Mantis

[johnray]

Found this little guy on my car, and brought him in for some shots. I unfortunately don't own a macro lens, so i worked with my 250 mm lens, and unfortunately it shows. But, I thought I'd share them with you regardless. Let me know what you think, or even tips.





I compensated his troubles with a free snack.

[jim greer]

That's some great shots. Well Done

[Dirt_Bike_Ryda]

Nice Nice

Have you considered picking up a cheap set of extension tubes? These reduce your MINIMUM focusing distance.

[johnray]

really, i was not aware of that. i'll look into a few, but it would be worth it just to put up a macro

[Quintin]

Probably my favourite insect in the world.

Macro or not, those are some great shots!

[CaptainNH]

Great shots of a fascinating member of the insect world - I keep finding baby mantises in my garden, but never seem to spot the full size ones for some reason.

[mike1187]

I love shooting with my 55-250mm lens with a full set of kenko extension tubes. I havent measured it, but I have a working distance of probably 2-4 feet at 250mm, which is great when working with subjects you dont want to upset(like bees) I'll probably eventually pick up another set of tubes to use with this lens to get even closer while at the longer focal lengths.

[kgb224]

You did great with what you had. Macro lenses is just a bit to expensive.

[mercbenz]

wow really great macro shots! do you have ANY tips for me?
thanks for your time

[daft_biker]

Originally Posted by mike1187

.... I'll probably eventually pick up another set of tubes to use with this lens to get even closer while at the longer focal lengths.

Personally I'd likely go for a teleconvertor if I wanted to increase the magnification on a long lens.

Up to about 100mm extension tubes would be my first choice for increasing magnification (or reducing the minimum focus distance if you prefer). With 150mm or longer lenses I find extension tubes don't really do a lot - but a teleconvertor does!

That's if you can get a teleconvertor to fit your lens! However, if you have extension tubes already you could just fit one of them to the lens and then fit the teleconvertor between the extension tube and the body.

Say you had one of those 70-300mm lenses with a 1:2 "macro" function....stick a 2x behind it and you've got 600mm lens that will do 1:1