Anybody using the Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens...

for macrophotography of minerals???

This lens, combined with stacking, is being used for some incredible shots of insects and whatnot. 5x magnification gives a nice big picture of a mayflies eye... that's about 1mm. It's said that a grain of rice will fill the screen. DOF is miniscule, 0.1mm or less, but some stuff is looking fine even without stacking. It's a thousand bucks, but seems a decent alternative to bellows or shoothing thru the scope. Most reports suggest it's a real bear to use, and requires severe anti-vibration procedures, but I've yet to see a way of photographing tiny things that isn't a giant PITA.

So, anybody have any reports before I buy this thing?

Thanks a ton for any info!

T

Tim

I've been looking at this for quite a while, maybe next year will be the year to finally make the plunge. Last year I obtained the 24X macro-twin light. My feeling is that combining the MP-E lens, with the macro light, or its ring-light equivalent, set a 1/250 exposure, will probably eliminate the vibration problem. Looking forward to some reports or actual uses.

Jeff

Personally, I don't see the vibration as being too hard to eliminate; you separate your lights from the table, and build a very heavy unit out of paving slabs or steel plates, with heavy rubber dampening layers in btw. A machinists sliding table adds more weight and lets you move the camera in minute increments to make a stack.

I'd suspect that a flash isn't the best for shooting micro minerals, but haven't any experience with it. Considering all the flashy little faces on a crystal cluster, some you want to highlight, some you want to hide, a great deal of fussing with multiple fibre optic goosenecks, reflectors, and diffusers is probably required.

But enough of my yammering, let's hope somebody has the lens and can file a report before I go nuts and blow the grand.

T

I've been using the flash plus some auxiliary lighting, but haven't had much time in the past two years to do much, since "mini-me" came along 2 years ago!

Tim,

You might want to take a look at this photo site forum [www.photomacrography.net]. There is discussion of this lens there along with general discussions on macro photography. Also some very nice photos of a variety of subjects.

Doug

This lens is not for a beginner. It is a pia frankly, unless you have the special lighting and everything else as well. You will also need a very solid tripod as well. Preferably a macro slide mount also. You would be much better off with a normal macro lens 100mm or longer in focal length + extension tubes or a bellows. Don't get me wrong, the lens rocks, but it is difficult to use and requires quite a bit of stability because any vibrations and your images will be wasted. The DOF is also razor thin. I have shot macros and microscopic work for years, macros for well over 15yrs, and used that lens on numerous occasions and just never cared for it, always found other setups much more efficient and even easier to use. The best macro setup I have found to date is a Panasonic FZ series camera + Raynox attachments. Some of the top macro shooters in the World use this same setup. The Raynox add-ons are a preferred choice. The MSN-202 + Tele Macro mode on the FZ series can yield magnifications exceeding 24:1(24x life size).

I know R.Appiani have used this lens but after have sold why is not many good for minerals under few millimeters

Mindat Page

[www.mindat.org]


Attrezzatura e tecnica sono solo l'inizio. È il fotografo che conta più di tutto. (John Hedgecoe)

Very true Matteo. Luckily I had only rented or borrowed them when I used them. I would never spend the ridiculous amount of $$$ they cost!

Another excellent option is to get a reverse adapter for your camera and attach a 50mm f/1.8 of faster lens on to it backwards! This can yield some excellent magnifications! A great lens for this is an older Pentax, Nikon, Canon, Petri, Chinon, Sears, etc. 50mm f/1.4 or f/1.7 or f/1.8 lens. Just make sure to get the correct filter thread size for your adapter or lens. ;).

For a dSLR, the best bet it to get a bellows + 35mm & a 50mm lens to go with it. A macro slide is a good idea as well and will allow easier focusing. Some bellows, like Novoflex, come with one. But, a good tripod and head are still a must. For a dSLR I use a Novolfex bellows system*(long version) in M42 mount(that way can get an adapter for it to fit ANY of my digital cameras or film cameras), a 35mm Practica(Zeiss rebranded) f/3.5 lens, a Chinon 50mm f/1.4 (Tomoika made) lens, two sets of extension tubes totaling 136mm, a macro flash attachment, wireless remote flash setup with multiple flashes, two studio strobes with softboxes remotely fired, as well as around 200w of modeling lights and reflectors.I also use a special milk white colored translucent plexiglass as a base. A lot of cost, but produces top notch results.

But, for internet images, I find the Panasonic FZ28/FZ35/FZ Series of any type + Raynox Macro lenses (DCR-150, DCR-250 or Micro Explorer Set and an MSN-202 lens) + Light table + Copy stand works the best, easiest, greatest magnifications, and the cheapest. It also allows for much greater DOF and control over DOF with less time having to stack images to get enough in focus, or at the very least allowing for less images needed for stacking! One could get all of this for less then the cost of the Canon lens, and get definitely far better results!

I don't do a lot of real macro/micro photography, but I have a 105mm macro that is my main lens for mineral photography. Coupled with a set of extension tubes, as Jamie suggests, I have produced excellent results down to a FOV of ~11x7mm (on an APSC DSLR) - i.e. 2X. I could, I suppose add more extensions and get tighter (never tried), but in this case, aren't you better off going to a microscope setup beyond that point anyway?

Thanks for your input, guys, it's truly appreciated. I think I'll take your advice and look into a bellows system. I'm not hardcore enough to be dropping a grand on a lens quite yet lol.

Cheers,

T

The bellows works on the same principle as the extension tubes, the further the lens gets away from the body the more magnification you get.

If you really want to get crazy you can use the reverse adapter and use a reversed lens on the bellows, rofl. The DOF would more then likely be too thin to do much good though.

I find for the bellows + minerals that a three lens set works the best. 35mm, 50mm, and a 135mm. This way you have varying degrees of magnification and also varying degrees of working distance for ease of lighting. The nice thing is if you go the M42 + adapter route you can snag all three lenses in decent optics for under $150-$200. Chinon is an excellent brand to look for in the 50 or 55mm and the 135mm. You will be lucky to find a 35mm and if you do it won't be cheap, but it is well worth the cost. Also any M42 Vivitar mount lens with the first two digits of the serial number being 06, 09, 22, 28, 37, or 47 will do the job quite well.