Ummm - shutter speed?? Amazing!
Camera - Canon 20D
Lens - Tamron 180mm Macro
Bee 1/500 f/8.0
Hoverfly on pink flower 1/1250 f/9.0
Hoverfly on purple flower 1/1250 f/9.0
Hoverfly in flight 1/3200 f/14
All cropped to a lesser or greater degree, gimp used to remove spots caused by bits of the Sahara being stuck on the sensor.
I needed a fast shutter speed because the critters (and their wings) don't stay still for long (and my arm was aching and shaking trying to hold a heavy lens), but on the other hand I needed a small aperture because you need all the depth of field you can muster. So I had to use the fastest ISO available (3200), with consequent loss of quality.
A tripod wouldn't have been much good because by the time it was positioned framed and focused I would end up with pictures of empty leaves. A monopod and/or
right-angled viewfinder might have been useful. I left them at home. D'oh!
I'm saving up for a decent ringflash, which will mean tiny aperture for max DoF and short flash duration to freeze movement.