a while it did open my eyes to what can be achieved with very little money