A second family-hand-opportunity (Thank you Hannes!) to getting an upgrade to digital DSLR came up in 2018! The associated 17-85mm lens was great to get some experience in handling, but of course, had its limits when it came to macro. Good macro lenses cost good money, so getting one is somehow on the list but is it worth it? What are the options?
- Reversing the lens you have. Very cheap, you just buy the adapter for a few bugs. This is fun to try, your camera turns almost into a microscope. Be aware that you have to get extremely close and the depth of focus will be very limited.
- Extension tubes. Similar to the reversing, you’ll get hollow connection tubes for your lens. That won’t cost you much, ad depending on the size, you’ll get a bit closer, or very close! With the same effect, you lose some depth of focus and some light.
- Macro filters/ close-up lenses are lenses of glass that can be attached in front of your lens.
All 3 ways of upgrading your macro-abilities are very low budget and worth a try. The results however will have one thing in common, and that is, in my opinion, the key for amazing macro shots: The depth of focus. When you look at my pictures, you’ll notice that only a few body parts are in focus, while the rest is very blurred. That can have nice effects, but it can also be too much. The solution is called stacking, where you take photos with a different focus and use software to put the sharp parts together so that in the end the whole object is in focus. Some cameras do that already, but the 60D cannot. And stacking is so far still on my to-do-list. I’ll give you an update once I tried! Maybe you have some recommendations? Leave a comment!
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