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Sony A6000 advice for Macro shooting


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So I have been doing some pics with my phone for figs but that sucks so I broke out my A6000.  It is definitely not a fun experience trying to Macro shoot with the kit lens on this camera.  Right now I am using Shutter priority mode but I just can't get in close enough.  I am shooting wide open with the kit lens at 1250 iso, 1/30 shutter and I just can't get in closer than 8 inches or so.  If I try to zoom or move the camera closer it just won't focus on the figure. I think there is a solution somewhere as shooting in Automode or Macro mode will get me the results I want but I can't control the iso in those modes and it usually shoots at ISO 3200 and I don't want that.  God Sony menus suck!  I really miss my Canon G10 sometimes.  I know the sensor sucked compared to more modern cameras but that was a super friendly camera to use when you wanted to dive into manual control.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Note that I do have a light box but I mostly just take the pics so I can look at them to find any issues I don't notice first hand.  Setting up that think with the limited space I have is a sever pain in the broccoli.  Hence why all my pics are one the stove.....lol. 

 

Also any advice for an affordable Macro lens for an a6000 please.

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Lenses have minimum focus distances (actual distance depends on the lens). There is no software solution that can change this. (Physics, it's not just a good idea, it's the law.)

 

The cheapest way to get closer focusing is normally to use an extension tube to physically move the lens farther from the sensor. The price on these will mostly depend on whether they pass all the information correctly between lens and camera, thus allowing all of your automatic functions to actually work. Typical prices I've seen for these are in the $100 range (plus or minus around 100%).

 

Note that with an extension tube, your Depth of Field will asymptotically approach 0.0 mm, so you might need to resort to focus stacking or similar techniques to get good focus through the entire depth of the figure. Further note that depth of field with a given field of view is mostly affected by the focal length of the lens, so shorter lenses will give you noticeably better DoF. The result is that cameras with very short lenses (which includes cell phones with decent cameras) can be your best choice for miniatures photography, though you would want to use a tripod with the cell phone.

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As a side note in respect to the lenses. Often the cameras on phones have an excellent depth of field,  because they are pretty close to just being a pinhole lens. The smaller the aperture the greater the depth of field, which is pretty much what Doug just said.

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