---

With Paul?s license I am able to give you a reply directly by this thread:

Hello to all,

Before I go any further and above all I would like to say that I am not an expert photographer. Evidently, day to day each one of us learn more and more and in this sense I am the first one to do so.
In spite of this I will go ahead and let you know what little I have learnt and what little I have:

Equipment:

Cameras:- Nikon D70S & Nikon D200 with battery grip MB200.
Lenses:- Sigma APO 180 mm 3,5 ? Mikro Nikkor 60 mm 2,8 ? Sigma wide angle 28 mm 2,8 which I some times use inverted with a Nikon adapter ring, and other lenses only used for landscapes and other purposes.-
Flashes:- Sigma 140 DG ? & Nikon R1C1 macro flash kit.-
Accessories:- 3 Kenko auto-extension tubes 12, 20 & 36 mm ? One Manfrotto auto-monopod 685B Neotec, (hight ranges from 74 cm to 1,70 cm) Another Manfrotto monopod ?cut down? (I shortened the length of each section to obtain a lesser height range: minimum 15 cm to a maximum of 30 cm.).

Practice/Hints:

As a general rule I solely use the D70S for two reasons: a) its lighter in weight (hand held) and it works perfectly with the Sigma ring flash 140DG, b) It is not compatible with the Nikon macro flash R1C1 and being my first digital camera... I stick to it, don?t ask me why.-

The D200 is great, but it is heavier (camera+hand grip+lens+tubes+flash) is by far a much of a burden to carry around during the whole day, even though from time to time I get on to it.
On the other hand it seems to me that the D70S (at least mine) tends to underexpose a little bit (which I prefer) meanwhile the D200 overexposes a little bit. As Xespok says I also get along better in compensating with PS the underexposures rather than the overexposures.-

I use plastic diffusers (a must) with both flashes, the Nikon flash brings its own ones, but for the Sigma I had to make them out of semi-transparent plastic which I placed with auto-adhesive velcro strip over the lamps. This " system " allows me to remove them easily when I need to do so.
I set up the flash in manual and select a different exposure for each lamp in order to avoid flat pictures and/or those dark shadows that these flash guns usually create.
I must say that I have obtained better pictures using the manual mode rather than the TTL or eTTL mode. In good lighting conditions TTL or eTTL work quite well, but when it gets tohigh contrasts/poor illumination the results are not that satisfactory. My point of view is that flat scenes, undesirable shadows or black backgrounds must be avoided. But this is only my point of view.

I usually get up early and try to take the photos when the insects are still somewhat sleepy, therefore when I am able, I prefer to use the 60mm lens with the Kenko tubes and the Sigma flash. The inconvenience is that I must get very close to the subject, some times only 8 or 9 cm away. For smaller subjects, from time to time I use the 28 mm lens inverted, this latter is much more problematic as you need to get very much closer: 4 to 3 cm, sometimes even less. Another inconvenience is that it is very difficult to focus in dim light, furthermore I must pre-select the f/stop manually and I also loose all the automatic readings of the camera, therefore its a bit of a challenge really, but some times you obtain brilliant results, specially with the smaller flies. But for the time being with this lens the real challenge is
the frightful reaction of the fly when she/he is reflected on the lens rather than the proximity of the equipment itself.

Fortunately, my favourite lens is the Sigma 180 mm which I regularly use with the 3 Kenko tubes, together with the Sigma ring Flash, it gives me an excellent working distance (between 45 & 25 cm depending on if extension tubes are fitted or not) the results are sharp, vivid and very well contrasted. It may look somewhat bulky but with the assistance of a small monopod a good stability is guaranteed.
Nevertheless in the past I did take pictures with this same equipment hand held, obviously lying on the ground and using my elbows or grabbing to whatever I could find near to stabilize my pulse, I'm sure you know about that as much as me. Anyway to my perception the use of a monopod is essential, this factor avoids blurred photos on account of trepidation. Monopods are very handy and much more suitable than tripods as these for field work are to my point of view cumbersome and practically useless.

When it comes to shooting, RAW files represent the best alternative which most of you may know by now.
Besides what I have already said, the settings I usually count with are the following


The settings I basically use are the following:-

- Mikor Nikkor 600 + tubes + Flash Sigma 140 Dg :- 1/320 seg., at f/ 18 or 22, exceptionally f/22 owing to diffraction.-
- Sigma 180 + tubes + Flash Sigma 140Dg :- between 1/320 & 1/425 seg., at f/14 or 16 not more than 18 also owing to diffraction.-

Last but not least, I some times use the integrated flash of the camera in iTTL for those casual encounters when I only have fitted the 180 mm and the subject is of sufficient size and safe working distance to do so.

Hope above gives you a rough idea of how I do things and that you may find it useful.-

Rafael