Tools & techniques

WHEN I took up nature close-up photography in the early 1980s, I started with a manual SLR camera, the Pentax MX, and a Vivitar 2X Macro-focusing Teleconverter (MFTC) and some supplementary, or filter, lenses. The 50mm standard lens used in combination with the MFTC becomes a 100mm tele-macro lens.
     Sometime in the early 1990s, I “migrated” to the Nikon brand, acquiring another manual SLR, the Nikon FM2. I had found the MFTC so useful that I bought another, this time with a Nikon mount of course. Initially, this was used with a 55mm standard lens but later I got a 55mm Micro-Nikkor.
     Currently this is the equipment that I use – a 55mm Micro-Nikkor mounted with the MFTC on the Nikon FM2. This combination is capable of nearly 2:1 reproduction (I haven’t actually measured), and to achieve even larger magnifications I add supplementary lenses of various power.
     The camera is always handheld when I shoot live butterflies and other creatures as it would be futile to try to set up a tripod. I also use one or two flash units, either mounted on the camera hotshoe or on a flash attachment bracket. There had been occasions when I used three flash units with a specially adapted flash bracket.
     For a more detailed description on how I use this combination of equipment, please see my article My Butterfly Shooter. You may also want to check out this article, How To Photograph Butterflies.
     Now I shoot almost exclusively on colour slide film – I use Fujichrome and Ektachrome – and the transparencies are scanned with a Nikon 35mm slide scanner (CoolscanII LS-20E) for my web pages.