[amgard]

Handheld - (and nowhere near jomike's standard) - I need to learn about 'stacking', though how you do this whilst the little 'b's are in flight, I'm not sure.

#1

#2

I hope noone minds me uploading some more from the same 'safari'.

These have only had cropping applied, otherwise straight from the camera. (all clickable for larger)


#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

[sbowler]

Very good for handheld.

[jomike]

Thanks for the compliment amgaard, I think I'm still learning as well.

Those are both very good, pin sharp. The in flight is particularly good and I have never yet been able to get a bee in flight as sharp as that.

Handholding a 60mm should be quite doable, it becomes harder as the length goes up. The downside is that you have to get really close to get higher magnification, to the point where you shade the subject with the lens at 1:1, and needing special flashes on brackets to get lighting. I'd be interested to hear how you get on with that.

Did you use manual or auto focus?

Mike

[amgard]

Originally Posted by jomike

Thanks for the compliment amgaard, I think I'm still learning as well.

Those are both very good, pin sharp. The in flight is particularly good and I have never yet been able to get a bee in flight as sharp as that.

Handholding a 60mm should be quite doable, it becomes harder as the length goes up. The downside is that you have to get really close to get higher magnification, to the point where you shade the subject with the lens at 1:1, and needing special flashes on brackets to get lighting. I'd be interested to hear how you get on with that.

Did you use manual or auto focus?

Mike

I cropped quite a bit, which gives an indication that I wasn't really that close, about 4-6inches mostly.

The little blighters fly quite fast, especially when you get in close, so I set the AF to continuous and the shutter to 1/1250 for the inflight and then up 1/2000 for the one where it is about to land, then just chased them around like a mad thing

There are some others which I will try to upload later today, for c&c.

They were all by natural light, obviously?
A good tripod is next on the shopping list.

I forgot to say, the pictures are clickable for larger.

[TarMoo]

Nice shots, especially the first one. Is that the Nikon AF-D 60mm f/2.8 Micro or the new Nikon 60mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Micro?

I am quite interested in the new Nikon 60mm macro lens with a Silent Wave Motor as 60mm seems to be the optimum portrait focal length on a DX DSLR.

[amgard]

Originally Posted by rasputin

Nice shots, especially the first one. Is that the Nikon AF-D 60mm f/2.8 Micro or the new Nikon 60mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Micro?

I am quite interested in the new Nikon 60mm macro lens with a Silent Wave Motor as 60mm seems to be the optimum portrait focal length on a DX DSLR.

It's the new Nikon 60mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Micro.
As you can probably tell, I'm just getting used to the camera as well as the lenses.

I considered the 105mm micro, but thought that VR was probably wasted for tripod supported macro shots - but it would have been quite useful for these.

I've got a helluva lot to learn, but I'm counting on you lot to help me out

btw. the bokeh of this lens is excellent IMHO, even if it doesn't show in these two particular examples.

[jomike]

Originally Posted by amgard

It's the new Nikon 60mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Micro.
As you can probably tell, I'm just getting used to the camera as well as the lenses.

I considered the 105mm micro, but thought that VR was probably wasted for tripod supported macro shots - but it would have been quite useful for these.

I've got a helluva lot to learn, but I'm counting on you lot to help me out

btw. the bokeh of this lens is excellent IMHO, even if it doesn't show in these two particular examples.

The 100mm range is always recommended for the best compromise between handholding stability and working distance. The Nikon 105 VR macro is an excellent although pricey lens. Most people on a budget end up going for the Sigma 105mm or the Tamron 90mm macro. I went for the latter. At 1:1 magnification, the Nikon 105's VR is not usable, and the optics on all these macro lenses are very similar. Both the Tamron and Sigma extend when focusing, but the Nikon stays a constant length which is also a plus for the Nikon.
The Nikon 60mm macro no doubt will make an excellent portrait lens, but so does the 50mm f1.8 for a lot less money. The nifty fifty of course does not do macro, or even close up, very well on its own, but it does play a role in macro in that you can reverse it on to a true macro lens and go beyond 1:1 magnification. I recently picked up a nifty fifty from this forums classifieds and have been messing around reversing it on my Tamron 90mm maro with encouraging results.
The best advice I can give is keep shooting. The more you shoot the better you get strangely enough And keep posting of course.

Mike

[dazza74]

#1 is my favourite although they are both good pics. I've been trying to catch Bees over the last couple of days and it's hard enough getting a good pic when they are sat on a flower, you've done well there IMO.

[springtide]

Super! Really like the bee in flight!

[ryart]

1 and 2 are particularly good and they make nice pictures as well as being interesting to see something small in great detail. As you demonstrate, setting the autofocus to continuous is a handy technique for things that don't stay still.

[onefivenine]

Brilliant job catching them in flight . Don't fancy my chances trying that!

[TarMoo]

Some interesting view on the new 60mm macro here. It appears to have better image quality the the 105VR (which suffers more from purple fringing) and better tonal quality than the more expensive 24-70 2.8.

As a portrait lens it that it is extremely sharp, so best for very young or old where every wrinkle can be seen it all its glory. Images from the 60mm 2.8 are very 3D.

[amgard]

Originally Posted by onefivenine

Brilliant job catching them in flight . Don't fancy my chances trying that!

The fact that on Continuous AF it was actually keeping up with the bees, says a lot for the speed of the focussing of this lens - that and the D300's processing. It was certainly focussing a lot better and faster than I could manage in the days when my eyesight was better