6DII, 70-200 F4l, Raynox 250, ISO 800, F18, 1/60
Balan Vinod
Wow, Balan, what a macro shot this is! The details are really great of the Robberfly and the Ant. Amazing. I wonder if the underside of the perch as well as the underside of the ant were lightened up just a bit, if that would help. I think maybe I have gone to nitpicking, to find anything that needs to be improved here!
Thanks Shirley, This prey seems to be an “alate” or a flying ant, that’s what i could make from the wings. The scene was quite contrasty with some uneasy light really. Thought the underside of the twig wold make this look unusual ?
You are probably right, Balan. I told you I probably had gone to nitpicking! I’m not familiar with an “alate”. I did notice the wings, but figured it could have been a queen ant. The shape of the body resembled an ant. It is an outstanding macro shot.
A very good image of this action, Balan. That’s a very respectable result . I have that lens, but never thought to use it for macro work. The results are outstanding.
Balan, I agree with Shirley that this is an outstanding shot. The details in the fly and it’s prey stand out well against the background. Out of curiosity, I would think that switching to the zoom with only 20 mm extra “reach” would not provide much extra magnification or working distance. Is there a noticeable difference in image quality? I can’t argue against the outstanding quality in this image!
Mark, Many thanks for your kind words. About a year back I had moved over from my 7D to a 6D2. I never knew that there would be a mountain of changes in store for me. Almost for a year I was using just the 180 Tamron for my macro work. Getting back to my old experimental days, I decided to use extension tubes, raynox etc. This is infact my first attempt with extention tubes on my 70 200. The challenges that I mainly face is the vignetting as the filter size of the raynox is smaller. The other main issue is the dof that becomes an issue with increasing zoom. With 200 mm , i would have lesser dof, compared to what achieved.
The other option was to get closer, and with a tripod, and not using a rail, is another issue.
Robberflies, usually come back to their perch once they get their prey. Thats the only silver lining. I am planning lesser focal length with extension tubes + raynox.
Glad to discuss. 
Balan, switching from the 7D to a 6D2 does indeed a change everything. By going from a 1.6 crop factor camera (7D) to a 1.0 crop factor (6D), your magnification for the same lens and same lens to subject working distance has been reduced by the ratio of 1/1.6. Thus a life size image (1:1) with the 7D is now a roughly 2/3rds life size (1:1.6). To compensate for that using only a longer focal length lens (using your 180 as an example) you’d need a 288 mm lens. The larger chip also means (as you’ve seen) that vignetting happens much more quickly as you add extension tubes or use your Raynox lens. Based on this post, you’ve got most or even all of this figured out.
Hi Balan,
Looks good and you captured a robber fly feeding on a wasp. Wel;l done and no nits…Jim
Balan: Love the detail and color in the eye especially. The larger version is a MUST view. 
>=))>
