Hands Holding Professional Camera Close Up

The Thumbs Up brings the ease of shooting to a new level. It provides comfort and security in holding the camera.

well, things made for Leica are always expensive, this one is definitely a THUMB UP, really help holding the camera better. the quality is first class, don't want to spend $200+ for a thumb up from leica, can't say if there is anything different, but this one, well made!

Very satisfied with my new Up Close binoculars. They can see very far.

Great to have for holding flowers close and still.

I wanted to experiment with macro photography on a budget.  I purchased three close lenses from B&H; the Opteka 10x High Definition II Professional (BH# OPT6210X), the  B+W Close-Up +4 (BH# BWCU462), and the B+W Close-Up +2 (BH# BWCU262).  The Opteka was the best of the three and produced excellent results.  It was the only lens that had almost no chromatic aberration, which was barely noticeable at the corners.  I’ve attached a test photo example.  The Opteka 10x  is a great accessory for my Panasonic DMC-FZ1000.  I shoot at 90 mm, f8.0, with the manual focus set to closet focus. With this setup, the plane of focus is 2.25 inches from the front of the filter ring and the sensor will capture 40mm (1.6 inches) on the long dimension.  The magnification on the sensor is approximately 0.33x the actual size of the object being photographed.  Therefore, a 3-inch-long object will be 1 inch long on the camera sensor.  You’ll get great detail when printing (full frame – no crop) at 12 x 18 inches on metal at 300 dots per inch.  The final display magnification is 11.4x, which makes flower close-ups look amazing!  The bottom line is that I can get great close-up photos of flowers and I’ve learned that I’d have to spend a lot more money to build a true macro system.   FYI, the chromatic aberration from both B+W Close-Up lenses was unacceptable so I returned them.  The chromatic aberration from the B+W +4 was so strong that I couldn’t correct it in Lightroom.  The chromatic aberration from the B+W +2 was less but it started near the center.

Although I own three dedicated macro lenses (two capable of shooting 1:1 and one capable of shooting 2:), I bought this NiSi 58mm Close-Up NC lens kit to increase the close focusing distance of my Voigtlander 35mm and 50mm and my Sony Zeiss 24mm--all of which have 49mm filter threads. What appealed to me about this optic is the apochromatic design, which reduces lateral chromatic aberration (bokeh fringing), which ruins macro shots. So far, after several uses, I have achieved good results and thus decided to invest in the NiSi 77mm Close-Up, as well. With filter attached, one can still autofocus on when shooting near-macro shots; however, the lens will not be able to acquire focus outside of close-focusing distances with the Close-Up filter attached. The filter threads are apparently aluminum, not brass; however, I haven't had any issues with seizing (use anti-seize lubricant if you ever have this issue, by the way).

The R1C1 Wireless Close-Up Speedlight System allows you to totally own the light when shooting macros and close-ups. Doesn't matter what the sunlight is doing. They overpower the sun at close range - giving you luscious black and dark backgrounds so you don't need to perform digital magic in order for your subject to stand out. ISO 100, f/16, 1/200 second at 4 to 6 inches (10 - 15 cm) - no problem! Yes, a bit of weight at the far end of the macro lens - if you hand hold. On a tripod, with or wighout a focussing rail, they do nothing but provide even, smooth, wonderful light.

Very useful when doing Close Up/Macro on flowers. It tends to get breezy at times.

I bought this to hold my camera. I have been holding my camera with my hands for years like an animal. I've bought a dozen or so cheap junk amazon and walmart tripods and camera table clamp things over the years too, spending way more money than this tripod cost me, and none of them were worth the box they were shipped in. For the longest time I had my camera mounted to a 4' tall shipping tube. That's how badly I needed a tripod. I've only just received this today, but I really like it so far. The quick release plate is a very nice feature to have. It gets to exactly the height I want and is easy to adjust up and down for different angles. It's light but sturdy. The ball head is good, the swivel rotate-y thing is good. I really like it. It's only ever going to be in this one corner in my shop, so I'll never travel with it, but I think it's perfect. Thumbs up.

I have had a few strokes and my hands don't work all that well so holding on to a little camera was difficult. So this handle helps me hold me on.