Macro shots with my wife’s lens and D3500?!

gvafrm · Jan 6, 2022

Hi Reefers,

I had a look at the picture posted on this forum and found it absolutely amazing, especially the macro. Even though I have no experience at all, I tried to take a few shots with my wife’s camera and.... as you may imagine it was quite different compared with what I saw here!

I read through the different (very well done) guides, it was already a better but I wondered how you think I shall try to get the macro shot with existing material. We have :
- Nikon D3500
- AF-S Nikkor 70-300 1:4.5-5.6
- AF-S Nikkor 50 1:1.8
- AF-P Nikkor 18-55 1:3.5-5.6

I understood that there would be two options, buying a macro lens e.g 105mm, which would be very expensive, or buying extension tubes? (To mount on our 50mm?)

I have a reefer 250, if that matters for depth etc..

Which one would you advise for a newbie willing to learn and hoping to get some decent results without filing for bankruptcy??

Thank you very much for sharing your experience

DeniableArc · Jan 6, 2022

gvafrm said:
Hi Reefers,

I had a look at the picture posted on this forum and found it absolutely amazing, especially the macro. Even though I have no experience at all, I tried to take a few shots with my wife’s camera and.... as you may imagine it was quite different compared with what I saw here!

I read through the different (very well done) guides, it was already a better but I wondered how you think I shall try to get the macro shot with existing material. We have :
- Nikon D3500
- AF-S Nikkor 70-300 1:4.5-5.6
- AF-S Nikkor 50 1:1.8
- AF-P Nikkor 18-55 1:3.5-5.6

I understood that there would be two options, buying a macro lens e.g 105mm, which would be very expensive, or buying extension tubes? (To mount on our 50mm?)

I have a reefer 250, if that matters for depth etc..

Which one would you advise for a newbie willing to learn and hoping to get some decent results without filing for bankruptcy??

Thank you very much for sharing your experience

I use a Olympus tg5 under water with a diy orange filter

maroun.c · Jan 7, 2022

From the lenses you have the 50mm 1.8 would be the best in terms of quality and focusing distance. A bit annoying not to have a zoom but better quality.
Extension tubes will only allow u to focus on corals in the front part of the tank and anything beyond few inches you won't be able to focus on.
Make sure u use a tripod and shoot perpendicular to the glass and do share some shots so we can advise.
A macro lense would definitely help but it has its own learning curve. Nikon 60mm might be enough if u don't have corals in the back or if u don't do other macro shots of insects or other where a longer lense is better. Nikon 105 macro is a great lense abd tamron 90mm macro is a fraction of the price with good reviews.

gvafrm · Jan 7, 2022

Thank you very much for the advice. So I tried to apply in practice the different guides and explanation.
It was with the 50mm 1.8, with 12K lights (AI Hydra 26)
Much better than my first attempts of yesterday, do you see how I could further improve??
I guess that real close picture won't be possible without additional lens right?

It looks already better than with my iPhone 11, however I don't get the same "fluorescence" than with blue lights and orange filter.

PS: Had to resize to upload here, they look a bit better when zooming in on my computer

maroun.c · Jan 7, 2022

The 3500 with 50 mm 1.8 should be capable of much better pictures. I would:
-stop the flow to reduce motion blurr that is visible in the xenia and euphilia shot. Also make sure to be on a sturdy tripod and not to move the camera while pressing the shutter.
-shoot perpendicular to the glass and make sure ur not oblique at all as there is some distortion in ur shots
For a closer shot I guess u need to bring the camera closer if still possible and then digitally crop which starts to eat up from the resolution and pictures size