Macro system-70-200 f2.8 L II IS USM + 2x extender + extension tubes ANYONE???

[joshmurrah]

I put together a 70-200 f/2.8L II + 2xIII + 500D combo, and it's not too bad.

The AF does work, but it's herky jerky, and honestly it's better if you set it to the min. focus, and lean in and out until you nail the focus instead.

The big problem I have is that the DOF is TINY TINY TINY, but this is a general problem to overcome with any macro. Amazingly, stopping down really high didn't seem to hurt image quality that much.

The attached picture was taken with a 5D2 + 70-200 f/2.8L II + 2xIII + 500D + 580EX II... 6400 ISO, 1/200 shutter, f/64 (yes, f/64, not a typo).

The flash was bouncing on a high ceiling with the catchlight panel up for a small amount of direct light, and the shot was hand-held.

I had to boost the saturation/clarity/NR and darken the blacks to hide the horizontal noise bands... a 5D3 would be a much better camera for this I believe.

 

[Marsu42]

The big problem I foresee is that the DOF is TINY TINY TINY

... that's why there's focus stacking, and you'll be surprised how little time it takes to use up all shutter cycles of your dlsr

I had to boost the saturation/clarity/NR and darken the blacks to hide the horizontal noise bands... a 5D3 would be a much better camera for this I believe.

Why don't you use hdr bracketing? You can instantly save $3000 by not needing the 5d3!

 

[joshmurrah]

On the 5D3 comment, I more meant that ISO 6400 would be much cleaner without horizantal bands.

I haven't done enough macro to try focus bracketing... I'm not a huge fan of using a tripod except in extreme cases such as astrophotography/timelapse. I know macro and hand-holding don't really go together, but that's my style. If I get more serious about macro work, I'd probably invest in a macro flash.