You’ve got the camera. You’ve got the lens. Now let’s looks at some tripods for macro photography and other key accessories that’ll help improve your close-up shots.
Choosing a tripod for macro photography
Tripods come in all shapes and sizes, of course, but for the macro photographer overall weight and portability are essential considerations. For those trekking into the wilds to shoot exotic flowers and insects: the lighter, the better – stick to a carbon fibre model to lighten your load.
For those shooting close-up product shots in a studio setting, a heavier, sturdier aluminum tripod is less of an issue and perhaps a better choice.
Versatility is another important consideration. Again, if your excursions take you into rugged wooded areas or anywhere with uneven terrain, your tripod has to be flexible and adaptable enough to suit the surroundings without sacrificing stability. When it comes to product shots in studio, the level of built-in versatility has a direct impact on your creative freedom.
Based on these key factors, here are a couple of popular tripod models that get consistently good reviews for their ability to meet the challenges of macro photography.
The Benro Mach3 TMA48CXL Carbon Fibre Tripod 4 makes it easy to get your shot from ground level or directly overhead. The centre column can be set at 90 degrees, and the lightweight 100% carbon fibre legs can each be splay out to a minimum 3.5-inch height to capture low-angle macro shots, with a centre ball head to ensure precise framing. The Mach3 TMA48CXLA comes with a short column for ground level shooting and a set of spiked feet for added stability when shooting outdoors.
Weighing in at just 2.5kg with an impressive 9kg payload capacity, Manfrotto’s MT055XPRO3 aluminum three-section tripod scores highly for both its unparalleled strength and versatility. Thanks to a horizontal column mechanism housed inside its top casting, this tripod can be switched from vertical to horizontal column orientation without disassembling it, and you can even do this with a camera attached. Each of the legs can be set to four different angles – 25, 46, 66 or 88 degrees – and with its quick-power-lock feature, you can easily block and unblock each leg section in a quick twist using just one hand.
Additional accessories
One of the drawbacks to shooting at close range in macro photography, especially at a 1:1 ratio or higher, is keeping the shot in clear focus. Even the slightest miscalculation results in an unusable blurry image. This is where a macro focusing rail comes in super handy. They can be mounted directly to the tripod, giving you precision manual focus control by turning a knob in exactly prescribed increments. They’re also an indispensable tool for those resorting to focus stacking to achieve optimum results in macro photography.
Similarly, simply pushing the shutter button on your camera can result in seemingly imperceptible vibrations, but the results can and do show up in an image when shooting at this scale. Remote shutter release devices and gear solve the problem and are available for every major camera brand.
For anyone on a budget, close-up lens filters offer an affordable alternative to using a full-on macro lens, effectively reducing focal length in a range of varying diopter strengths to achieve desired macro effects. The ones with a dual-thread design can be combined to enhance magnification.
An extension tube is another cost-effective way to achieve macro results on a limited budget just by lengthening the distance between your lens and the camera’s sensor, with no additional glass involved. Still, these are more than just hollow tubes. Certain brand-specific models are designed with electronic connections to keep various lens functions intact and fully operational.