So where does that leave me?!
The original idea was to get a more lightweight and portable setup:
- Not quite nailed the diffusion on the pop-up flash but I think it's possible
- The Raynox 150 works ok on my Tamron 16-300 but IQ is not amazing and there's not enough magnification for me (also at 300mm the barrel extends so far it's getting in the way of the flash at shot working distance)
- The MPE is giving the best results so far but on a crop body is very restrictive in terms of the short working distance and the limitations of what will fit in a shot
- My full frame body (6D) would work better with the MPE in terms of fitting more in but has no pop-up flash!!
So.... Options are :
A) Give up and crack on with the MPE + 6D + MT24 and possibly fine tune the diffusion
B) Find some other lens to use on my 100D (60mm, 100mm etc ?) with the Raynox 150 + sort the diffusion on my pop-up flash
C) Try the Raynox 250 on my 16-300 ?
D) Any suggestions? Help ?!
C) Try the Raynox 250 on my 16-300 ? Won't the extension of the barrel be just as much of a problem in terms of blocking light? And if the IQ isn't as good as you want with the Raynox 150 I don't think it will be any better with the 250.
B) Find some other lens to use on my 100D (60mm, 100mm etc ?) with the Raynox 150 + sort the diffusion on my pop-up flash. It looks to me like a 90, 100 or 105 macro, giving up to 1:1, may be more suitable for what you want to do. And you could add a Raynox to take you further. For example, the Raynox 150 on my Sigma 105 macro takes it to almost 2:1 (scene width around 13mm). The Raynox 250 doesn't take it much further, just a little beyond 2:1 (scene width around 10.5mm).
However, it may not be light. For example the Canon 100L weighs 625g versus the MPE-65 710g. My Sigma 105 Macro is 725g. Other lenses in this category may be a bit lighter, especially if they don't have IS, but you'd have to research that.
One lighter option, on your crop body, would be the Canon EF-S 60mm macro, 335g. (f/2.8 to f/32). It would have shorter working distances of course, but you are used to that from the MPE so perhaps that wouldn't be too bad. You could put a Raynox on the front of that too (it has a 52mm filter thread).
There is still a flash issue though, with any of these 1:1 lenses. Around 1:1 the subject will be quite close to the camera, and the lens won't extend, so flash should work ok. However, if you want to do lower magnification stuff the distance to the subject will obviously become greater and getting enough light on to the subject may become problematic. But if you are mostly around 2:1 to 1:2 then I imagine that would be ok.
One thing you could consider, whatever approach you try, is to use the
Venus KX800 twin flash, (450g, don't know if this includes batteries, versus 585g for the MT24EX excluding batteries) so you could position the flash units wherever you want them.
- My full frame body (6D) would work better with the MPE in terms of fitting more in but has no pop-up flash!! Use the MT24EX? Probably the heaviest option, but if you are considering using your crop body with the MT24EX then how much heavier would the 6D + MT24EX be?
Or you could think about getting radical. I have light rigs (with fast and accurate AF at all but the most extreme magnifications), MFT and bridge with achromats, but I imagine you wouldn't want to go there, so I won't pursue that.