Canon R7 for Macro Photography
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- This is a sneak peek from my upcoming video "Bugs From Work 6" which will come out in early August. In this video, I share the process of working on my first macro photographs using the new Canon EOS R7 in conjunction with the RF 100mm Macro lens. My subject was a beautifully cute Jumping Spider.
Occasionally, I see exciting insects while I'm at work, so I decided to start capturing them and making macro photographs of them at home after work. In this video, you'll see me using the Canon EOS R7 and the RF 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens along with the Meike MK-320 flash and a Crafty Bells Diffuser to make these photos. All of the subjects were released in the same condition as when they were captured.
Crafty Bells Diffuser - They will ship to the United States.
photographyacc...
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Can you be more careful with the spider please Phil (2:15)? Nature photography should have a do no harm reasoning and you could have very easily killed that Salticidae. I much prefer to shoot Insects and Arachnids in situ, rather than relocating them into a studio setup.
I'm pretty sure that that was a female, not a male, and looked like she was gravid too.
A note: this is not a "bug" - please use the correct terms. Younger children may watch your videos and they should learn the right terms. Bugs are a specific sub section of the Insect order (Hemiptera) Arachnids are NOT insects.
But, I loved the shots and really enjoying your channel mate. That R7 is looking to be much better than I originally thought - I was very concerned with its performance but it looks like it will make my concerns wrong. High ISO isn't as good as I wanted, but it's usable.
All good points, David. At 2:15 I actually didn't even make contact with the spider. I just put my hand near it and it jumped back to the area I needed it to be. I really like the studio look of these photos. It's ok if you prefer to make your photos a different way. Thanks for the sexing help. I wonder how you were able to determine that she was a female? Of course, I'm aware that this is not a bug or an insect. "Bugs from work" is a generic title for a series of videos I'm working on. Not all of the subjects are insects, I even photograph a snail in an upcoming episode. I make no claims to be an Entomologist or Arachnologist however I am enjoying slowly learning the names. Learning bird names also happened to me because of photography. I find birds much easier to properly identify. Thanks for watching and please accept my apology for not being up to your level of bug identification.
@@PhilThach Phil, don't take my criticisms on "bugs" to heart mate. I see people call them bugs all the time and it simply drives me crazy!
Female - shape of the pedipalps and also the size of the abdomen. Typically, female spiders have much larger abdomens than males, and a gravid (pregnant) female will be even larger of course. Another hint that she was gravid was the rapid web building in the bottle. The female will build the webs and lay her eggs in such a manner typically. Males have a different end shape on their pedipalps - quite often looking like "boxing" gloves. My eyes used to be good enough to tell a male from a female in the viewfinder, but sadly, my eyes have deteriorated in the past 10 years and most things in the macro world are a blur now. I should be using glasses with my cameras, but alas I am a stubborn old bastard!
The contact that I was worried about looked very close to the spider from the angle in the video. That's why I was concerned.
The studio look does look very nice I do admit. That controlled lighting does wonders for macro work. These days I am too lazy to use a good lighting rig for macro (I rarely even shoot macro these days due to my aforementioned eyesight problems) - flash brackets, offshoe flash adaptors, flashguns and diffusers all add to the weight and my back doesn't generally tolerate a lot of weight these days either sadly. I typically shoot with my 60D and onboard flash, no diffuser and the lighting is typically horrible. I just bought a used original 1D (4mp, CCD) with ~6k shutter actuations and the IQ from that CCD sensor is the best I have ever seen from a Canon camera. Many fond memories from my 1D back in the mid 00s that I sold to fund my Mark IIn upgrade back in 2007 (and I regretted that very much after the fact). Hoping to get back and do some more macro with the 1D and make the effort to do better with the lighting setup. :-)
@@davepastern thank you! That is very interesting. Especially the part about when she made the tight web in the bottle. Maybe she went on to lay her eggs on our back porch where I released her. Hope so! I would love to photograph her offspring!
I believe the R7 has in-camera focus stacking. It has to be a still subject and so no good for the jumping spider. But could you check it out please?
I'll look into it. Thank you!
@@PhilThach The big question to check here is why you would rather stack in camera than in post. I usually shoot more images than I end up stacking just to be sure I covered the desired range but that would not work with the in camera method.
It does have in camera stacking like Olympus EM-1
Hi, do you have a video talking about the camera set up mode stuff for macro using Canon EOS R7?
The RF100mm seems to work pretty well on the R7. I thought the working distance might be too far away, but you got really close to that Salticidae. Thanks for another informative video!
Thank you!
Phil, I was wondering how the rather modest Electronic viewfinder in the R7 worked from a clarity point of view when shooting close up macro.
EVF seems fine to me, no complaints.
I can’t seem to get my R7 to switch from the viewfinder to the LCD screen. Would you mind explaining how to get it to swap? I have not been able to find a video explaining when I go into the camera settings and just choose screen it’s still will not show up on the back for Photos.
@@Floppyearphotography Hi Marla The answer to your question is that there is an option in the menu somewhere but I cant remember exactly where it is. Trial and error is probably the way to go. Or perhaps just google it. Could be an answer there. I personally found the menu very confusing. Probably due to my age.
That’s an amazing lens! If I never clicked on the video I would have never known that that spider was that small!! The detail is amazing!
Thank you!
Wondering if you think the R10 could cut if for me. Specs wise it should, but I also see very few people using it for insect macro, and I’m wondering if there’s a reason why, or if it’s just an awkward price range where most people would go over or under
@@FieldLing639 I think the R10 would do fine.
Thoughts on doing much the same but in the field? Particularly with focusing on an insect surrounded by plant parts
@@the_linguist_ll I have many videos like that in the macro playlist.
Lovely video. So with the RF 100mm Macro in a white Studio surrounding it works perfect. My experience in the field with the EF 100mm Macro 2.8 L on the Canon R7 it doesn't work that good.. It refuses to stick on the eyes of my insect constantly jumping out of focus and trying to stick on surrounding flowers. Not good. My flashes are some older speedlites 580EX 2 and 430 EX 2. Refuses to stick on the bees and humblebees eyes. With my older Canon Eos 80D this was no problem. Think the R7 doesn't recognize these horizontal block like shapes and instead searches for round eye looking shapes. Pitty. My old 80D mirror camera far more better than my new Canon R7... Think that these mirrorless R camera's have problems wih horizontal dark subjects. Thought that my EF 100mm Macro 2.8 L wasn't that bad...
Thank you! Sounds like the 80D might be the best camera for you.
Hi, can i use the R7 with a EF Laowa 60mm manual lens f2.8?
I'm trying but maybe i'm missing something.
I have the Canon Adapter. EF-EOS R
If you have an EF to RF adapter, you should be able to use the EF Laowa lens as far as I know. Make sure to go to the orange menu section 4 and turn on “release shutter w/o lens”
Hi Phil .
Would you please guide me about the setup of this macro photography. In which mode do I get the Macro option. I am a beginner and I can't able to do macro with my R7 and 18-150 lense.
The 18-150 it’s not a true macro lens, it can do fairly close to macro work, but to do true macro work you need a macro lens. something with at least one to one magnification, the RF 100 macro is 1.4 to 1.
hey Phil... did not see anything in prior videos, so thought i would ask the question here. Have you ran into the situation where grabbing focus and rattling off several photos, they dont stay on focus and jumps around?
Yes. This issue is not exclusive to the R7 or Canon.
Looking forward to the "Phil Thach Tarantula Wrangler" episode.
Great photos!
Thanks, Leon! I'm getting better at dealing with the bugs, sort of. Some of the episode of bugs from work that haven't come out yet show just how much I have to learn! LOL
Hi Phil Thach
you are doing amazing things through your videos ,and I am always keen to watch all the videos you post
my question is: Can we use this flash with the Focus stacking feature that is present in the R7 ?
Thank you! Unfortunately to use the focus stacking feature, you have to use electronic shutter and to use a flash you have to use mechanical shutter so you can’t do both at the same time.
Phil that was so cool 😎. I have been planning to up grade from my 80D to an R5, but now you got me seriously thinking that's overkill. Plus, now that I have retired money don't grow on trees. The R7 seems to be all the camera I need for portraits, fashion, environmental photography and video. I can get the body and a L series lens for less the R5 body alone. Thanks for showing the way my 📸 friend 💯‼️😇
Thank you, Alvin! I hope you enjoy your R7!
Thank you for releasing him. Super video, thank you, very entertaining to watch.
Thank you and thanks for watching! I always release them unless they escape on their own LOL
Great video I’m was thinking what lens to get for my r7 😮
Thank you!
Just found out we can't use flash in the ES mode ? :( After using the MS mode for about the first 5 minutes I owned the R7, I decided I'd never use that crazy, ugly loud MS again, and had never looked back. Now I find that I "have to" if I want to use a flash for macro :( Also, I found out I can't use MS with focus stacking :( I'm about ready to just go back to straight birding. You never have shutter shock issues using the horrendous slapping MS in our R7's ??? I sure did for my bird shots, which is another reason I had told myself I'd never use the MS in my R7 again.
I only use the mechanical shutter when I have to such as macro with a flash or sports, but when I’m doing macro with the flash, I don’t see shutter shock because of the flash rate being so fast and for sports I have my shutter speed very fast, so no worries with shutter shock there either. I agree about the noisy mechanical shutter! It’s as loud as my ancient Nikon D800!
@@PhilThach TBH, I played with the RF 100 F2.8 (rental) quite a bit today…. About half with natural light, and of course the ES, since I could 🙂 But also used the ring flash with MS. Just chimping my LCD screen, both methods seem to have gotten me some nice ones… but I could see little rings in the eyes of the Jumping Spiders 🕷️ from the ring flash. Might be able to shop those out ? I mean if the shot was a ringer otherwise…. I don’t think that would be a problem with most bugs with multi-faceted eyes.
Did you try focus stacking?
I have not. They say the R7 has built in stacking but I really don’t do stacking. My subjects tend to move and I kind of like the sharp eye with the rest of the subject drifting out of focus look. Maybe I’ll try it someday.
I tried my old EF 100mm macro on my new R7 and went out in the forrest today. I quickly found out that i cant se anything in the view finder because of the settings are set for the flash but i dont have the light when focussing. My godox mf12s have a focus light but it wasent enough. I tried to look in the settings(maybe i missed it) but is there a setting for boosting the light in the EVF to compensate for the lack of light when focussing and the flash isent going off? What do you do? Thanks in advance!
Got to Red menu number 9 and Set "Display Simulation" to OFF and then turn it back to Exposure when you are finished doing macro with flash work.
@@PhilThach ahh thank you very much!!
An obvious question from new R7 owners would be how the kit zoom works with extension tubes. I was on the verge of buying a MF Laowa macro because I rarely use autofocus with macro but being able to track a jumping spider brings that into question. Interesting video.
That is something that I will look into because I do have the 18-150 kit lens and active extension tubes.
In did i have that combination, Ef Laowa with R7, but the camera dont shoot and i don't know why, i'm using the canon EF-EOS R adapter.
@@WolfGangnero The common answer when a manual lens won't work is that the user failed to set the option to release shutter without lens. Orange 4 next to bottom must be enabled to use any lens without contacts.
does the r7 allow you to focus stack when using the r7 to ef-ef 's lens mount with any ef-ef 's lens on camera? I believe the canon 90D only allows you to photo stack with a couple of specific lens .
I'm going to post a link with supported lenses. I'll also mention that Heather has used the Focus Bracket function successfully with the EF-S 10-18 which is not on the list. cam.start.canon/en/H001/supplement_0010.html
@@PhilThach many thanks for the reply Phil,but it looks as if I will have to buy a lens from the list as I enjoy doing macro photography.
Nice work Phil. I like the one where the Jumping Spider is waving at you. Looks like the R7 will be good for macro, birds and all you like to photograph 👍🙏
Thank you, Adrian! I'm enjoying it so far. Yesterday I went out with my adapted 10-18 ultra-wide lens and made some photos. It's not bad for landscape work either. I need someone to hurry up and make an L-bracket for it.
Can I ask what flash unit you are using
Meike MK 320
Were you using one shot or servo? I got the feeling that servo with macro does not work really fine. I tried to catch ants and the auto focus didn't work quite well although i turned on animal focus.
I used servo but I like you idea, I may try single shot next. Thank you!
@@PhilThach you did not have flowers that may irritate your AF.
What is the flash you have on your r7
Meike MK 320.
I just learned how fun macro photography can be when I was in Costa Rica. I really enjoy it!
That's awesome! I bet there are bugs everywhere in Costa Rica!
@@PhilThach Bugs, frogs and snakes for macro and crocodiles, toucans, macaws and monkeys if you have a long lens! Incredible photo opportunities!
did you really randomly brag about your trip in a camera review? omfg you are so sad.
Nice shots and review on Macro from the camera. Such a fun camera :)
Thank you! I need to find a moment to watch your autofocus setup video today. I think Heather has already watched it. We have a pretty good grasp of the setup but there is always room to learn more.
@@PhilThach Its nice with the mirrorless cameras that your can get a setup that fits "your' workfow for shooting and creativity.
My R7 hasn't arrived yet, but ...
I have the 100mm f/2,8 Macro lens & I have a (smaller) product-photography box.
I'll continue to watch your inspirational very informative R7 videos with fascination!
Thanks!
Thank you, Barry! I have many more of the Bugs From Work videos in the pipeline.
That was AWESOME Phil, Really enjoyed this vid... Great lens and camera to😊❤
Thank you, Keith!
Great video. Can you provide information on what the working distance is with the RF100 on the R7. I am looking to use it for underwater macro and I’m wondering just how far back I’ll need to be with this setup. Subjects range from about baseball size to just a couple millimeters.
Thank you! Working Distance (distance from front of lens to subject) 3.62" (92mm) at 1.4× magnification.
My grandsons would love to see these photos of the bug's. Will you release some of the images on your channel (I am not tempting to steal your images), they are 5 and 3, so showing them this video will not work (attention span is very short). I may need to get a macro lens for my Z50 and start shooting macro. Great video Phil....
Cesar, you should be able to pull some of Phil's macro photos up on his Instagram: instagram.com/philthach/?hl=en
Will EF Macro lense with adapter work on R7 ?
Yes
Just bling the little guy lol
Fun shoot! I'm surprised the autofocus worked, tracking is that much better!
Thanks, Mark! I think the white surface helped the camera to focus on the spider.
Great stuff.
Thank you!
Phil has the spider better than I do, no matter what he does with it. Every spider that finds its way into my house has made the last mistake of its life, as have wasps. Dead insects are also good to photograph because they don't move around anymore and focus stack isn't a problem.
Thanks for watching!
Awesome! I'm glad the R7 is working great for you. Enjoying the Bugs from Work series.
Thank you! I'm glad because I'm really enjoying making these videos and there are several more on the way. :)
I already purchased the R6 and it does great photos as well. Can't put money out for another camera yet!!
No rush, the R6 is a great camera, I love mine. Thanks for watching!
Hi Phil! Could you please explain that bonnet thing you’re using and I don’t know if you plan on showing a photo with it and a photo without it and what it does and if you like it?
The diffuser is like a softbox or umbrella and performs the same function. I like this Crafty Bells bonnet better than the diffuser from several of my Bugs from Work videos. I switched to this one recently and I moved this video to the front because it is R7 content. There are several Bugs from work videos still in the pipeline using the other diffuser but I like this Crafty Bells bonnet better.
I will be using the same setup as you when my lens gets here tomorrow. I believe you can use the 1.4x extender also if you stick an extension tube in between it and the lens. I'm going to test it out this weekend. Great videos...
The 1.4x extender doesn't work with the RF 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens.
But I like your idea of using an extension tube with that lens!
I have such tubes; I'll try it.
@@barrypearson6096 Do you know why it won't work? You would have to put the extension tube in between the lens and the extender to allow enough clearance for the protruding portion of the teleconverter. I guess I will find out for myself this afternoon when I try.... you could have focusing issues I guess.
@@mdees88 Interesting idea! So I tried it.
I use Meike extension tubes. They are not just round tubes. They have a rectangular baffle to reduce unwanted reflections in the tube.
The protusion of the extenders won't fit within the rectangle. So this combination won't work.
Perhaps other extension tubes are simple tubes? In which case this may work.
@@barrypearson6096 I have meikes too and thet are square, that's unfortunate. I watched a guy modify the inner housing with a file but I'm not that desperate yet... JJC rf tubes appear to be round...
@@barrypearson6096 I'm returning my meikes and I just ordered some JJC extension tubes from amazon. They are round inside. I will see if they work and will let you know....
Very nice shots! I've had much better luck backing up just a little bit also when I'm trying to get some depth of field with my macro shots. If I'm not mistaken someone said the R7 does focus stacking in the camera! I know the R6 can do it to create multiple images but they have to be stacked with a program outside the camera. I'm curious to find out if the R7 does it internally. That should be a really big help with depth of field.
Thanks, Forrest! There are two features of the R7 that are creating a lot of buzz and I find myself not very interested in either of them. In camera focus stacking and pre-burst. Maybe I should look into them further but they both seem like gimmicks that I probably won't use much if any.
Isn't macro fun? I have the Tokina EF 100mm Macro and just ordered the Lowa 100mm 2:1 RF lens for my R5 and the R7 that I ordered. The R7 did such a great job with the AF. Thanks for the video.
I love Macro! It's the Laowa 85mm 5.6 lens that I have my eye on but I like the way this 1.4:1 Canon RF 100 focuses so much that I may never buy that Laowa.
@@PhilThach some much gear so little to spend on that gear😁 Great shot of the spider. If you see a daddy long leg try to grab a shot of one of those. An amazing looking creature for sure.
Love jumping spiders! Glad he released himself lol 😂
Me too! Thanks for watching, Kellie!
Hi Phil
Have you had any issues with the R6 and the Meike flash? I have seen some people saying the hotshoe gets loose or snaps off so I like how small it is.
Hi. No issues with the Meike or my R6 Hotshoe. :)
Nice work as always. Really appreciate you putting these videos together.
Thank you, Greg!
Awesome series Phil, what a cutie:))
Thank you, Peter! It's a lot of fun to work on and I can do a quick segment after work without traveling anywhere that I wouldn't have gone on a normal work day.
Incredible macro shots Phil!!👏Did you use Topaz De-noise on the macro shots?
Thank you, Bill! Yes, I use Topaz DeNoise AI on everything even if is only to sharpen. I like the way it sharpens,
@@PhilThach Thanks Phil.
Would like to see this in the wild.
I actually captured this on top of a car, the car was white so in a way this is what it looked like in the wild lol
Hi Phil…82 yrs and just getting back into photography. I have the R7 and Tamron 90mm macro lens. My question is about the quick series of flash shots of the jumping spider. There seemed to be no lag in the flash recharge. Special flash? Special settings? You just kept shooting.
Am I missing something.
Watching you and Heather out in the “Wild” with all your new equipment and then the explanations on using it is a pleasure.
Keep your good work
Joe McGrath
Meike MK-320C TTL Flash for Canon is the flash I use, it's cheap, around $69 US. On 1/4 power and a slower drive speed you can blast off a few shots and it will fire every time, some of the later shots are not as bright as the earlier ones. Thank you, Joseph!
Hi again Phil…there is a question in there some where…continuous flash. What settings on flash or camera to allow such continuous shooting?
Thank again
Joe McGrath
Ahhhh…thank you Phil.
Joe McGrath
@@josephmcgrath6814 I set the camera on its slowest drive rate, mechanical shutter, flash on manual at 1/4 power.
wonderful video
Thank you!
Great video
Thank you!
More fun with bugs! Love it.
Thank you, Earl!