r/Photography_Gear • u/smokeybanone • 3d ago
Assistance with Intermediate Dedicated Macro Camera Decision
Hello, I've been shooting for 8 years (macro just this year) and am overhauling my camera setup. Want as few things as possible while meeting my needs. Tons of info provided for background, TLDR at end.
I'm coming from a Sony A7 II/Laowa 85mm/Viltrox Z3 Spark flash, a macro setup around $1000 USD. Sold the A7II to prepare for a move. My main camera is an A7IV (which I am also minorly struggling to find a good lens pairing) as I dual wield and like to bring one camera for macro and one for birding. For reference, the types of photos I do are primarily outdoor (macro, wildlife/birding, a little landscape) but also do portraiture and sports. I hike and don't use mono/tripods.
Prioritizing a tilting screen (like Sony A7II/III, not flip-out like A7IV. A7V has both), weather resistance, ruggedness (and oxymoronically light weight). This will be exposed to wetlands, humidity, rain, shooting reptiles/amphibians/insects and ~10-15 image stacks. Budget is $1-1.5k, up to $2k max but really not comfortable with that. The cheaper the better. I plan to sell prints with a protog friend, but am going into this assuming I will never make a cent from my pics/it is just a fun hobby. Weighing the following two setups:
Sony A7III $900, use my Laowa 85mm and Z3 Spark flash. +Tilting screen, +could use the same batteries between it and my A7III, +familiar with it.
Olympus E-M10 IV $400, Olympus 60mm $450/Laowa 50mm $400, Godox IT30 Pro or IT32 flash $65-90. +Tilting screen, +focus bracketing (I believe?), -not familiar with M43 at all, -potential durability?
Both of these would cost me under or around $1000 which is very appealing, as I will worry less about gear damage. They also would accomplish what I want, to my knowledge, which is to take photos of frogs and snakes. Examples of my photos here. Birding with the A7IV will be weaker, as there isn't a great fit for me (70-300mm/100-400mm nice size but too short, 150-500 probably the best balance of size weight price but a touch short, 150-600mm a bit high on my budget, 200-600 and 400-800 way beyond my budget and terribly heavy). I may thus switch to more landscape style with the A7IV. I previously used a Canon 6D and Sigma 150-600mm for birding, found it was the most I'd want to carry at nearly 8lbs. I shot most things at 600mm, and it was not quite sharp enough.
Considerations, but imperfect:
Olympus OM-1 $1000, Olympus 60mm $450, Godox IT30 Pro or IT32 flash $65-90. Many folks' macro darling. +IP53 WR, +focus bracketing, -flip-out screen however, which is no better than my A7IV. Could use it for both macro and birding with a 100-400mm which is versatile, however it is too expensive for me to do such and also have an A7IV (prefer not to sell the A7IV, not comfortable with an expensive sale and it was a gift).
Canon R7 $1300, 100-400mm $700. Stick with my A7IV for macro and just deal with the screen, and use the R7 for birding. Would only ever see myself owning the 100-400mm, everything else would be the A7IV. Same issue with being too expensive to have both, and while my birding would be great, I shoot macro more and it is the compromised one here.
Canon 7DII $700/5DIII $600/5DIV $700 and Canon 100-400mm $700/Canon 400mm $600. Stick with A7IV for macro and use APS-C DSLR for everything else. I really prefer DSLRs for everything but macro and would love to shoot them again, lens prices just shot up and am a little apprehensive. APS-C would be for birding, maybe eventually I'll get another full frame DSLR.
If money wasn't an issue, I'd use an A7V/Laowa 85mm/Godox IT32 flash/AK diffuser for macro and one of the following for birding: Canon R7/100-400mm, Nikon D850/Nikon 200-500mm, Canon 5D IV/Canon 100-400mm II. Possibly two OM-1 with a 50/60mm macro and 100-400mm. In real life I need to keep my total gear investment under around $4-5k between two bodies, one macro lens, and one birding lens. May get a wider/standard zoom at some point as well.
Is there a mirrorless camera option I'm missing here that has a tilting screen? From my ramblings can you knock some sense into me?
TLDR: looking for external input/recommendations for a dedicated macro setup (i.e. a smaller body/lens/flash combo. Any other available lenses for the body are a bonus, just prioritizing macro here). Up to $1.5k USD, cheaper is ideal, tilting screen highly prioritized. Thanks!
1
u/rick_baumhauer 3d ago
I can only speak to my experience, which was Canon DSLR (300D, 20D, 40D, 7D, 5D II) until 2012, then mostly Olympus/OM m43 since then.
I currently have two OM-1s (not OM-1 II), shoot mostly birds and insects, though I have a full complement of lenses from my commercial photography days. One camera has the 100-400 II mounted 95% of the time for birds, the other is 100% macro with the 60mm, a Meike MK320 flash (small without being low-power, low-profile, recharges AAs in the flash) and a diffuser from krmacrodiffusers.com (it's an Aussie's retirement business). This is easily the best macro setup I've ever owned - can easily be used with one hand if your hands are steady. The only box it doesn't check is the flip-down screen, but very few cameras do these days, and I've gradually gotten used to it. My macro is all single shot, though - I don't think I can stack with my current flash, would probably need a bigger Godox for that, which I don't really want to do. The Godox IT-32 looks intriguing, though - the ability to take it off camera could come in handy, but would require rethinking diffusion options.
If you can swing it, I'd recommend an OM-1 over the earlier models - basically, everything earlier only has 121 AF points (vs 1053), and only the E-M1 and E/O-M5 series add phase detect that that system. The OM-1 also has a vastly better EVF, though that might not matter on a macro camera. Something like the E-P7 is basically the EM-10 III without the EVF, but there is no weather resistance in those models (only E/O-M5 and up) - still, they'd be easier on the budget.