Macro lens for photographing T's?

[Robert Jordan]

I'm wondering what types of lenses people use for taking macro images of their spiders...

I have a Canon G10, & I'm looking around for a new lens... Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Crysta]

I'm wondering what types of lenses people use for taking macro images of their spiders...

I have a Canon G10, & I'm looking around for a new lens... Anyone have any suggestions?

Canon G10 is amazing for macros...
my whole website of critters and spiders, are from the G10
http://crysta-perak.daportfolio.com/

But that's just my opinion ;p! i wish I had the money for a good macro lens.. ;(

 

[G UNIT]

macro lenses for t's

I have used a lot of the Tamron brand for both reptile and insect shots.

 

[Malodave]

Lenses & ringlight

I have Canon's 50mm f2.5 and 100mm f2.8 macro lenses for my 40D DSLR camera. I also have a set of extension tubes for them too. An area of 3/8" x 1/2" will fill the frame. I can also put Close up diopter filters on the end to get closer but the image quality suffers as well as depth of field.

I want to get the 180mm f 2.8 L Macro lens and the EFs MP-e 65mm Macro lenses too.

I am building a LED ringlight to use. It has 108 LEDs putting out 50,000 mcds each. That is a total of 5.4 million mcds. That calculates to 2050 lumens, around a 120 watt incandescent bulb. It can be adjusted to light one side or both with a total power adjustment of 3.5 stops. It will be housed in an old Canon ML-3 ringlight case that mounts to the front of the macro lenses.

I still need to spec out a different switch to complete the PCB design, then it is off to be fabricated. I have the LEDs and current limiting resistors now.

I have mad an LED modeling light for one of my studio strobes that uses thirty 10mm LEDs that output 360,000 mcds each. That is 10.8 million MCDs, calculating into 4100 lumens or around a 250 watt bulb.

Malodave


Here is the Macro Ringlight design:

 

[lotusracer]

I also use the 100mm f/2.8 L-series and it's really nice. Have the MPE65 and a couple extension tubes and a ringlight that work pretty well with them (ringlight adapter required). Been wanting to get the 180mm for doing outside photography but I haven't seen much cause to have it for big indoor spiders (big outdoor spiders are different).

The MPE65 is a very special purpose lens. I've used it to come up close on some small spiderlings that aren't prone to running or skins. It has no focus ability and a very shallow depth of field, particularly at high magnifications. A macro focusing rail is necessary; two setup at 90 degrees are somewhat desirable. Anywhere beyond 1.5x external lighting (like the ringlights) is really needed. You'll also need a sturdy stable tripod and head for all that hardware. I've liked the Manfrotto pro-series which convert to have a horizontal head and can also lay flat on the ground.

That said, once spiders are big enough, macro lenses aren't really required