As is the case with any other field of operation, Macro Photography also requires its own set of specialized equipments and accessories. Although macro photography is one of the easiest genres of photography and can be practised even by the beginners, having the right kind of equipment and accessories is essential to get stunning results. While shooting macro, you will be operating very close to your subjects (just a few centimetres depending upon the lens used) and you will find that this factor alone creates a lot of challenges. Lighting the subject, Shallow depth of field etc are just some of them. Let us now take a look at some of the specialized equipments that make life easier for macro photographers.
In macro photography most of the time you will be confronted by situations in which you will have to shoot from ground level at tiny subjects. And in such situations, it is very hard to look through the camera’s view finder to focus and compose. Angle finder is designed to help you out of those situations. You can attach it to your view finder and look through it instead.
Accessories to help compose the shot
Angle finder
In macro photography most of the time you will be confronted by situations in which you will have to shoot from ground level at tiny subjects. And in such situations, it is very hard to look through the camera’s view finder to focus and compose. Angle finder is designed to help you out of those situations. You can attach it to your view finder and look through it instead.
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| Angle finder |
Accessories for Lighting up the Subject
Macro Flash Bracket
Since the working distance of a macro lens is very low, on camera flashes are not very useful for macro photography, you will find that in some cases even the lens casts a shadow on the subject. More over having light from just one plain flattens the image. Macro flash brackets when attached to the camera enable you to mount your flashgun off the camera at an angle. Some flash brackets have arms on both sides to use more than one flash to provide key or fill lighting.
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| Macro Flash Bracket |
Shoe Cord
The combination of a hot shoe and a flexible cord allows you to use flashguns off camera while retaining all electronic communication with the camera body (for TTL) metering and exposure settings.
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| Shoe Cord |
Ring Flash
Attaining even lighting from all angles when shooting microscopic subjects just millimetres away from the lenses front element is a great challenge and a ring flash is designed to do just that. It helps light up tiny subjects evenly.
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| Ring Flash |
Accessories to reduce camera shake
Tripod
A sturdy tripod is a must for macro photography. Even though you will not be able to make use of it while shooting moving targets and stuff like that, for occasions that permit its use, it is indispensable. Make sure that you have a sturdy tripod, to keep your camera absolutely still while taking your close up shots. It will also give you the freedom to experiment with the placement of elements or change camera settings without disturbing your composition. You will find that accessories like a ball head or a macro rail that could be attached to the tripod makes it very easy to attain focus.
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| Tripod |
Cable Release
The mere act of pressing the shutter release button could cause camera shake and destroy your picture. Cable release is that equipment when attached to the camera helps you to trigger the shutter remotely. If you do not have one you could also use the self timer on the camera to get similar results. But that is not very practical in most situations. Here's one of our earlier posts explaining how you can make your own DIY Remote Shutter Release for Canon Cameras.
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| Cable Release |
Accessories to attain the required magnification
Macro Lens
A dedicated macro lens is one tool that you can’t do without. Macro lens can achieve a good level of magnification without using any external accessories. It is optimized for sharpness and flatness of field in its closest focusing range. Normally lenses that could get to 1x or 1:1 magnification is classified as a dedicated macro lens. Canon’s Mp E 65 Macro Lens can achieve 1x to 5x magnification. Generally macro lenses are costly piece of equipment to own. If you do not have one you could think of investing in the accessories listed below.
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| Macro Lens |
Close up Lens / Filter
The cheapest and easiest of attachments that enables your lens to focus closer than their current focusing distance. Close up filters are available in most standard filter sizes and in different magnification factors. You may attach single or multi element filters to your lens just like you attach a UV filter. Is there a DIYer in you check this out - How to make a close up filter for your lens.
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| Close up Lens / Filter |
Reversing Ring
Macro Reversing Ring has filter threads on one side and the suitable camera mount on the other. It is attached to the front of your lens like a UV filter. And the lens is mounted reversed the one disadvantage of this method is that you will have to manually adjust your exposure settings. And if your lens that you are using to reverse mount does not have manual aperture control then it could be a hassle obtaining the desired results out of it. However while using a reversing ring you have the flexibility to use lens from any manufacturer on your camera. So you may even try out some of your older generation lenses. There are some reversing rings available in the market that allows all the lenses electronics to function. Needless to say they are relatively expensive. Check out this post here - Diy Macro Lens Reverse Ring .
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| Reversing Ring |
Coupling Ring
Coupling ring has filter threads on both sides. It is used to attach two lenses face to face and the combination can help increase magnification. Both lenses must have the same filter diameter and one lens must have a higher focal length. A 50mm lens and 100mm lens coupled together will give a magnification factor of 2x.
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| Coupling Ring |
Teleconverter
When fitted between your camera and lens, teleconverter’s increase the magnification of the lens used at a given focusing setting. However, it also reduces the amount of light entering the lens. Also, since it is an additional optical element, it will reduce the sharpness of your lens to a certain degree. A teleconverter is usually available in 1.4x and 2x factors.
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| Teleconverter |
Extension Tube
Extension tubes are attached between the lens and camera body, they decrease the minimum focusing distance of the Lens without changing the focal length. Extension tubes are relatively inexpensive and can prove to be an effective substitute for macro lenses too. Since there use no additional optical elements the quality of your original lens is not affected. Modern extension tubes retain functions like autofocus and through the lens (TTL) metering.
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| Extension Tube |
Bellows
These variable length extensions are another alternative to achieve greater magnification with any lens. When a 50mm bellow extension is attached to a normal 50mm lens, one can get a magnification factor of 1x or more. Make your own Bellows - DIY Bellows Extension Tube.
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| Bellows |