[dod]

i'm really finding macro frustrating, a decent ringflash set up would help no end getting decent depth of field and shutter speed. I took about 50 of this spider tonight and the tiniest breeze made it look like it was bungee jumping

[CT]

Are these just available light shots Doddy? Macro is highly demanding and can be very frustrating. A high scrap rate is pretty well the norm, particularly if you're working hand held. I'm still getting used to my recently acquired Canon 180L Macro, and I had a lot of problems the other day trying to get some shots of a tiny little fly on a leaf. This was using the max sync speed of 1/250 on the the 580 EX too, when I was still getting unsharp shots. This was partly due to technique on my part and partly due to the fact that at 1/250 the shutter is still open long after the flash has fired and died and in bright sunlight I was getting secondary ambient light images blurring the shots. This was due to either camera movement or subject movement during exposure or a combination of both. With the 180L a shutter speed of 1/250th is just about adequate for hand holding in normal circumstances but at macro distances hand held, the subject is dithering about in the vewfinder like crazy. Add a bit of wind into the equation and it becomes maddeningly difficult as you discovered.

As soon as I set the 580 EX on hi speed sync at 1/8000 sec. I started to get pretty consistently sharp results using the technique of manually focusing then rocking backward and forward slightly to establish focus, pressing the shutter quickly and smoothly at the optimum moment.

The problem with ringflash is it tends to produce very flat undirectional lighting. Based on my experiences so far unless the ringflash supports hi speed sync you may also find the shutter speed less than adequate in bright light. Unless you already have a flashgun, I'd seriously think about a flashgun which supports hi speed sync from the hotshoe or using an extension cord if necessary.

Don't get disheartened though whatever you do. Macro is tough but when you get it right it's very rewarding. :wink:

[CT]

Fired with interest by your post, I just went and grabbed this flash shot at 1/8000 at f11. The spider is a tiny little thing about 1/4" long and the leaf was moving in the wind.

[dod]

LOL only my mother still calls me Doddy :wink:

yeah, these two are available light, on a fully extended tripod and me standing on a bucket, the wife making unflattering comments, shutter speeds anything between 1/40 to 1/250 with flash. The problem was the flash kept trying to light the building behind the spider and my flash technique wasn't good enough to fix it. The biggest problem was the wind though

As far as ringflash I wouldn't mind flat lighting, normal flash tends, in my experience anyway, to produce hotspots which I'm not too keen on. I've already got a Sigma 500 which supports High speed sync but I'm not sure if I can use it off camera.

Edit: cross posting That looks pretty good, I think I'll need to give that a try again.

[CT]

Originally Posted by dod

LOL only my mother still calls me Doddy :wink:
.

I'm in good company then! :lol:

If you haven't used the Hi Speed Sync yet, do a few close up test shots of anything at all to establish what is the fastest shutter speed and smallest aperure you can work with before you get light fall off. Fully charged batteries will help a lot in this respect I would think. I needed to do that anyway before I was convinced it worked!

Experiment with the ISO setting too.

[dod]

I do believe it's time to RTFM