As woman who loves ants and loves capturing them on video I've lusted after the "Laowa 24mm f/14 2X Macro Probe" camera lens for three years. It costs. $1.5k
Now there is a knock off probe lens "AstrHori 28mm F13 Probe Lens 2X Macro" for about half the price. Really it's still too expensive.
Maybe I could ... rent a lens and try it out?
I don't think it would be useful for my pet ants, but for shooting in the wild? It could be amazing.
I should not spend any money and just learn to use my current lens more effectively. Started by solving the problem of mounting it stably close to my tiny subjects. Tripods are a nightmare when trying to film ants in a box. I feel like I need something like... a crane arm? Like for a TV studio but on a smaller scale?
@futurebird Check out the Manfrotto magic arm and a camera bracket for it. Don't cheap out on magic arms though. Here's an Amazon UK link for a kit with the camera bracket and a tripod base for it included. They're incredibly useful bits of studio kit; I've got a couple of them and I'm always on the lookout for more.
@futurebird
Professional photography and videography places like B&H may rent lenses. Do you live near NY or LA? There are plenty of gear rental places there...
@futurebird in Japan, my wife rents specialty lenses for very reasonable amounts when she needs them, even when the lenses would cost several times that amount.
Alternatively, you can probably buy a spacer or extension tube that will effectively turn any lens into a macro. Quality of results you get will depend on quality of the optics, of course. Those extensions used to be simple mechanical things, but are now pretty complex themselves as lenses are more complex.
@futurebird that said, ants are wow-that's-tiny. Depth of field and field of view will be major problems. Most things marketed as "macro" lenses will still have a field of view of a few inches (10mm or more), with target audiences of flower photographers and the like.
Filming ants, everything is a major problem. Fast moving subjects that do not cooperate. Super tiny, hate light, behind glass ... Only after getting deep in did I realize that for my first amateur photography experience I'd picked pretty much the hardest possible thing to do.
But I'm still learning more each year and appreciate the advice.
But thinking about it more carefully, I don't think it's just a coincidence that I picked one of the hardest things to do. Because in filming ants I'm trying to get into their world, see the world the way that they see it, gain a vantage point on these hidden universes all around us.
And if it were easy, well, they wouldn't be hidden or as enticing.
There are so many things we don't know about even common insects. And we can learn just by observing them carefully.
@futurebird@rdviii any macro shot is going need buckets more light; the inverse square law is always going to mess you up there because to focus that close you end up with lots of lens extension. Are you after video, or can you get away with flash? Something like the Godox Wistros will give you tonnes of light for your exposure, but focussing is going to be hard in low light.
@futurebird does infrared piss off/cook ants? The only such stuff I've done was videography of eyes in darkness (to eliminate fixation, long story), so no idea if the sensors are even good enough, but that's where my brain goes on filming in darkness...
@futurebird depth of field is only dependent on magnification (and f-stop) . Any macro lens will have the same DoF at the same magnification and aperture as any other. Regardless of whether you’re using tubes, diopters, a cheap macro or a diamond encrusted one, you are stuck with the same DoF. You do get different working distances with different focal lengths. The benefit of a “good” macro lens is flatness of field, and sharpness.