Just got the Canon 500D closeup lens to add to the 45-200 and it gives me a nice working distance from my subject - but depth of field is quite shallow. I can see that a tripod, or at least a monopod will definitely improve my number of keepers, because these stamens should be sharper - they sure look sharp before I pressed the shutter release, so it can only be camera movement that caused the loss of clarity. Check the "next" image to see the results from using a tripod (and self timer).