My camera was in the service centre to check on a little glitch, so I had the opportunity to experiment with a light-weight setup using my older camera – Nikon D80 with 50mm and an extension tube set. Actually, I hate to hear comments like “your camera must be very expensive!”… so this will be a cheaper option that I will use occasionally. 😛

As this was meant to be light-weight, I did away with all external flashes and used just the onboard flash, diffused by a flimsy piece of foam wrapper.


The results were not too bad, though there could be some improvement! Generally a good working distance is required for an evenly lighted subject. When the lens is too close, a lot of light is blocked by the lens itself. Also, with this diffuser, it is almost impossible to see the subject so I had to move my camera away if I wanted to see where the subject ran to!

#1 Before starting out, I did a test shot on my bag. Never knew that it looked so complex inside the puffy exterior!

#2 Found a little beetle to try on! Light was well diffused, but as expected, such views would lead to darker parts at the bottom

#3 Victor was also testing his micro 4/3 setup on this snail and I joined in as well. Problem with extension tubes is… the narrow range of focusing distance. This was at the maximum focusing distance, I couldn’t zoom out any further.

#4 Found a common longhorned beetle to try on!

#5 Traditional face shot

#6 Cute little planthopper, like a pill

#7 Going closer with the full set of extension tubes, but the DOF was extremely thin!

#8 View from the front was very cute as well. 🙂

#9 Still fiddling around with the lighting, so I shot everything I saw

#10 Derbid planthopper

#11 Side view of the little fella

#12 Found the perfect subjects to test my lighting! A pair of ultra-reflective beetles… mating?

#13 Juvenile Huntsman Spider

#14 Mosquito?

#15 A tiny little velvet mite that stood still for a moment, long enough for me to steal a shot here

#16 Ran onto a leaf and posed again

#17 Shot from the other side

#18 Couldn’t help shooting from all angles as these little velvet mites hardly ever stop running!

#19 Close up of a forest ant. The lens was too close to the subject, so the front was not lighted up well.

#20 Found lots of Pseudoscorpions on the wooden railings too

#21 Walked down to the stream and found some sleepy amphibians – probably a Four-lined Tree Frog

#22 Maroon coloured weevil

#23 While we were resting at the park entrance, I saw this little dead-leaf grasshopper

#24 Also found a tiny jumping spider (Salticidae)

#25 It turned around to reveal a super cute, bulging pair of eyes!

The complete album can be viewed here.

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