The overall strobes and the clutter of Doug shooting with multiple lenses kept out of view, but easy to get to.I bought some new macro toys including a Laowa 25mm lens that has a magnification range of 2.5 to 5 times life size. This is a macro-only lens. It does not focus to infinity.
And I had to play with it, of course. So I decided to do a comparison between it and my other macro lens/tube combinations.
Images are all of the B-string tuning peg of my bass. All of them are non-cropped.
And by "studio" I mean my dining room table :-)
I put a towel down to protect both the bass and the table. I set up 2 strobes with softboxes to give a consistent f/7 light. And then I used 3 small macro flashes for the subject.
The overall strobes and the clutter of Doug shooting with multiple lenses kept out of view, but easy to get to.
The 3 macro flashes. These are each Bolt VM-1010 flashes being controlled by the Bolt VM-1020 controller. Flash power was set manually via the controller to the level specified in the notes below.
For years and years (and years) I shot macro with a non-macro 50mm manual focus lens and extension tubes. With very good results.
A couple of years ago I started buying "macro" lenses, which means they are optimized for sharp focus from corner to corner and they focus closer than their non-macro counterparts to give a specific "magnification" that is generally specified in multiples of "life size."
So far I have accumulated:
| Lens | Magnification |
|---|---|
| Nikkor 40mm macro - autofocus | Life Size |
| Tamron 90mm macro - autofocus | Life Size |
| Nikkor 105mm macro - AIS/manual focus | Half Life Size |
| Nikkor 105mm macro + PN-11 Extension Tube - AIS/manual focus | Life Size |
| Laowa 25mm Ultra Macro - AIS/manual focus | 2.5X to 5X Life Size |
Let's see what the visual difference is in images...
Click on the images to see them full size...
| Magnification | 105mm no tube | 105mm + tube | 40mm | 90mm | 25mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half Life Size: |  1/160 at f/22, ISO 100 flashes at 1/4 power |
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| Life Size: |  1/160 at f/22, ISO 100 flashes at 1/4 power |
 1/160 at f/25, ISO 100 flashes at 1/4 power |
 1/160 at f/45, ISO 100 flashes at 1/4 power |
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| 3X Life Size: |  1/160 at f/16, ISO 100 flashes at 1/4 power |
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| 4X Life Size: |  1/160 at f/16, ISO 100 flashes at 1/2 + 0.7 power |
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| 5X Life Size: |  1/160 at f/16, ISO 100 flashes at full power |