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Thread: Yellow dragonfly

  1. #1

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    Bobo

    Yellow dragonfly

    ID appreciated.

    Taken with an AF defective Sigma 150mm/f2.8 macro lens. All manual focus and close crops. Bit of a breeze going so had to up the speed and iso somewhat though it was quite a bright day.

    Have never done anything with MF before but the defective lens forced that on me. Good practice I suppose for the future.

    Was quite amazed at the amount of detail the lens could pick up even at 150mm.

    comments good or bad always appreciated.

    1.
    Yellow dragonfly

    2.
    Yellow dragonfly

    3.
    Yellow dragonfly

    4.
    Yellow dragonfly

    5.
    Yellow dragonfly

  2. #2
    jeeperman's Avatar
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    Paul

    Re: Yellow dragonfly

    Can't I.D. them but I sure like the shots Bobo! Ours have not shown yet this year but should within a week or so if the weather stays good. I like ! and 2 the best but all nice work.

  3. #3

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    Re: Yellow dragonfly

    Nice job bobo. I like the 2nd and 4th of the set. Will the lens display a focus lock? Press the shutter half way, and focus the lens. The focus lock light , should light up in the display , when it is in focus. When you get it close , sometimes it's better to just shift the camera forward or backward to get a solid lock.

  4. #4

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    Re: Yellow dragonfly

    Thanks Paul - not to worry they should be around in droves sooner then later.

    Thanks Steve - yes ti does. But that one did have a defective AF as we (the shop owner and a pro friend) and myself tested it again and again that evening. Another 2 copies he had in stock were lightning fast. He did say that the 550D that I use has a contrast detection weakness which confuses a macro lens more then other lens. The Canon 100/2.8 exhibits the same issues on the 550D so it is not a lens issue.

    Anyway the new copy is good though I have not had time to use it yet in the field. Probably will tomorrow if the weather improves. Not weather sealed so do not want it to get a dunking in the rainy weather we are having atm.

  5. #5

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    Re: Yellow dragonfly

    A 150 mm lens is always popular amongst entomologists; and most of them use manual focus most of the time.

    It may be tricky with flight shots when attempting to manually focus but you don't get the false focus problems when your equipment prefers to focus on a hard edged piece of the background instead of a soft edged insect.

    And you can choose which parts of an insect to get sharply focused; like the eyes for example, instead of having the wing tips perfectly sharp and everything else soft; which often happens with auto focus.

    You have certainly done well to get manual focus on these insects.

  6. #6
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    Bob

    Re: Yellow dragonfly

    Very impressive shots getting the focus that sharp while the dragonfly was in the air.

  7. #7

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    Re: Yellow dragonfly

    Thanks Geoff - will certainly use MF more often to get the kind of shots you described. Never thought of it that way. Thanks.

    Thanks Bob - that certainly was not intentional. I was hoping to catch a bit of tip blur but there was a a bit of breeze that was just enough to blow them around (as can be seen with the twisted wing in #1). So had to up the speed and iso even though it was a pretty bright day.

    Overall I am happy with the first MF experience and will certainly try it more often.
    Last edited by Bobobird; 14th May 2012 at 02:47 AM.

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