Thank you so much for the lens suggestion!
After a little more study, I agree with you. I ordered a 120mm with a 40-120 focus range. Some of the reviews buyer’s shots were very impressive. Now I have to figure out a rig to get around the clamp because I hate shooting smartphone without a case on it to grip. And the kneepad sounds like a good idea too.
Thanks for sharing your experience chauncey.
I’m waiting for an affordable, decent, wearable (over the glasses) wireless display that can directly display the smartphone screen.
I saw a kind of rough kind of solution to this on Amazon for about $170, and one of the reviewers said that he bought it for potentially using with his drone photography (which is what the manufacturers seems to be promoting) but it didn’t work out for him. BUT, he did say:
The BEST use I’ve found so far with the Vufine surprised me though… For taking photos!! Holy sh*t if you find yourself trying to take photos in unusual positions and don’t want to use the back LCD screen, this is literally like a small electronic viewfinder constantly on your eye. Honestly it’s so good with my A7Riii, that I can go out shooting and not even have to rely on the EVF or back LCD screen.
And in order to work with your smartphone, it has to be able to connect directly with a cable and it on ly works with a 720 output signal.
This model has been around for 8 years. So I think something a little bit better than this… maybe it’s coming.
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You are very welcome!
FWIW - I went with Moment lenses as the trial and error aspect wasn’t too attractive to me. Sandmarc was the other one I was looking at, but decided against it and hopped on Moment’s site and didn’t look back. With their ‘sales’ and discounts, as well as having an older phone that the stock was most likely slow moving inventory, I picked up the lenses and case(s) for what I considered a reasonable price.
A quick note on cases though. In my experience, the Moment cases are good. Not great, but good. Probably a high 7 or a low 8 on a one to ten range. The fit around the sides isn’t the best in the batch that I got (I bought 4 with the ‘sale’) and that didn’t sit too well for me. My phone is a phone a lot more than it’s a camera… So I went with the Speck presidio case(s). The Moment drop in mount fits and the case looks and feels better in my opinion.
Usage is simple as you just pop the lens in the slot and turn it.
If you want more than that look to Beastcage/Beastgrip and/or some of the others in that channel of business. That rabbit hole goes deep now that videography is so popular, but there are a few users that have macro specific setups. Their cages allow cold shoes, tripods, lighting, and dead cats or whatever you want to rig up.
On my side I tend to try to simplify, and although the filters seem attractive, I’m not there yet. Basically just the phone, the lenses and a tether that connects to the case for a wrist or neck lanyard to free up a hand or give a bit of security from dropping.
Also, a lot can be said about software. Most of my stuff is just the native camera app (still iPhone), but I do use ProCam 8 app from time to time, and I just installed the Moment app to give it a whirl. There are a lot to choose from for the different OS platforms. I have yet to come across one that is “the one” and there is a small learning curve to each. The iNat app does a good job with what it is too if you have an inkling for that.
I have zero post-production in my workflow, but you can also look to focus stacking… Another rabbit-hole.
Not to take the thread too far out from the topic(s) discussed.
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Thanks for the gear rundown. I’m still in the cheap seats – sorta. My phone is a second-hand Samsung Note 8, but it still has a great camera. Like you, I tend to use it more as a phone than a camera – I love keeping it light and accommodating to spontaneous outdoor opportunities!
I’m going to try modifying my existing case with some dremmel tooling and rigging something using Sugru and scraps. I’d ideally like a spring metal band that just wraps to the edges. Hmm. What about modding an existing smartphone tripod clamp? We’ll see.
Focus stacking? Yep, spectacular results. But I don’t how you would go for that in the field, and frankly, it’s a helluva lot of planning (unless you like shooting dead things).
Yeah, I’ve peeked into enough rabbit-holes researching macro as it is. I don’t think I want to trip in any more.
Cheers.
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Oh boy! Can’t go wrong with Sugru.
There are handles that are built out that way that would work fine. Some offer them as tripod/mount combo packages. I think Joby and Manfrotto are the two that come to mind that may give you some inspiration.
Like I mentioned earlier, a bunch of it is getting familiar with the focal range and lighting. Some shots just aren’t gonna happen no matter how your body gets twisted up. That’s also why I lean toward stationary things for practice (and I can improve by a lot with my work!) where I can work out some trial and error.
Instead of dead things, maybe look to mosses, lichen or fungi? Slime molds can be pretty awesome too… There are many on iNat, but alison_pollack has some really good work on here. Worth a look if you haven’t come across her yet.
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Yeah, and to think I have over sixty years of that experience already!
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I am disabled and cannot squat, kneel or stoop. I have a few different options so far to deal with this. IF it is safe and won’t be harmful to the eco footprint and the area and not wet,no fireants etc, I put a kneeling pad or cloth on ground to sit on. I have three different height stools, two are rubbermaid and sturdy and the third is a folding garden stool but it pinches to open and close it and it is a little too tall to sit on very long. One can still get joint pain from sitting too long and even calluses. There are advantages to sitting as one is at the height of the pollinators etc and one sees things at a different angle than taking photos from above. Hope this helps.
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I often add a plastic jar – similar to this one – to my bag when I go out hiking and have found that it has a variety of uses:
- Providing a white background (underside of the lid) for backdrops while ‘in the field’ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/113299547
- Catching flying insects to photograph https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73851868
- Scooping up fast-moving arthropods so I’m not rapidly cycling through kneeling and standing as I attempt to chase them. I can instead set the jar in front of their path and let them run inside before picking the jar up to take photos in a more comfortable position https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/114503750
- The concave bottom of the jar is the perfect shape to use as a knee rest while kneeling to take pictures
- I can use it to sit on, though I’m not sure how strong it is to use over extended periods of time
The other night I used a small plastic bag as a makeshift mat to kneel and sit on while photographing a beetle. I usually tie them into a knot when not in use so they don’t take up much space and was surprised at how effectively it worked.
A technique I brought up in the 'You know you’re into iNat when …" thread is, when kneeling, to rest my knee on the top of my shoe rather than the ground. (e.g., Right knee on left shoe) It keeps my pants from getting dirty – great for impromptu finds when I’m in work clothes – and turning my knee inward also tends to instinctively encourage me to keep my arms tucked closer to my body as well, which can reduce camera shake while I’m taking pictures.
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Same it is way more mobile but you have to get way closer to the subject…
I agree…yoga is great for the old bones, knees etc. And YES they need more invertebrate poses!
I get horrible bites like that in the late spring through summer after I’ve been out looking for galls among the oak trees. I get Insanely itchy and long lasting welts with a blister in the middle that leaves a mark for weeks or months.
It takes me a long time to get my iPhone camera to focus on the tiny life forms among the oak leaves, so the biters get a good shot at me.
I now suspect it is a kind of oak leaf itch mite, so I am avoiding gall seeking until winter.
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Ceratopogonidae (noseeums, biting midges) are 1-3 mm long. Perfect for testing that new super-macro lens, no?
And ironically, Trombiculidae (chiggers), at 400 microns, truly are microscopic.
Common name confusion?
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Yes, exactly. I’ve only known chiggers as chiggers. Usually said with a shudder! And no-see-um gnats, which is incorrect.
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I take a adjustable walking stick with me for added stability when I am out observing. For long shots, I extend it fully to use as a monopod with my long lens. When I am observing small critters I will collapse it to a good height to brace myself when I am leaning in to a plant or down on my knees and also use it to steady the bottom or side of my macro lensed camera, depending - the stick also comes in handy to pull my self back up again. The stick also is used on large trees with close ups of small things where I will place it at about a 3/4 my height on the tree and then lean the top of my chest on the top of the handle while I am closing in on something. The stick also comes in handy to check uneven ground in waist high grass where there is a water ditch. I carabine the stick to the back of my pack when I am not using it.
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I use a cane for balance when walking on uneven ground – and more often now on flat ground. It’s helpful for standing up when I need to, but more often I just bend at the waist for ground-level photographs, with the cane under my shoulder for stability. My camera zooms to 65X (or up to 200X with poorer resolution) so I can usually get what I consider adequate photos this way. If a cane seems to have bad associations, you could use a trekking pole, but it lacks the horizontal top to lean on.
On a visit to tidepools this spring I used knee pads, in case I fell on those rough rocks. They worked great – I didn’t fall once!
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Some good tips. Thanks!
Last night, after a full day of ceiling painting, I came up with the ‘inverted-invertebrate’ pose.
Maybe not a lot of spine work, but a lot of vigorous (and moaning) limb flailing.
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