Some bugs I do with my macro lens, like grasshoppers and spiders ... some I do with my zoom lens, like butterflies and dragonflies. Some, like a curious damselfly, I have used both the zoom lens and the macro lens because that one was willing to hold still and even after flitting off aways it would come back.
Like you, I used to try to get all insects with my macro lens, but someone in this community told me I'd never get a dragonfly to hold still long enough for a good focus when I was that close to it and suggested I used my zoom lens. They were right. I have much better luck with certain insects with my zoom lens.
As for my settings, I most generally shoot in aperture priority mode, picking my aperture (I do tend to favor very wide open though I had a nature photographer in a workshop tell me to shut it down and go for a deeper DoF) and then let my camera make set the shutter and ISO. Hope this helps ....
Hello Adi - April's post above has many of the clues to getting macro shots in sharp focus. With this macro lens (160mm FF equivalent on your camera) the DoF will only be 1mm or so with the lens open wide and at f/16 it will still only be a few mm. Shut down, set your ISO on auto with a reasonably high ceiling and shoot 2 or 3 frames at a time. If the bug is also moving, then use continuous focus. Hope this helps.
@vignouse thank you Richard. I think I need to understand better the ratios of the lens vs what I'm photographing. I will take both your advice and set my ISO to Auto.
July 9th, 2017
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Some bugs I do with my macro lens, like grasshoppers and spiders ... some I do with my zoom lens, like butterflies and dragonflies. Some, like a curious damselfly, I have used both the zoom lens and the macro lens because that one was willing to hold still and even after flitting off aways it would come back.
Like you, I used to try to get all insects with my macro lens, but someone in this community told me I'd never get a dragonfly to hold still long enough for a good focus when I was that close to it and suggested I used my zoom lens. They were right. I have much better luck with certain insects with my zoom lens.
As for my settings, I most generally shoot in aperture priority mode, picking my aperture (I do tend to favor very wide open though I had a nature photographer in a workshop tell me to shut it down and go for a deeper DoF) and then let my camera make set the shutter and ISO. Hope this helps ....