Testing a new lens

I took my new 85 mm lens (AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G) out for a walk yesterday: around the yard, over to the neighbours' gardens, and across the street to the vacant lot. I came home very happy with it, and am even happier now that I've seen the results on the computer.

First, I took only one shot at some subjects, and almost all of those photos turned out fine. Where I took three photos, I had trouble choosing which worked out better; only a very few were total duds.

Next, I stood at the edge of a garden and took photos of daffodils several meters away, and the flies perched on them turned out in focus. No need to trample a neighbour's flower bed.

The vacant lot was soggy and muddy; I had trouble finding secure places to stand; I didn't dare get down on my knees to get photos of critters, nor even bend over to shoot, for fear of losing my balance. I took photos through several inches of muddy water, and the ground underneath turned out nice and clear.

I turned over a board with my foot, and shot the underside, from a standing position. Here's what I found.

Centipedes, pill bugs, and a tiny blue-headed snail.

The lens is fast, and without the need to crawl in close, I could get the centipedes before they ran off. And get them in focus, too. I took three photos of this group of wood bugs; all three turned out ok.

Large egg case. The shadow turned out a bit noisy.

On the mud where the board had been. The cluster of eggs glowed a true lime-green. I don't know what laid them.

Egg case, in a pale yellow web.

There were a few miniature red ants running on one end of the board, so tiny I had to bend over to see them. The camera did get them, but barely.

More test shots tomorrow, maybe the water pics.

Miss B and the new lens

Tonight, Laurie spied a spider creeping out from under a bookcase to grab a tiny fly. One of Brownie's relatives; it's been a while since I saw one. We've had a long, almost critterless winter around here.

Time to test out the new macro lens. I took a dozen shots, then she objected to the flash and went to hide under the books again.

Photo #3, unedited except for lighting, and cropped to about 1/4 the original. (Click to see full size.)

The lens has its quirks. I'll have to do quite a bit of work to learn to use its good points and compensate for the problems.

I can't crawl in too close. That's good, and not so good. I'd never have gotten an inch from Miss B, here, as I would have had to do with the old cameras. But I'm also getting a lot of background, wasted pixels.

The closest I can manage to focus is at 6 inches. And there, the depth of field is next to nil. In the photo above, the tips of her legs and the back half of her abdomen are out of focus.

Miss B's fly, very small. Only a narrow strip of carpet is in focus; a quarter inch at the most.

The camera is quick, and has VR (vibration reduction) enabled. This really helps with camera shake, a big help when I'm on belly and elbows on the floor, hand-holding the camera, stalking a critter that moves about. Only three photos out of the dozen were badly blurred, a record for me.

And the flash works consistently, without a long wait to recharge.

Focussing, even in the semi-dark, is quick and accurate. When the spider wandered off, the focus followed her.

But. I'll have to work up to manual focus, to be able to aim at the part of the spider I'm interested in. Eyes and fangs, for example. The Auto focus just says, "Small object!" and aims for the center, ending up with a knee in focus and the eyes a blur.

Note: Steatoda bipunctata (Miss B and all her kin) make very messy webs. Even to their bug tie-downs. No neat butcher's packages for them.

Also: S. bipunctata's favourite food is sowbugs. With my nose on the carpet, I could see under the bookshelf. Miss B's stash of leftover dinners is a couple or three dried sowbugs.