Dragos - I'm struggling to keep the camera stable for 1x macro shots without a tripod. How do you do it?
It comes down to some basic techniques, and then lots of practice. If you think about it, the human body has some distinct advantages over an inanimate tripod - the ability to think (different setups, different orientations determined by the environment on the fly), the ability to feel (touch, pressure, balance, etc.), and the ability to control (muscles). By the time you deal with the tripod and your macro rail, you've already lost the opportunity unless you do studio macro.
Here are some basic techniques to control your camera for field macro shots:
1. Maintain some sort of three-point control over your camera - that's the best configuration for a stable platform because the three points define a plane. For example, when I'm lying down on the ground for a macro shot, my three points are my elbows and the camera held against my face. Likewise you can use your hands to wrap around a nearby tree/branch, or a stick you may bring along with you for support. I realize that's a bit more difficult to do with a GF1 unless you use the EVF with it, but then the GF and PEN bodies aren't ideal for macro. You'll have to find a way to compensate for the fact that you have to hold the camera away from your body.
2. Practice breathing techniques. Slow down your breathing and calm down before you take a shot, then when you're ready inhale, then exhale half-way, hold your breath and while you do that slowly press the shutter button. That technique alone will help minimize a lot of vibrations and shaking.
3. Move your body to focus. Once you've composed the shot you want, hold that configuration steady (however you hold your camera), and rock your body slightly back and forth so your focal plane travels back and forth across your subject. Take your photo as your focal plane crosses the point of interest on your subject that you want to be in focus. This is also a good technique to use if you do focus stacked macros, except you'll be taking a bunch of photos across a variety of points of interest.
4. Use a fast shutter speed. You definitely want to use the fastest shutter speed possible that gives you the correct exposure. Your aperture should be fixed based on the DOF coverage you want in your photo, so you either need to crank up your ISO (as much as possible without getting to much noise - my limit is 800), or add light, or both in order to get that fast shutter speed. A fast shutter will go a long way to eliminate jitter or instability, but it does come at a cost of reduced light. Even a shutter speed of 1/160 (limited to this when using a flash) should improve your stability.
5. Slow down. I think a lot of people see macro as interesting simply because you're presenting a view of the world that's not normally seen, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't slow down to compose your macro photograph. It's not about taking a snapshot, it's about creating a photograph. A well-composed macro will have a lot more impact than the passing interest one that's not so composed will have. So if you slow down to compose your macro shots, that will naturally slow down your body, thus enabling you to better use some of the techniques above.
Here's some additional resources you can use for your macro work:
a.
LordV macro tips
b.
Photomacrography forum
Hope this helps. Good luck and HAVE FUN! =)
