Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens

Wow, the snail egg and embryo pics? I would like more info on that lens as well (although its $1,000).
 
A guy at my work has it. From what I can tell, it's not good for taking pictures into your tank. You select where you want the focus to be by moving the camera/lens forward and backward, which sucks imo.
 
:) Look through some of these pictures, this a photostream by a member on another board I'm on who uses the MP-E for a large number of the pictures he takes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/

The MP-E is in a class all to itself, its the reason many who specialize in macro stuff go to Canon because no other manufacturer has a lens anything like it. Its very much a specialty lens, and really designed to used in conjunction with a regular macro lens. Keep in mind beyond the lens you're also going to need some light of some sort, when you're working at the type of magnifications the MP-E will give you you're going to need a LOT of light, even looking through the viewfinder will be a challenge. When you get to the higher magnifications you'll need to start focus stacking because even stopped down your DOF is so incredibly thin. Its tough lens to use because seriously 5x is really friggin small, that's making the ball on a ball point pen fill your entire sensor. And the higher magnification you go the closer your working distance becomes.

I don't have it personally but its a lens I would like to add to my kit whenever funds allow me to blow the money on something that expensive that might only see occasional use. If you would like I can shoot you a link through PM to a forum that has a really large group of macro shooters with quite a few who have this lens that you can do some reading on. :) Or you can just google POTN.
 
Wow - some cool stuff. The thread (later on) had some amazing images. Seems like you stated an on the lens flash is mandatory. I'm a little confused about the focusing though. If Focus is achieved by the distance from the lens to the subject, and it is a fixes focal lenthg, how do you control if it is 1X lifesize vs 5X lifesize? I would imagine that using focsing rails would be almost mandatory.
 
IPT said:
Wow - some cool stuff. The thread (later on) had some amazing images. Seems like you stated an on the lens flash is mandatory. I'm a little confused about the focusing though. If Focus is achieved by the distance from the lens to the subject, and it is a fixes focal lenthg, how do you control if it is 1X lifesize vs 5X lifesize? I would imagine that using focsing rails would be almost mandatory.
Click to expand...

This might be a good link to read :).

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-MP-E-65mm-1-5x-Macro-Lens-Review.aspx

As is stated in the link, while its said that its a "65mm" lens its best probably to forget all about that because this lens is different from any other lens on the market. I've seen it stated that the MP-E is almost like a bellows system packed into a lens.

Believe it or not, a good many of the people I read about using it use it handheld. When you're taking pictures of bugs unless they're half frozen you don't have time to dink around with tripods. Flash is pretty much essential, might as well just budget for the MT-24EX at the same time. On the macro forum I mentioned before I don't hardly know anybody that doesn't use them both together, if they're not using the MT-24EX they're using speedlights on brackets to get them out over the front of the lens. The MT-24EX is really great though because like I said, when you use the higher magnifications the view finder is DARK, and the MT-24EX has a modeling light which makes it possible to focus. :)
 
hmmm, looks really cool. Would be a fun toy for sure. But for how long? That's some cash to drop, and it seems like rails would be of some benifit too. Tempting, tempting....we'll have to see what's left once the IRS is done with me this year. Anyone have direct experience with it?
 
IPT said:
Wow - some cool stuff. The thread (later on) had some amazing images. Seems like you stated an on the lens flash is mandatory. I'm a little confused about the focusing though. If Focus is achieved by the distance from the lens to the subject, and it is a fixes focal lenthg, how do you control if it is 1X lifesize vs 5X lifesize? I would imagine that using focsing rails would be almost mandatory.
Click to expand...

There is a setting/gauge on the lens for the magnification. If you read up enough there are a mix of people who use rails vs. handheld... just depends on what you're shooting - either way it's gotta be an acquired skill. There is a site that has some excellent insect photos with this lens... if only I can remember the link (?).

edit: I had the link bookmarked :)
http://www.motleypixel.com/reviews/index.htm?openfolder=Canon Primes/Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5X Macro/

Why do you want/need a rail for your 100mm macro?
 
I am thinking about the rails for this reason. If I want the largest amount of magnification I can get then i want it set to it's most minimum focusing distance. In a sense then it becomes a fixed lens so focus would be achieved by moving the camera/lens. No way in the field on a slope looking at some flower am i gonna be able to do that. I'm lucky to ghet all 3 legs of the tripod stable sometimes. So, this way I could use the rails to really fine tune the focus. My endevors at Macro with flowers has been marginal thus far. I would like to mprove my odds at getting good tack sharp images with maximum magnification. I am open to ideas, and if my thought process is flawed I am all ears.
 
Jacob - dang, the macro images at that link are INSANE!! Amazing, thanks for posting that!
 
IPT said:
WOW - can't believe how much this flash is!!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/194480-USA/Canon_2356A002_MR_14EX_TTL_Macro_Ring.html
Click to expand...

And that's the cheap one :lol:.

This is the one I see recommended more often than not simply because of the features and the nicer light it gives over the MR-14EX.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/239656-USA/Canon_2357A002_MT_24EX_Macro_Twin_Lite.html

Do you have a set of extension tubes? If you don't a full set of kenko extension tubes would be a good (and relatively cheap) way to explore beyond 1:1. With a full set you can get nearly 2:1 with the 100mm macro.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/375102-REG/Kenko_AEXTUBEDGC_Auto_Extension_Tube_Set.html

Btw, YGPM coming.
 
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"Montipora" was filmed entirely with the MP-E 65mm. I love that lens because it allows me to go beyond what I can see with my own eyes.

You pretty much must have a focusing rail to have control over your shots.

You must be able to put corals within a few inches of your glass or you can't focus.

You don't need a flash. I used LED's placed in extremely proximity to the subject I was shooting. An LED within inches of the subject will make it quite bright. In many cases, a few mm will fill up the whole frame. Underwater LED's definitely help.

Sensor dust suddenly becomes a huge problem. You have very little DOF, so you end up compensating by going to tighter aperture...but on this lens. the magnification ratio also affects the fstop. If you are at F16 @ 5x magnification, you are effectively at F80. This will pull sensor dust into focus. Stuff you would never see at F8.0 suddenly shows up as crisp black dots.

If you can make it work despite all this, the result is you can see another world.
 
I have the extension tubes. I have issues with focusing sometimes (or more presiciously getting sharp images) and DOF. I think the rails and the flash are what I need to do if I am going to delve deeper into this. It seems pretty wild and I think it'll be a blast come spring with the wildflowers. Hoar frost would be fun too.

I am all ears to others experiences and recommendations.

Tremont - how's the transition to the pro ranks going? Nice to see you on the boards.
 
cool, good for you. Can you post that link to the Monti Timelapse again? I'd like to see it again? Do you recall what magnification it was at?
What rails do you use? I use the RRS ballhead and quick release so I figured I would use their rail but it is a bit more than some of the others. For as often as I do real macro I probably could live without quick release though. I'll have to give that some more thought.
 
Montipora:

http://vimeo.com/5535194

The magnification totally varied between shots, but I was often @ 5x.

I used a velbon focusing rail:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&N=0&Q=&Ntt=velbon focusing&A=endecaSearch

It did the job - I've never tried any of the more expensive rails. You definitely want a 2-axis rail (try moving a tripod a few millimeters horizontally to change your framing and you will see what I mean).

You would want to take your ballhead off and just put the focusing rail right on the tripod and then level the tripod...a ball head will just make putting the camera flush to the glass more of a pain. For Montipora, I had the rail sitting on my computer controlled linear stage which was sitting on a tripod (I had to get custom plates made to couple the linear stage in there).
 
Hey Ben - those rails, were they jumpy?

"They did the job?".... as is in, "I'm happy with them and don't plan on getting something else" or "they just got me by, drove me nut...if I was gonna do it again I would spend more and do it right the first time?"
 
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