Equipment for Macro and Close-up Photography 74
Equipment for Macro and Close-up Photography Ball Head Another item that you don’t want to cheap-out on is a good ball head for the tripod on which your camera sits. I should know; I have a whole shelf <strong>of</strong> lousy ball heads that I bought trying to avoid buying one good one. I have ones with a pistol-grip handle, ones with two handles, etc., a total waste <strong>of</strong> time and money. Ball heads are expensive and the good ones are brands like Really Right Stuff (RSS), Kirk, Arca-Swiss, and Markins. I use the Markins Q-Ball Q3 (shown on right), which sells on Ebay for about $260 and I feel that are every bit as good as the much more expensive kinds. L-Bracket I hate to keep laying these essentials on you, because it can be very discouraging to the pocket-book, but it is best to know the truth sooner, than later: You need an L-bracket on your camera! An L-Bracket mounts on your camera body and allows you to quickly change from the standard horizontal position to vertical position. <strong>The</strong> ones shown here are on the lower-left-hand side (and base) <strong>of</strong> each camera. For me, the L-bracket is essential because I like to shoot vertically most <strong>of</strong> the time but have to switch in a moment to horizontal for a wider shot. I use Kirk Enterprise L-Bracket and plates. <strong>The</strong>y are excellent. Quick-release Clamps It is not enough to have a ball head on your tripod. You also have to be able to get your camera on and <strong>of</strong>f the tripod. You can screw it on and <strong>of</strong>f but that takes a lot <strong>of</strong> time and sooner or later you are gonna’ mess up the threads in the base <strong>of</strong> your camera and have a real problem on your hands. You need to be able to get that camera on and <strong>of</strong>f the tripod in seconds, not minutes <strong>of</strong> fumbling with thumb screws. My quick-release <strong>of</strong> choice is the Swiss-Arca style, as used by Kirk Enterprises, Really-Right Stuff, and <strong>of</strong> course Swiss-Arca-style plates. You need one. <strong>The</strong> quick release shown here are built into the Markins ball head and receive the L-brackets, which are thumb-tightened on. Remote Shutter Release Another (for me) essential accessory is the remote shutter release, which attaches to the camera and allows me to release the camera without having to touch the camera’s shutter-release button and potentially cause vibrations. Remote shutter release cords for Nikon are available on Ebay for very little and are more than a little helpful. <strong>The</strong>y can be seen here dangling from the right side <strong>of</strong> the cameras. Some <strong>of</strong> the newere camera bodies linke the Nikon D7000 have infrared remotes, so there are not cords involved. Camera Bodies <strong>The</strong>re actually are many cameras that will do a good job. Ultimately, after you find you like photography, you want a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera, with a 100% viewfinder (shows the whole image, not just most <strong>of</strong> it) with a large LCD preview window and preferably with mirror lockup (will explain in a moment). Another feature I could NOT do without is the ability to see a histogram <strong>of</strong> the RGB levels on the LCD at the rear <strong>of</strong> the camera body. Let me go over all <strong>of</strong> this in more detail. For myself, I love Nikon cameras, but Canon, Panasonic, Sony, and others also make fine DSLRs. It is just that Nikon cameras are better looking and, well, just better. Suit yourself. Viewfinders DSLR cameras <strong>of</strong>fer viewfinders that are larger and smaller, meaning that some cameras show most (but not all <strong>of</strong> the frame), while better ones do show all <strong>of</strong> it. If you can, get a camera that will show ALL <strong>of</strong> the frame, a viewfinder that also is as clear and bright as possible. I would not consider trying to do focus stacking using a camera with only an LCD preview window, as in: a camera without a real viewfinder. You will be doing all <strong>of</strong> your work looking through the viewfinder, so get a camera with a large clear viewfinder. That is my point. 75