I guess another way, which is your stitching method would be to photograph an object at 5:1 and then combine the images into one composition.
I guess another way, which is your stitching method would be to photograph an object at 5:1 and then combine the images into one composition.
Personally I think a higher resolution digital body would get better results, why not borrow or rent one to try?
that's certainly the simplest solution and probably comparable in price to all the stuff I'd have to get for a 4x5
Rent a 5 D II and see if that helps. I have seen brilliant 4x5 macro work, but the cameras were really more like enlargers - set up as a rigid vertical frame and shooting down onto the subject. There was a time when that was the standard for serious scientific photography. Dare I recommend a trip to an old fashioned research library to look for a technique book for scientific macro photography about 20 years ago?
Ed Richards
http://www.epr-art.com
The 1 is at 180% crop and the 2 is at 150%
For a 40X50 inch print I'd certainly prefer to use an 8X10 camera, even for macro work, but that's quite an investment with a steep learning curve. Far more practical would be the 4x5 Sinar system. The Horseman 28-inch bellows is wonderful, but might be hard to
find. Otherwise use a intermediate standard with two Sinars bellows. Constantly stretching
the std bellows to the max will prematurely wear it out. But don't get scared away from
view camera method. The end result can be wonderful IF you're willing to invest the time
to learn proper technique.
I must not understand what you mean by a 150% crop. I would expect both of those pictures to be sharper. I don't have a good comparable to what you are trying to do but I have a 35mm film image that I cropped to check the resolution possible with the lens. http://www.jkeller.com/Travel/Pacifi...e/monarchs.htm Taken with a 400mm lens and probably a 1.4x teleconverter from 15 feet away or so. A 5Dii should be able to equal it. I've occaisionally used Olympus macro lenses (38mm and 20mm) to take high magnification macro pictures but again with film and achieved similar resolution.
Large format lenses won't out resolve 35mm lenses. If you are limited by your film or sensor resolution then changing formats can improve your results. I wonder if your lens isn't limiting what you are getting.
Jeff
I just zoomed into the 5d 2 picture until it started to break down. then I found the same crop in the 5d 1 image. so the 5d 1 image is 80% larger than its native resolution and the 2 is 50% larger. so your looking at a very small portion of the image.
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