My technique

zzffnn · Post by **zzffnn** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:20 am

Maybe you can use an US IP proxy? My shipping took 2 days from Mouser to my Houston/Texas/US house; I am guessing Mouser may have a Texas location (since they charged me tax) and might have shipped from there.

Dalantech · Post by **Dalantech** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:37 am

I fired up NordVPN and tunneled to the States and my shipping options don't change, had to change my location on their web site. Diffusers on order.

Dalantech · Post by **Dalantech** » Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:47 am

Time to swing this back OT. Another thing that I do is inject Agave nectar into a flower so the critter has a reason to let me get close. A heck of a lot more humane than killing something for a photo (which I think sends the wrong message).

Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (2x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC, second curtain sync). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. I'm holding on to the Lavender stem with my left hand, and resting the lens on that same hand to keep the scene steady.

Feeding Bumblebee I by John Kimbler, on Flickr

Dalantech · Post by **Dalantech** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:27 am

zzffnn wrote:John,

This micro-lens diffuser works beautifully and Mouser still has at least 80 of them for USD $2.97 each: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/928-14707IDA16O

I had a chance to field test that diffuser, and it really didn't help but I did lose a full stop with them. Not that the results were bad...

Honeybee Birthday II by John Kimbler, on Flickr

...but not much of a change compared to my light quality without them (I think they'd have a greater effect on the MT-24EX). In fact I took my current diffuser apart yesterday and removed one layer of white china silk because it was dropping the light by 1/4 stop but with little, if any, effect on the diffusion. It's easy to hit a point of diminishing returns, and I think I'd either have to cut the diffuser to subject distance in half and/or double the size of the diffuser. Neither of those two options are practical.

Dalantech · Post by **Dalantech** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 1:45 am

Here's a video of a field studio that I set up at my sister in law's place last August, and this is one of the shots I took with it. Almost 4x, F11, ISO 100 and uncropped:

Snoozing European Wool Carder Bee X by John Kimbler, on Flickr

aveslux · Post by **aveslux** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 2:43 pm

I have the silk now i'm not seeing as good a diffusion effect as you seen to be getting. It's better for sure than my old setups though.

Perhaps there is something else in your diffuser design/technique that is leading to the good diffusion

Maybe it's because you are so close and have 2 flash bulbs and lens working distance at 2,3,4x that the hot spots is spread out across the individual eye segments and rather than looking like one hot spot the effect just makes the eye segments look better.

Common Carder Bee by Aves Lux, on Flickr