Getting really clear shots with a macro lens

[JGoslee]

Im having a hard time getting really clear pics using my macro lens. My camera is a digital rebel xt and the lens is the 100mm macro. Is there a set distance I should be away from what Im trying to shot. If tried shooting from 5' away and also 5" away. I use a tripod and I turn all pumps off. I always shot in av mode or manual mode. Sometimes I use flash and sometimes I dont but I always have the same results. A nice pic until I zoom in and then it is really blury. Here's a few examples.

Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks

-Jesse

 

[blackheart]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1025503

I had the same question maybe this can help

Also try shoting using higher res "in the raw" or "very fine"

 

[lhoy]

Are you hand holding the camera or tripod?

Also, what shutter speed?

Lee

 

[Blazer88]

Make sure the lens in perpendicular to the glass.

 

[twon8]

i always set my camera to full manual mode, i set the aperture and shutter speed myself

what iso are you shooting at?

it looks like you are overexposing them a bit,

i would set your fstop ot somewhere in the middle, like 8, and shutter speed as slow as you can while still getting a good pic.

 

[JGoslee]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9071867#post9071867 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lhoy
Are you hand holding the camera or tripod?

Also, what shutter speed?

Lee

Yes I am using a tripod. Is the shutterspeed the apature?

 

[JGoslee]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9072153#post9072153 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Blazer88
Make sure the lens in perpendicular to the glass.

I always have the lens perpendicular but sometimes its on a downward angle.

 

[JGoslee]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9072315#post9072315 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by twon8
i always set my camera to full manual mode, i set the aperture and shutter speed myself

what iso are you shooting at?

it looks like you are overexposing them a bit,

i would set your fstop ot somewhere in the middle, like 8, and shutter speed as slow as you can while still getting a good pic.

I usually set the iso at 100 or 400. Apature between 9-16. How do I set the shutter speed?

 

[twon8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9072980#post9072980 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JGoslee
Yes I am using a tripod. Is the shutterspeed the apature?

no aperture is how wide open the blades are inside the camera, listed as F2.8 or something similiar. the lower the fstop the more light is let in, but the depth of field is diminished.

shutterspeed is simply how long the light is let in for, usually in fractions of a second, but you can take pics for longer.

 

[JGoslee]

Is there a setting for shutter speed? I dont see anything on the camera that says shutterspeed.

 

[twon8]

ive got a different camera, i adjust mine with the wheel.

do you have "M" mode? try that; it should allow you to adjust shutter speed, fstop independently

 

[maroun.c]

I always have the lens perpendicular but sometimes its on a downward angle

Reason for keeping the camera vertical to the glass is to avoid distortions caused by the glass. The more straight you are the less you have to go through glass and therefore the less distortions.
Downward angle means that your camera is not perpendicular to the glass, therefore will cause more distortions.
Usually the downward angle was used by cameras while using the built in flash to avoid reflections. Using an external flash or an off camera allows you to angle your flash from a higher position to avoid the reflection being seen in the Shot and your camera then has to be perpendicular in both planes.
Try to find out how to use A mode to control your DOF according to the effect you want to replicate. Try bracketting your shots or playing with exposure compensation to adjust the exposure.

 

[JER-Z]

Re: Getting really clear shots with a macro lens

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9071011#post9071011 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JGoslee
Im I always shot in av mode or manual mode. Sometimes I use flash and sometimes I dont but I always have the same results. A nice pic until I zoom in and then it is really blury.

what do you mean "zoom in" the macro doesn't zoom...If you are zooming and cropping a portion of the full picture after you take it you are not going to get very nice quality.

i never zoom or crop macro shots, with the 100mm macro lense you should be able to get close enough to the subject and focus in so you don't need to "zoom" in your photo editor. That's the whole point of the Macro lense.

 

[Ebn]

Depends on what you shoot. Sometimes the object is so small that you have to crop it (well, unless you're using something like the MP-65E lens).

I occasionally crop pics even though they're at 2:1.

 

[JGoslee]

So I shouldnt be croping my pics when I process them? I didnt know that took away from the quality. Most of my shots are of zoa's so sthey are very small.

 

[bureau13]

It has the same effect as using a lower resolution camera. If your image is, say 800 pixels across (just to pick a number) and you crop out half of it, its now 400 pixels. That in itself doesn't change the resolution, but if you then display or print it at the same size as the original, now you've got half the number of pixels printed over the same space, cutting your resolution in half and making the image less sharp. Of course, the more resolution you start out with, the less the impact of cropping, in the same manner that you can blow the image up larger before you become resolution limited.

jds

 

[JGoslee]

I did this by cropping the pic. Is there another way I could do it? I really dont want to lose anything by cropping but its the only way I know how to get a pic like the second one. Im using a canon xt and 100mm macro.

 

[JGoslee]

ttt

 

[Jeff]

Much better :0
Very nice

 

[Mykayel]

As already stated, you should get as close to your subject as possible (and as perpidicular to the glass) so that you don't have to crop the picture. While the 100mm macro lense is a very sharp lense, increasing the aperture will generally help the sharpness most lenses are the sharpest around f8. But I also love getting the very shollow DOF by using the lense wide open at f2.8. And if you are already using a tripod, one more thing you can do to help sharpness is use a timer and mirror lock up to reduce vibrations in the camera (read your manual to figure out how, which is you will benifit from doing anyways as it sounds like there's a lot you have to learn about using your camera).