Yasuhara Nanoha - Review 2022

In that location are macro lenses and and so there are microscopes. The Yasuhara Nanoha ($499.99) feels more similar the latter. Yep, it mounts to a mirrorless camera, but its variable 4x to 5x magnification ratio means that it needs to about touch its subject in society to bring it into focus, and in that location's no way to focus on afar objects. That certainly makes it a very specialized optic, but one that comes in at a price much lower than Canon's MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro Photograph SLR lens ($1,049). If you want to try your hand at extreme macro photography, considering calculation it to your kit, but be mindful of its limitations.

Design
The Nanoha isn't designed similar a typical lens. Its front chemical element is quite small, and is surrounded by a plastic bracket that houses three LED lights and a mini USB port to power them. The lights are necessary—the lens needs to be nearly touching the subject to properly focus, which effectively blocks ambient lite. Information technology measures iii.4 past two.5 inches (HD) overall and weighs 12.vii ounces. It's bachelor for Canon and Sony mirrorless cameras, also as Micro Four Thirds models from Olympus and Panasonic.

The manual focus ring has a short throw, virtually 90 degrees, and has two markings—one for 4x magnification and one for 5x. At that place's also a physical aperture ring, which can be set to f/11, f/16, f/22, and f/32.

The included power bank is small-scale, only it feels a little cheap. It's made of lightweight white plastic and requires two AA batteries for power. You'll need to find a way to secure the power bank to your photographic camera if yous don't want it dangling from a cable. I didn't use it much, instead opting for 1 I had on paw with an internal rechargeable battery. What would exist really smart to include is a power depository financial institution with a shoe mount.

I worked with the Nanoha handheld, and even without a fashion to secure the USB power source to the lens, I didn't find it likewise awkward to use. I was shooting outdoors, and spent a good amount of time downwards depression on the ground photographing water ice crystals, fallen leaves, stones, lichens, and other subjects that I thought would exist interesting when brought into shut view. I probably should have been using a focus rail and a tripod, in which case a bit of gaffer tape would easily secure a USB bombardment to a tripod leg.

Prototype Quality
Commonly I test lens sharpness using an SFRPlus test chart and Imatest. But considering the Nanoha tin can only focus very close, that isn't an choice. Visual test of photos shot in the field show that areas of an image that are in focus are quite crisp.

But getting focus correct is challenging. In that location's very, very little depth when working with such a high magnification. Unless your subject is nearly apartment, f/eleven isn't a viable option without resorting to post-production methods like focus stacking. I found myself getting the best results in the field at f/22. I would take shot more than at f/32 if the LED lights provided stronger illumination. As I was working handheld I wanted to continue the shutter speed fairly short—effectually 1/100-second was my goal—without pushing the ISO likewise high.

My test camera, the Sony Blastoff NEX-6, is an older model, only ane that does an excellent job at higher ISOs. Still, I plant myself shooting at ISO 1600 or 3200, which is a bit further than I'd similar to push the photographic camera for macro piece of work. A tripod and a remote shutter release would accept gone a long style to allow me keep the ISO down to a more reasonable level, and ameliorate utilize the minimum f/32 discontinuity for a greater depth of field.

I also wouldn't recommend this lens to capture moving subjects. If live insect photography is your affair, there are better options—but unless you add extension tubes or a bellows system, yous'll exist limited to 1:1 magnification with a traditional macro lens like the Zeiss Touit 2.8/50M or any of the multitude of one-time manual focus lenses that can be adjusted to fit mirrorless cameras. With the Nanoha you demand to exist up shut and personal with your subject field, and give yourself some time to focus. Even with frame magnification, a standard feature on mirrorless cameras, I struggled to nail focus when setting upwards shots.

Conclusions
The Yasuhara Nanoha has some limitations, simply based on its design. Most macro lenses let you focus on both shut and afar subjects. To achieve its insane level of magnification, the Nanoha can only lock onto subjects that are shut. The very short working distance means that the best subjects are inanimate ones. I found that the congenital-in LED lights go a long way to brand information technology possible for photographers who are non highly experienced with extreme macro photography to capture interesting photos without investing in a ring light wink or an accessory like the Ray Flash. At $500, the Nanoha is a significant investment for many photographers, simply it's worth the cost of entry if extreme macro photography interests you. The images that information technology is capable of capturing are otherworldly.