Just a GH2 bee

[Arlen]

Usually when I'm setting out to shoot serious macros, I carry my Canon 5D, 100mm macro lens, extension tubes and assorted accessories. But lately when I'm just traveling for fun, I've been carrying my smaller and more portable Panasonic GH2. It's not really set up for macro work, but I thought I would just see what could be done by using a ring adapter to fit a Canon 250D close-up lens to the front of the Panasonic 14-140 zoom.

It's definitely not up to the standard of my Canon setup, and getting focused on a fast-moving bee proved challenging. Here's the best I could come up with in a half hour of stalking my wife's flower garden here in the Pacific Northwest. Still, the 250D is small and easy to carry along with the GH2, and it may prove useful when I come across the occasional must-shoot bug during my travels. I thought I would pass it along in case some other small camera user might be interested.




Panasonic GH2, Panasonic 14-140 zoom at 140mm; ambient daylight; f/16, 1/250, ISO 1600. Manual focus, at the closest focus point. Processed in Lightroom 4 including capture sharpening and some fairly aggressive noise reduction. About 20% of original frame cropped from each of the top, bottom, and right side.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Arlen,

I'd be pleased with that - I must point Rebecca at this thread tomorrow (she has a GH2, with 14-140 and 100-300 lenses).

Even I'd be tempted, except all my (Nikon) zoom lenses are 'fatter' than the 58mm thread on these filters.

Thanks,

[rpcrowe]

Dave, Canon 500D close up lenses are available in a variety of sizes. Of course, as the lenses grow in size, so does the price. At one point it becomes not cost effective since you can buy a true macro lens less expensively than say a 77mm Canon 500D.

[Arlen]

Dave, the Panasonic 14-140 is also slightly "fatter" than my 250D. I had to use a 62mm-to-58mm step-down ring. But it only vignettes slightly in the corners when zoomed very wide, to less than 18mm. I never shoot macro that way, so it doesn't matter for me. Since I already had the 250D, this was a cheap--and very portable--option.