Bugs in the night

Thomas asked how I photograph bugs in the dark. This photo (sorry, taken on my mobile) shows the setup I’m experimenting with. The lamp is a cheap LED headlamp from e-bay, powered by (rechargeable) AA batteries, and pointing roughly where the DCR-150 focuses, about 200mm from the lens. It’s on an improvised bracket attached to the hot shoe, and illuminates the subject without the heat that a torch bulb would generate – and seems to improve the autofocus lock compared with just the a-f assist light. The camera senses the fill and reduces the flash output a bit so I don’t seem to get burnt-out highlights, but I still need a bit of practice to get it right – at the moment I usually have to tweak the exposure afterwards in Paintshop. The advantage is that you don’t need to hold the camera in one hand and a torch in the other!