I usually shoot in Manual mode at f/16 and 1/250th of a second at ISO 400. I have to vary the flash output from 0 to -1 depending on how close I am to the subject. Sometimes I'll go as high as f/22 or bump down my ISO to 200 if there is a lot of light.
At that those apertures, no matter how much I've cleaned my sensor I usually spend at least 5 minutes in Photoshop cleaning up dust spots.
What do you think of a close-up lens? I have found some in 72mm and 77mm. Will it work with any of my lenses? I found a set with 1.5x, 2x, 4x, and 10x power.
I wasn't crazy about close-up lenses. I have a Canon 500D (58mm) which I bought for my 70-300mm lens. I didn't like it. Autofocus is out of the question, you need to go manual if you want to get stuff in focus. Also you lose infinity focus when you have a close-up lens attached, which is what drives the AF nuts.
I used the 500D for a couple of weeks then I put it away and saved up for the Sigma 150mm. I lent the 500D to my dad and he ended up buying extension tubes instead, and finally a real Macro lens. As you can see, he and I did very little Macro until we got our true macro lenses. Even with the 150mm, I only used it occasionally until I got a ring light, although with a diffuser, you can get away with using the 550/580ex flash.
