Macro shooting and portrait lenses

dcm922

Hi @Moose - I'm a newbie here. Thanks for offering such a great website! Great information and it's sure helping with my learning curve.

I bought a 60D last week and have been immersing myself with as much information as possible. The 60D kit came with two lenses, the EF-S 18-135mm IS and the EF-S 55-250mm. Last evening I was playing with some macro shots of very small detailed flies (as in fly fishing flies) that are tiny...maybe a just under 1/4" in length. I know this is small, but was hoping to get very detailed shots. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but could only get a decent shot 12" away or more and thus losing some of the detail.

I make custom cedar arrows with detailed cresting and also tie flies. I'd really like to take very detailed shots of each. Can you suggest a lens or is it just me and the lenses I have will work? I know I have a steep learning curve ahead.

Other than taking pics of my hobbies, I take a lot of pics of Grandkids, outdoors and wildlife.

I've been monitoring your post on the Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. I'm impressed with it. Would this lense work for my objectives? It sounds like you recommend a Speedlight with it?

Thanks in advance for your time and suggestions. - Dan

Moose

Howdy @dcm922 - Thanks for the kind words and welcome to the 60D forum! As you've already found out, there are specific lenses for specific purposes. I would classify your current crop of lenses as general "outdoor" walk around lenses. The 18-135mm has a minimum focus distance of 1.5 feet and a magnification of 0.21, while the 55-250mm has a minimum focus distance of 3.6 feet and a magnification of 0.31. These numbers represent how close you can get to your subject and the relative size of the subject when focused.

In order to get a greater magnification, you can buy a dedicated macro lens like the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro (expensive) or experiment with a macro adapter like the Raynox DCR-250 (inexpensive). I usually recommend the cheaper alternative first, that way you can dabble with macro photography and determine if a dedicated macro lens is worth it to you.

The Canon 50mm f/1.4 (see here) is fantastic for portraits of your grandkids. When coupled with the Raynox DCR-250, you'd have a combo that would greatly improve your close-up ability and dramatically increase the level of detail in your fly/arrow shots.

Your 55-250mm would be better suited for wildlife, but the 50mm f/1.4 is quite capable of capturing nearby birds, squirrels, etc...

Yep, a speedlite like the Canon 320EX (see here) would give you the ability to bounce light indoors, producing more natural looking shots (better skin tones, no harsh shadows, no red-eye, etc...).

Hope that helps and happy shooting! :)

dcm922

Great information @Moose! That is exactly the information I was looking for. Thank You!