Love the eyes on the Long-Horned Bees. Have yet to get a decent capture of one. Very good set Douglass...

Yes download is a must. What fantastic metallic sheen these guys have and the colors are brilliant. Very nicely done Bill...

Nice set Tom...

Kurt - Nice, I too like the wide angle perspective. I tried to put my Rokinon 14mm on a 12mm tube but it was a no go as focal distance was inside the lens ;-) What is the working distance at 1:1?

All nicely done Kervin. Keep an eye on the eggs. As they mature you may be able to see the insect developing. I have some shots from a couple of weeks ago where you can clearly see a developing true bug, I suspect shields.

Very well done Bill.. Damsels are a favorite of mine to shoot. Just so darned hard to get a good capture.

Ron -
I was out shooting this past weekend and thought about your predicament while I was doing a field stack on some insect eggs Saturday. I was doing the stacks at ~3:1 and figured what the hay I'll try a 5:1 and see what happens. Eggs are a 54 image field stack 5:1, f/4, 1/4 SS ISO100 and MT24EX flash with concave diffuser @ 1/16 power. Tripod support with Velmex linear stage for camera movement. Slight breeze so there were a few frames with jitter. Shot RAW, converted to TIFF and exported to Zerene via LR. Zerene cleanup involved minor Halos, background stacking contrast cleaned up in photoshop. Typical final processing in light room, exposure, clarity, saturation and vibrancy, and output sharpening.

Today I was shooting some very small hoppers and thought what the hay. Cranked the MP-E out to 5:1 and shot a hopper. Image specs 5:1, f/9, 1/50 SS, ISO200 and MT-24EX flash with concave diffuser at 1/4 power. Used my left knee to support camera. Hopper was in an odd position on the leaf so I turned and secured it with my left hand. Minimal post processing in LR.

Both images are uncropped. While they certainly aren't the quality of a 1:1 or 2:1 shot at f/13, I don't think the results are bad considering neither was shot on a tabletop rig. I still think we are overlooking an issue with your setup. Just can't figure it out yet...

5:1 Uncropped - 54 Image Stack at f/4

(Download)

5:1 Uncropped - Single Shot at f/9

(Download)

Very nice Bob.. Solid macro technique in all the photos and nice color palettes..

Looking good Scott...

Very colorful... Perhaps too much saturation?

I agree, I'd forgo the ringflash. If I was going to invest in a new Nikon Flash something like the SB910 or SB900 would be on my wish list or the Nissan 866 that Douglass uses.

Wow, first shot is fantastic Tom. Very clean image that is just full of macro eye candy...

Well done Fuzzy, perhaps a wee bit dark. Are you using a diffuser?

Did you say you are using an umbrella diffuser Brenda? These are very nice captures - crisp and clean. I find myself favoring the spider...

An under rated macro subject. These guys are full of details and when photographed in the right environment produce excellent portraits. Nicely done Bob...