Trying out my new Macro rig for 2025
Today I took a walk around an area called ‘The water meadow’, which is about 200 yards from my house in Stevenage, to try out my new Macro rig.
In the past I’ve taken macro photos using a variety of different cameras, but the last consistent set up was using a Pentax K5 DSLR with a Tamron 90mm f/2.8 lens. However, times change and I’ve moved on a bit since those days – well, to be honest, I’ve given the Pentax K5 to my Son to use, and I’ve sold the Tamron 90mm macro lens, so I have to use something different.
My new Macro Rig
So what is my new macro rig? Well, the camera I use is a Fuji X-T4 mirrorless camera fitted with a Pergear 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens which has a magnification factor of 2:1 – so twice life size.
I also use a Godox V860III flash unit, and a flash diffuser that slips over the lens and in front of the flash to diffuse the light and give softer illumination to the subjects.
The camera set up that I used was to set the ISO to 160 which is the lowest setting for the x-t4, the shutter speed to 1/125 and the lens aperture to f/8. The flash is then set to manual mode, and the power output adjusted to give a good exposure – normally somewhere around 1/16 power.
At least, that’s the settings I intended to use, but after I’d had several failures to capture shots I realised that I’d left the ISO set to auto, which meant I missed several shots of a grasshopper that I’d tried to capture.
Once the camera was set up correctly, I then set the lens (which is fully manual) to the reproduction ratio I want, and move the camera closer to the subject until I get the correct focus. To be honest, at a 1:1 or 2:1 reproduction ratio it is virtually impossible to be accurate with focus using the focusing ring on the lens, so I generally have the camera set to take about 5 fps, and then move the camera closer and further away from the subject to hope that at lease some images are in focus.
Using this technique and the macro rig described, I was able to get the photos shown in the gallery below.
New macro rig photos
Conclusions
It’s the first time I’ve been on a macro walk for a long time – I’ve actually not done much photography for the last few years – and taking photos of insects is not a simple thing to do. There are real problems getting in-focus images on subjects that are so small.
So in some ways I’m pleased with the results I obtained. Some images – like for instance the one I’ve called ‘Bee giving me the eye’, I think have really captured the beauty of some of these tiny creatures. However, there is a lot more to macro photography than just managing to take a photo in focus.
When I look more critically at the photos I can see at least two issues:
- Some of the images show very reflective highlights which detract from the image – for example the image of the Ladybird starting to walk up a stem. I think this is a problem with the diffuser I’m using and I have some ideas to improve this using some 3d printed components and some diffusion material
- Many of the photos are not very well composed. Rather than just capturing the insect, I need to learn to position them by moving the plant they are on, or the camera to provide a more composed an pleasing image. Also possibly add some different colours as background – I’ve seem many YouTube videos of macro photographers who carry coloured card or material to drape in the background to provide better shots.
One other thing I’ve realised is that I need to get out early before the insects are properly moving. Many of these shots were grabbed with the animal ‘on the move’ and it would be much easier with them stationary!
