Pine cone or raisin cake?.......

[footman]

Wet pine cone surface, looks just like the raisin cake my Grandmother used to make!
Sony A6500, Laowa 25mm 2.5-5.0x Macro lens
1/60th, F4.0, ISO100, 2.5x magnification.
41 stacked images processed in Zerene, lit by Adaptalux arms and Godox TT350S off camera flash.

My first effort with the Laowa I bought on here the other day, the thought of going beyond 2.5x right up to 5.0x makes me feel a bit giddy

 

[GardenersHelper]

Well done. How did you handle the camera movement - focus rail?

 

[footman]

Well done. How did you handle the camera movement - focus rail?

Thanks, I used a WeMacro automated rail. I think this body/lens combination will be usable handheld in the field but not for stacking, at least not by me

 

[GardenersHelper]

Thanks, I used a WeMacro automated rail.

That makes sense. Thanks.

I think this body/lens combination will be usable handheld in the field but not for stacking, at least not by me

It will give you from 7mm to 3.5mm scene width. I'm currently using down to 4.5mm handheld (singles, not stacks) so 3.5mm should be doable. I'll be interested to see if you run into problems finding small subjects (that is, you know where they are, you can see them with your own eyes, but it can be frustratingly difficult to get them framed and focused). I had that with the Laowa 25mm, although not as bad as with the MPE-65. I'm finding the Laowa 100mm much better from that point of view because it makes it easy to lower the magnification a long way to find the subject (not always possible with the Laowa 25 because of the minimum 2.5X), and move back in on it quite quickly to frame, focus and shoot (can be difficult with the MPE-65 because of all the turning that you need to do with the focus/magnification ring). The Laowa 100 (when used with the pair of 2X teleconverters that I'm using at the moment) goes from full magnification to 4.5mm scene width with a turn of around 120 degrees, which makes the "move out, move in" manoeuvre very doable, generally with a turn of no more than 90 degrees.

Also, the focus/magnification ring moves quite easily on my Laowa 100. The focus/magnification ring is very stiff on my Laowa 25. Is yours easy to rotate?

 

[Adrian Jones]

A lovely image, I have never tried stacking with this lens.

 

[footman]

That makes sense. Thanks.



It will give you from 7mm to 3.5mm scene width. I'm currently using down to 4.5mm handheld (singles, not stacks) so 3.5mm should be doable. I'll be interested to see if you run into problems finding small subjects (that is, you know where they are, you can see them with your own eyes, but it can be frustratingly difficult to get them framed and focused). I had that with the Laowa 25mm, although not as bad as with the MPE-65. I'm finding the Laowa 100mm much better from that point of view because it makes it easy to lower the magnification a long way to find the subject (not always possible with the Laowa 25 because of the minimum 2.5X), and move back in on it quite quickly to frame, focus and shoot (can be difficult with the MPE-65 because of all the turning that you need to do with the focus/magnification ring). The Laowa 100 (when used with the pair of 2X teleconverters that I'm using at the moment) goes from full magnification to 4.5mm scene width with a turn of around 120 degrees, which makes the "move out, move in" manoeuvre very doable, generally with a turn of no more than 90 degrees.

Also, the focus/magnification ring moves quite easily on my Laowa 100. The focus/magnification ring is very stiff on my Laowa 25. Is yours easy to rotate?

Adequate lighting in the field has been a problem for me when using the Sony 90mm macro +extension tubes+ Raynox 150+250 stacked. I seem to have solved that problem by buying into the Adaptalux lighting arm system, very expensive but it gives me more capability both in the field and in the "studio" as the pod can be mounted on my camera (cage) outside and on a mini tripod inside.

Although our house isn't small space for me to set up a permanent studio is limited so I have set up a large LED lighting box which gives me a discreet working area but also means I have to miniaturise somewhat my lighting system which is where the Adaptalux and small Godox off camera flash can fit in easily.

The focus/mag ring is indeed a little stiff for my delicate digits but I'm going to try and set the magnification first and simply move forward and backward to get focus. The 25mm is said to suffer from bad diffraction from f8 onwards, the sweet spot being f4-f5.6. I'm sticking at f4 for the moment.
I'm going to be brave and try some handheld stuff this morning!

 

[GardenersHelper]

Adequate lighting in the field has been a problem for me when using the Sony 90mm macro +extension tubes+ Raynox 150+250 stacked. I seem to have solved that problem by buying into the Adaptalux lighting arm system, very expensive but it gives me more capability both in the field and in the "studio" as the pod can be mounted on my camera (cage) outside and on a mini tripod inside.

I see Adaptalux are now taking pre-orders for flash arms. That makes the system more attractive to me. That said, I think the pod has a fixed rechargeable battery? In that case I would be doubtful whether it would last long enough in flash mode for one of my sessions. I routinely have to change the set of 4X AA rechargeable batteries at least once, occasionally twice during a 1 to 2 hour session of 400 to 800 captures. I'm also wondering what diffusion could be arranged on those arms. Still, worth keeping an eye on.

Although our house isn't small space for me to set up a permanent studio is limited so I have set up a large LED lighting box which gives me a discreet working area but also means I have to miniaturise somewhat my lighting system which is where the Adaptalux and small Godox off camera flash can fit in easily.

The focus/mag ring is indeed a little stiff for my delicate digits but I'm going to try and set the magnification first and simply move forward and backward to get focus. The 25mm is said to suffer from bad diffraction from f8 onwards, the sweet spot being f4-f5.6. I'm sticking at f4 for the moment.
I'm going to be brave and try some handheld stuff this morning!

Hope it goes well.

 

[footman]

I see Adaptalux are now taking pre-orders for flash arms. That makes the system more attractive to me. That said, I think the pod has a fixed rechargeable battery? In that case I would be doubtful whether it would last long enough in flash mode for one of my sessions. I routinely have to change the set of 4X AA rechargeable batteries at least once, occasionally twice during a 1 to 2 hour session of 400 to 800 captures. I'm also wondering what diffusion could be arranged on those arms. Still, worth keeping an eye on.



Hope it goes well.

Thanks, I've had a go outside this morning, more work is definitely needed!
Adaptalux reckon that the pod has a battery life of up to 10 hours. I have the the ultra bright arms and these can be boosted further although the battery life will take a hit. Of course this is independent of the number of shots you take. I'm still experimenting using the diffuser bulbs in the field as I find without them the beam is sometimes too narrow when illuminating subjects hand held, in the studio use without the diffuser is fine. I too would have preferred the use of batteries as I'm used to carrying a pocketful of them.

I have considered their new flash system but as I already have the Meike twin macro flash and also Godox off camera flash to choose from I think that their flash is probably a step too far although it's never stopped me going too far in the past .