coolj001, Most of the macro shots I take are off hand, camera in hand and no tripod. Try to use a tripod with a flitting dragonfly and the task beomes quite difficult. For this reason, I restate what john said about "light". The biggest problem I have run into is getting enough light, but then, most of my shots are during late afternoon when light is waning. The lens is f/2.8 and still light can be a problem. Moving subjects need both speed of shutter and enough aperture to get the shot. The Sigma 50mm I use does quite well overall and autofocus works fine when a bit back from the subject. Closer..you better go manual since dop is limited and you might want a focused head allowing the body to be less sharp. I try to plan how I will hold the camera before the shot, since this is sometimes awkard. If the critter likes to land on one place, I will wath it flit away and then plan the shot and get ready for the next time. This gives me time to set the exposure in most cases. Then again..the critter may not come back at all! Like john said, experiment! There is no teacher like our own mistakes. What you think is a perfect shot is often a disappointment in dof and lighthing. Take lots of shots, lots of shots. Try some still life shots and get a feel for the depth of field...a very critical part of macro photography. I set up a row of toothpicks, going away from me, a row about 6 inches long. You take a few shots with focus on one or the other, with different aperture settings. This is a very simple way to quickly learn how critical dof is in macro shooting. Best wishes! Tom.