Nikkor lens

[latinbeachboy10]

I just bought the Nikon D80 with the Nikkor 60mm f/2.8af. I am trying to get really close shots of polyps on Acroporas, but i cant get the clarity I want. What settings would you recomend to have the camera at to get the best macro shot?

thanks in advance,

Christian

 

[reefman13]

My dad, my friends dad (profesional photographer), and I combined have about 28/30 years experiance with just Nikon. When I got my D50 I went for be best quality lens and the most expensive (or close to it) I found that the Nikkor 18mm-200mm lens takes the most unbelievable shots. It was a lens that was on a 4 month BACK ORDER in my area

Try using the manual focus you will eventually get the hang of making your own great pics.

Good Luck

 

[latinbeachboy10]

Thanks! I'll post some pics I have taken so far and see what you think. LOL my dad is a profesional photographer too, but when I asked him to help he said the best way is to figure it out on my own I told him that I'd try it out (aka... ask the photo experts on RC)

 

[Ebn]

Stop down a bit and use a tripod.

Also, have a shot for us to see what kind of result that you're getting?

 

[latinbeachboy10]

Here is one of the better ones. Its way better than the first ones I took. Let me know what you think.

 

[latinbeachboy10]

would it be worth buying this lens instead?
its the AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens and runs about $900 the 60mm Macro is what I used on the shots above, but I want even closer shots.
http://nikonimaging.com/global/products/lens/af/micro/af-s_vr_micro-nikkor_105mmf_28_if/index.htm

 

[latinbeachboy10]

Here is another one I took on the 60mm

 

[Ebn]

Both of those look pretty good. I checked the settings on both of them and they could use some stopping down as stated. You shot both of those at f/3.6. Try stopping down just a tad, which will help with sharpness and also w/your depth of field (use a tripod to take handholding out of the equation).

If you do need to get closer to the object, keep that lens and pick up a set of extension tubes instead (unless your tank is really big and you need to shoot something in the back of it).

 

[latinbeachboy10]

how do i change the stop on the lens? or is it on the camera? also. i have the camera set to macro mode. is that where it should be? or will it not matter because i am using a macro lens anyway?

 

[reefman13]

Sorry for the delay.

That lens looks the same as mine and is ~$50 cheaper. Great lens. Way to go.

You will just have to experiment with the settings to get the kind of shots you want.

Good Luck

 

[zombiereef]

stopping down means to close the aperture. large apertures are f2.8, f3.5, f5.6 etc..stopped down you are looking at f11, f13, f16, f22 etc...they are called f-stops. the smaller the aperture, the more depth of field your shots will have. the only drawback is light. you need a lot of light to stop down to f16 in your tank. a normal outdoor shot with iso 100 film will expose near perfect at f16 and shutter speed 125/th of a sec. in the tank that is usually hard to do. i would mess around with shutter speeds around 1/30, 1/60, 1/125 and shoot for f8 or f11. a tripod will greatly aid the work.

 

[latinbeachboy10]

thanks keith ! i'll try it

 

[ahuxman58]

tripod, mirror lockup, remote shutter, every little bit helps

 

[PL-Reef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9761672#post9761672 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mbunakeith
stopping down means to close the aperture. large apertures are f2.8, f3.5, f5.6 etc..stopped down you are looking at f11, f13, f16, f22 etc...they are called f-stops. the smaller the aperture, the more depth of field your shots will have. the only drawback is light. you need a lot of light to stop down to f16 in your tank. a normal outdoor shot with iso 100 film will expose near perfect at f16 and shutter speed 125/th of a sec. in the tank that is usually hard to do. i would mess around with shutter speeds around 1/30, 1/60, 1/125 and shoot for f8 or f11. a tripod will greatly aid the work.

Best advice. Looks like you just need more DOF, hope we get to see the results!

 

[maroun.c]

I think you'll also benefit from shooting perpendicular to the glass. shots taken at an angle to the glass suffer from more distortion. also they are slightly overexposed so they would benefit from dialing in a negative exposure compensation or some level adjustment and contrast enhancment in PP.
Also you need to boost your sharpness from the camera or better yet in PP.
Your 60 mm shoulud be capable of more than that, so before rushing in to buy a 105 (which is a great lense too) I would still work on getting the best of what you already have.

 

[latinbeachboy10]

i started getting some better shots after i changed my f value from f3.3 to f11 and f16. I also adjusted the white balance a bit. will post some new pics soon. The 105mm Macro is on back order so i have about a month of playing with this one before i get the big boy.

do any of you use lens filters? if so what kind and why...?