Macro lens question

[locutus49]

TL;DR: Help.

First, I apologize for not being able to post photos. Photobucket is down and I don't have tapatalk.

I have been taking photos on my iPhone X and posting them on Instagram (I am Locutus49). I have been taking pix of the movement of my Aquanaut but because of the way the deployant band is, you can't get directly behind it and have to shoot from an angle.

My first photos were not that close so I bought a 15x clip-on macro lens, but surprisingly the photos were not much better than the plain iPhone ones. You can see the rotor fine but the other parts of the movement are a bit blurry and the photos are not any closer than the plain iPhone.

Question: do I buy a stronger macro? Oh, I have a tripod but it didn't help much at all.

[Uncle-AJ]

It sounds like you're taking a knife to a gunfight. To my mind, the only way to get good macro shots is with a proper, mirrorless or DSLR and a macro lens. I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to photography.

[Porsche]

WOW, nice pic AJ
That's an angle you don't see very often ;-)

[Uncle-AJ]

Originally Posted by Porsche

WOW, nice pic AJ
That's an angle you don't see very often ;-)

I'm always looking for a new angle.

[JayHantz]

Originally Posted by Uncle-AJ

It sounds like you're taking a knife to a gunfight. To my mind, the only way to get good macro shots is with a proper, mirrorless or DSLR and a macro lens. I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to photography.

I am with AJ....I find that some of the best work comes from my Canon and macro lens. If you think you are going to be taking more watch pictures (or even nicer pictures for your instagram) you can't go wrong with a good camera and lens system.

[1Zach1]

Tough to say without knowing specifics of the clip on or your setup. I know clip ons like those made by Moment and other manufactures are well regarded. The higher the magnification you go with macro photography, the more shallow the depth of field becomes until you’re at a razor thing DoF and focusing becomes very difficult. Movement is also a huge factor at high magnification, so the tripod should be helping.

Tough to beat a solid DSLR/mirrorless setup with a macro lens though, as stated above.

Sorry I don’t have any watch macros on my iPad

[Kostas]

Macro photography has a narrow slice of focus (depth of field) so unless everything is the same distance from the lens it’s going to be blurry in front and behind that narrow band.

Seems like the problem your having is due to not being able to take a straight on shot due to the deployant clasp.

[locutus49]

Yep, you got it. I ordered a 25x clip on macro and will try that. If that does not work I'll order a camera.

That you to everyone who responded.

Originally Posted by Kostas

Macro photography has a narrow slice of focus (depth of field) so unless everything is the same distance from the lens it’s going to be blurry in front and behind that narrow band.

Seems like the problem your having is due to not being able to take a straight on shot due to the deployant clasp.

[Uncle-AJ]

Originally Posted by locutus49

Yep, you got it. I ordered a 25x clip on macro and will try that. If that does not work I'll order a camera.

That you to everyone who responded.

A micro four thirds camera will do, there's no need to go full frame and another benefit is a greater depth of field with the smaller sensor. Check out some of the macro work of "Horology House" on Youtube.