hangman45 Loc: Hueytown Alabama

Only time I use tripod is when trying to do stacks. On a crop sensor camera diffraction on most decent macro lens does not really start affecting image quality till about F/11 or so full frame is a little less I shoot most of my shots when using Sigma on full frame at F/11 when I had my Laowa it was best at F/9 my Lester A Dine I usually use at F/14 so each lens is different got to find happy place where least diffraction with acceptable DOF. Hand held takes a lot of practice and in the beginning if you are getting 10% keepers you are doing ok after almost 15yrs of practice I have my technique down to where I am usually getting about 60-70% keepers.

JimmyTB

Thank you hangman. I've seen your macro and you're definately qualified to give advice, as are the others who've advised me on this post. I will be trying different f/stops to find the sweet spot