Ron Seher wrote:
I have never used a stabilizer or gimbal. I won't be doing video. I have a tripod but don't always have time to set up. I'm pretty good at hand holding the camera but was wondering if a stabilizer would help with "fighting my body" in trying to stay still. Image stabilization on the camera is great but when you are trying pinpoint focus a tiny area even a fast shutter speed is not enough. If an camera stabilizer is a good idea to help be remain steady, then I would like some suggestions on what to look for that's small, portable and reasonable for an amateur photographer. Plus, I'm 71 and the muscles don't work the way the use to. Thanks, I appreciate any input.
I have never used a stabilizer or gimbal. I won't ... (
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Your best bet will always be to simply make the time to set up the tripod and use various shake reduction techniques such as remote shutter release, mirror lockup (or Live View), etc.
High optical magnification also magnifies any and all movement of lens and camera. Image stabilization of any sort can only do so much.
Shooting outdoors in reasonably good light, such as appears to be the case with your shots, you also might try a monopod for faster shooting situations.
Macro flash is another way to "freeze movement". You might experiment with it. This doesn't necessarily mean run out and buy an expensive macro flash. Personally I sometimes shoot macro and close-ups simply using a standard flash that's hand held, off to one side, attached to the camera via an off-camera shoe cord and diffused with a few layers of white gauze bandage over the flash head, held in place by a rubber band.
I use macro flash at times too. Those are fairly bulky and expensive, but can be the best choice for certain things. Personally I don't care for the "look" of ring lights for anything other than ultra high magnification. In my opinion, at lower magnifications a macro ring light can look too flat and "clinical". So I almost never use my ring light except with an ultra high magnification lens, at greater than 1:1 magnification. More often and for more typical, more modest magnification close-ups I use a macro twin light.... two separate, small flash heads that can be set to different output and positioned individually.
Camera stabilizing devices.... also called "gimbals"... are primarily intended for video work. Not still photography. The best and most effective ones tend to be rather bulky... though there are small ones being produced for use with tiny cameras and camera phones. I think you'd be very disappointed trying to use those for macro magnification, still photography. That really isn't their purpose.
The EXIF has been stripped off the example images you posted, so I can't tell tell what lens(es) you are using for close up/macro work. Maybe you already know, some macro lenses have built in image stabilization... To fit your camera those include: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM, Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 IS STM, Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di VC USD and Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM. Using one of those might help. However, you also shouldn't have too high expectations for this method of stabilization either. It can only do so much with higher magnification shots, which are very susceptible to camera shake. Personally I never bothered to "upgrade" to an image stabilized macro lens (though I use a number of other types of lenses with it). None of the lenses I use for close-up and macro work have it and my cameras don't have in-body image stabilization, either. I just use a tripod or monopod or at least find something to rest the camera upon whenever I can... keep shutter speeds reasonably fast and use various shake reduction techniques... use a flash when I can.
Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite (100mm macro lens & DLSR)...
Above Twin Lite was used to make this image of an amarylis blossom at non-macro distance, with 100mm lens (tripod was used too)...
Canon MR-14EX Macro Ring Lite (65mm 1X-5X macro lens & DSLR)...
The above Ring Lite was used to make this photo of a tiny, freshly hatched garden snail at approx. 3X life size magnification (tripod was used too)....
Canon 580EX II standard flash set up for macro (100mm macro lens)...
The above was used to make this praying mantis photo, with 100mm macro lens (camera & lens were resting on an upside down 5 gallon paint bucket, flash was hand held)...
Some HAND HELD shots...
For the shot below of a bee on a poppy flower, I took about 75 shots with a manual focus, unstabilized 90mm macro lens hand held, to get a few well focused sharp ones with nice composition. Bright sun allowed me to keep shutter speeds reasonably fast.
This shot of a golden wood bee was done with an unstabilized, 180mm macro lens. However, I rested the camera and lens on the ground to prevent camera shake blur.
The small turtle below wasn't a particularly high magnification shot, but was shot indoors (strong window light). I pushed up the ISO (400) and used a large aperture (f/2.8) with my 100mm macro lens to hand hold a steady shot at 1/200 shutter speed.
The spider below was a quick grab shot (I was shooting a sporting event) with a fairly close focusing 300mm lens. If so happens, that is an image stabilized lens... though it's an older one where the IS is somewhat lower in effectiveness than some newer lenses. Using higher ISO (800) and fast shutter speed (1/1600) made reasonably easy to get a sharp shot. I did crop this image a little in post-processing.
These winter berries were photographed using an unstabilized, non-macro 24-70mm lens I was testing for it's closest focusing ability. It was shot in shade and a polarizing filter was used. With no flash and using the zoom at 63mm, I had to push my full frame 5D Mark II to ISO 3200 to get a 1/30 shutter speed. To get a sharp shot at that speed took several tries. I trashed the bad shots and only share the "keepers"!
TRIPOD or MONOPOD SHOTS
These narcissus were in the shade, but I was still able to hand hold a shot with 100mm macro lens by using a fast enough shutter speed and a monopod.
The garden spider below was shot using an image stabilized 70-200mm non-macro lens, with an extension tube to make it focus closer. A flash was used for fill. I was shooting wildlife near a stream when I spotted this spider in its web. Didn't have a macro lens with me, but I always have extension tubes because they are so useful. Again, this was done using a tripod, even though the lens has IS and flash was used.
This orange canna was shot with a 500mm lens and film camera, all mounted on a tripod...
The following orchid was a carefully set up indoor shot, using a 100mm macro lens and tripod...
Fence lizards are very shy and quick to run to cover, so I used a 300mm lens with a 1.4X teleconverter allowed me to keep some distance. I also added an extension tube to allow the lens to focus closer than usual for a close-up of this small subject. No flash was used and everything was on a tripod, although the lens is image stabilized, allowing for a shutter speed of 1/100.
In the end, the best thing you can do is use your tripod more. A monopod, a flash and other things might help. Some shots will be hand-holdable... but the higher the magnification, the less that's possible. When in doubt, take more shots! Sometimes when I have to hand hold a shot and am really pushing my luck, I'll take a short burst of shots. Most might have shake blur problems... but maybe one or two will be sharp!
Hope this helps!