Sorry, last leds went to your friend from England - such assemples are not available anymore.
Oh no! I shall have to hope nothing ever goes wrong with mine then! I LOVE my triple you made for me. I’ve been putting it to good use for all sorts of things, including photography - it does burn through a 18350 in turbo, though!!
@Stephenk Thanks first of all. I have searched the jaxman e2 and e2l. E2 has much is 219b but only 350 lumins. E2l has
Has quiet a lot more lumin but so far as I can tell only xpg2 led. Not sure if it has high cri.
@lexel i did know about the astrolux. But I prefer s42. Which one do u recommend? Nichia 219b in s41 or nichia 219c in s42?
@drhook59 the new pill would have definitely been a great option. Sadly no more left :(.
And how about the queen t046r?
Go with the high CRI (90+ 219C) version of the Emisar D4 instead, it’s a better light.
(I have several of all 3 (S41, S42 and D4).)
E2L with Nichia 219:
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/JAXMAN-E2L-3LED-TIR-LENS-flashlight-18650-flashlight-torch-CREE-XPG2-camping-cycling-outdoors/1812094_32812945810.html
If one is looking for something rather small, it looks like Manker E02 also has a Nicha 219C option…
Mr Hook,
Those are awesome macros!! Interesting setup too.
I’m really curious at how stealthy you were. I can’t get any closer than ~10cm for butterflies and dragonflies. When they moved their wings downwards it’s a sure thing they’re about to flee.
What’s your closest distance with that lens? 20cm working distance with huge magnification seems the optimum combo to shoot live insects.
- Clemence
Hi Clemence, stealth is a comparative issue, I guess. I move slowly, keep my shadow off the insect, and go as slow as I can. I’ll have the lights on as I approach the beastie (and I sometimes think the lights help as they don’t see me behind them), and as the camera does not have an EVF, I’m always shooting at arms length or so from the camera. I put the tip of my ‘shooting stick’ in place before I am anywhere near the insect (if I’m using the stick), hold the camera at approximately the right height on it and then the whole affair approaches the insect as one unit. Slowly. Some insects positively enjoy the lights, and will often lift off their pose and come and settle on the camera - it makes life interesting to say the least.
I lose my share of opportunities as much as anyone else I guess. But I have a fisherman’s mentality and just shrug and move on to the next insect. I don’t get riled up by missing out on something, I know I’ll have another chance another day, in a better context. You’d lose your hair otherwise, lol
The S120 + Marumi has a focal length of about 10” or so, and as one adds the Raynox’s the distance reduces to the extent that with all three lens stacked in line I will be about 10 cms or so away, I guess - I have not measured it. In fact I have never got my tape measure out to measure any of my focal lengths - they are what they, I guess 
As you say, it’s an interesting set-up and I have probably made a set of rules that are not applicable to any other camera. I certainly have never come across anyone putting achromats, on a tube, on an S120 
Hope this helps….
Practice, steady arms, and back. There are plenty of bugs around here. I will try myself later.
I don’t know about the Raynox price, but it must be much cheaper than buying a dedicated macro lens like the M.Zuiko Pro 60mm 2.8
And probably the Raynox macro converter lens could be an excellent aspheric source for throwers :laughing:
Back to the topic, do the golden specked diffusers add special things to the pics?
- Clemence
Yes, some of the world’s prettiest macro insect photos come from where you are. Good luck!
It is cheaper for sure, but for the best results a dedicated lens is apparently the best option. It depends what you are doing with your photos, I guess. The Zuiko lens is fabulous, apparently, but then you obviously have to have a m4/3 camera to put it on.
That I do not know about, and I certainly never thought about it either. It’s an interesting idea and something to have a play with tonight!
For me, yes. They help put a little ‘glow’ on the non CRI-light, and with them in place they do diffuse their respective beams into a softer cloud of light compared to without. I have lots of fishing squids so they’re a perfect choice of material for me. I have diffusers for almost all of my lights from the different size squids I own (some of them up to 16” in length, so even my bigger lights have diffusers now). I like them, they’re soft and easy to carry in a pocket, and they’re relatively cheap too.
Hope this helps
Indeed, I’ve been using my trusty MFT for years. It’s an OMD EM5. The default 12-50mm lens is better suited for all rounder with some macro ability.
Thanks for the informations. Have fun trying the Raynox thrower. It should create a very nice beam pattern.
- Clemence
Ha, no worries, Clemence. Good luck with the insect hunting then, too!