Tried to shoot a water droplet this morning (failed miserably, advice needed)

[HarveyDarkey]

It was about 5:30 AM when I saw this beautiful, iridescent water droplet hanging from the edge of a leaf. The sun was barely up. I had my macro extension tube on, and set on manual focus. I could see in the viewfinder what I saw with my naked eye but when I took the shots.....

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

1. Maybe the light was somehow reflected from the water

drop into the lens? :shrug: I don't really know, I'm guessing..........

[Stevenmarc]

2. Check your diopter adjustment dial

The little dial on the eyepiece needs to be set correctly if you are going to be focusing manually. When you have your camera on auto focus you don't really notice if it's slightly out but it's important if you set it on manual.

[HarveyDarkey]

3. There is no little dial on the eyepiece

i have no idea what you're referring to.

[Stevenmarc]

4. What camera do you have?

there has to be some sort of eyepiece adjustment and when it's out your focus will be out. You can see that the front of the leaf was in focus while the drop was out and in your viewfinder it probably looked like the drop was in focus.

[qnr]

8. Here's where the diopter would be on an E-520 - it's generally the same on

on all of them, though the location might switch to the left-hand-side on some, like the E-300

[Stevenmarc]

12. Try page 190 of your manual

It will show you the location of the Diopter Adjustment Dial

if you don't have your manual handy then:

http://www.olympusamerica.com/files/oima_cckb/EVOLT_E-500_Advanced_Manual_EN.pdf

[Tindalos]

5. Are these actual size or cropped?

I think the focal plane is too far back, on the leaf instead of on the droplet. When photographing details like that, I usually zoom in as close as possible and focus on the part I want in focus. Then lock and zoom out to where I want to take the picture. That way the camera is focused exactly on the part I want. If you focus further out, sometimes it isn't quite right even though it appears to be to the naked eye. In the examples above, I'd make sure the edge of the droplet was in focus. Does that make sense?

[HarveyDarkey]

6. They're not cropped, they're actual size

I thought I was focused on the droplet (which is actually at the back of the leaf).
Being a low light situation I probably had the aperture too big for proper DOF.
Thanks for the input.

[qnr]

7. Don't forget the option to use live view - very useful for macros, especially using

the 7x & 10x zoom when you're focusing manually. If you've never used it, go to Live view, and press the info button until you get a little green box. The box can be moved to anywhere on the screen with the arrow keypad ... press the OK button to actually magnify (it's a toggle, press it again to turn the magnification off).

Edit: for random viewers, this comment is Oly 4/3 dslr specific.

[HarveyDarkey]

9. My E-500 doesn't have Live View unfortunately

That's another reason I'm saving for an E-30 or E-3 (still haven't decided.

[qnr]

10. IQ is actually better on the E-30 - nice thing about the E-3 is it's water and dust proof. n/t

[ManiacJoe]

11. Looks like the DOF was working against you.

f/4 at those close distances is very thin. If the camera moves (handheld) or the wind moves the leaf, you will get an out of focus subject.