Re: More Macros

I bought a macro lens last year, tried it on some honey bees but no luck. They move around too fast not staying still for more than a second or two, the auto focus wasn't fast enough. I had more luck with a cheap kit lens.

But I'm looking forward to trying it some more this year on the same bees .... I've learnt you need to anticipate where the bee goes next. Focus on the flower then re-focus on the bee as it reaches the flower. A none too shallow depth of field is a good idea too.

I'm sure Poo Bear knows what I mean ... or maybe you're not using ten year old auto focus technology.

Re: More Macros

D00d, You are absolutely spot on.

There are a couple of things I would throw in there, depending on what camera you have. I would use a tripod together with a shutter release cable.

With the camera set to manual, set the f stop to f/8 with the shutter speed at 2000th sec.

Take some experimental shots altering the ISO until you achieve a good exposure.

Set the autofocus to manual and focus just shy of the flower, that is about an inch this side of the flower.

Now, your focal plane will be one inch short of the flower to two inches past the flower. When a bee happens along and flies into that focal plane, take a high speed burst of shots using the shutter release cable - you should then get at least one keeper out of that.

A garden chair, (for comfort), is also a good thing to consider.

Incidentally, sugar water to tempt hoverflies is something else you might consider.

Re: More Macros

I might be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs here, but have you heard of hyperfocal distance.

Used a lot in landscape photography but pertinent in all genres of photography.

Re: More Macros

Quote" take a high speed burst of shots" unquote. That is one thing I tend not to do is "machine gun" a camera, at least not on my Nikon D810.

Re: More Macros

Yep, I agree with those settings with ISO at about 800. But a tripod is not a thing I use outdoors. It's required for much longer exposures in poor light indoors. I don't have much of a garden, not a lot of bees around.

Re: More Macros

... even macro? I tend to get up pretty close, 45mm lens on M43 = 90 full frame.

And I did say I agreed with your camera settings but I might use f./11 ... for what it's worth.

Re: More Macros

The camera is designed to take it! Or are you concerned about your shutter count?

I use burst shooting quite a lot, short bursts on medium, say 4 shots at 8 fps. Electronic shutter usually, great for portraits, it's silent and the subject assumes you've taken a single shot. You can get shots between shots, they're usually the best ones.

Re: More Macros

Hmmm! I would have thought that f/11 might be too slow for fast moving subjects such as bees.

Thing to do is have a play and see.

Focal plane and hyperfocal distance is one and the same thing.

https://photography.tutsplus.com/tut...ces--cms-27007

Re: More Macros

A bees wings flap about 200 times per second, I'm not trying to capture that.

I just have a problem with my macro lens, it hunts for the subject sometimes taking 2 seconds or more to find it. But I've learnt that if I focus on something millimetres away, like one of those little flowerheads in your first pic above, the bee is busy checking out each one in turn, it comes to that one, I focus on the bee, focus locks instantly and I shoot.

None of my other lenses hunt like that. I'm not complaining, it's a lovely lens otherwise, and I picked it up cheap.

Re: More Macros

Have you got the focus assist light turned on d00d?