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***1/5/11 - Note: The setup as seen here was only really used once or twice. Although it offers quite a bit of mangification, it isn't realistically usable in the field due to it's weight - therefore this image is not representative of my usual setup.***

I've been getting a few e-mails recently about what equipment I am using to take my macrophotographs. So here's a picture of my setup.

The camera body is a Pentax *ist DL DSLR body.

The flash is an old Vivitar "Zoom Thyristor 3500" connected to the body by a cheap off-brand off camera flash cord. The flash is mounted on a bizarre old "PETRI" flash bracket with a ball head mount. The flash is diffused by a diffuser I made out of a Goldfish box, duct tape, paper towel, and clear plastic.

The body in this photo is mounted to a camera bellows, and a vintage Pentax Takumar bayonet mount 28mm f/2.8 prime lens is reversed on an old off-brand 2x teleconverter is mounted to the bellows. (The setup as shown is what I would use if I was planning on taking a picture of just the eyes of a jumping spider.)

The majority of the time I just use the 28mm mounted to the teleconverter with no bellows.

Occasionally, I will use an old SMC Pentax f/1.7 50mm prime reversed on the bellows or a 3x teleconverter in there somewhere.

Ok, as some of you know my old Canon S2 IS took a dump on me and stopped working when the gears that power the lens crashed resulting in that ever dreaded Canon E/18 error.

As a result of this I purchased the new Canon S3 IS, the next model up! Even though I thoroughly love the S3 I'm starting to have second thoughts about future Canon purchases due to the cheap ass plastic that fills the inside of both these cameras.

Now I know I'm harder than anyone I know on things like this but, for the amount of money these things cost, not to mention the amount of money Canon makes in profit each year, well, I think they owe it to their loyal customers to incorporate only the best materials inside their cameras.

As some of you know I'm on the edge of my seat right now trying to decide if I should upgrade to the new Canon EOS 30D or the Nikon D80 or D200. If Canon uses the same cheap plastic in its dSLR cameras I'm sure to get the Nikon.

Anyway...read the next two parts of this series to discover what caused the gears to lock up!

On a side note: I'm trying to find a way to seal my own seams on my S3. I've got a few ideas...you have any!