Macro with the 50mm and extension tube

Alright, the excitement is fizzling. The 50mm lens with an extension tube can do macro but what I have noticed is that the depth of field is too small for anything but tiny bugs that are 2 mm long. Yes, 2 millimeter. That is not very long. That is the depth of field I have to work with at f/1.8 or f/11. Practically speaking, most insects I'd run into are significantly larger than 2 mm so I think I need a different solution for macro photography. I need a depth of field of at least 15mm.

I used to have a Vivitar 70-210mm lens. Maybe I should not have sold the lens.

First macro shot with D300

Here is the first shot I took with my D300 and the pancake 50mm MF AIS lens with an extension tube:


As one can see, about 19 mm of the ruler fits onto the sensor of the D300. Given that the D300 sensor is 23.6mm wide, the macro setup produces a 1.24:1 ratio. It is better than the 105mm macro lenses but obviously, I'd have to get pretty darn close to a subject with the 50mm, in fact, about 10 cm, a tiny bit too short for live insects.

Here is my D300 fitted with the 50mm attached to a simple extension tube. The extension tube has no electronic contacts.

Exposure metering of the D300

One thing I have started to really like on the D300 is its ability to meter with the old lenses. I have a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AIS manual focus lens, and I like using it with an extension tube for better than 1:1 macro photography.

When the 50mm lens is fitted on a D80, I have no clue what shutter speed to use to properly expose the sensor to the subject. I would shoot in manual mode, guessing what shutter speed to use. I would also have to turn the built-in flash to manual mode as well. The whole setup of shooting small insect this way is too cumbersome and I may not have the chance to shoot the bug a second or third time. The D300 however can meter the light required for perfect exposure. The built-in flash or pop-up flash just work. The D300 does all the work for you so all you have to worry about is concentrate on the subject, compose, and shoot. Nice, D300.

Missed my 18-200mm lens

I was in Vancouver for a week for a wedding last Saturday. Before the trip, I decided I was going to bring four lenses: 80-400mm, 50mm (manual focus, to play with), 17-50mm (for the wedding) and 18-200mm (attached to a D80 body, for the wedding, and for walking around with). As it turned out, my equipments could not all fit into my backpack and it was getting pretty heavy. I decided at last minute then to leave the 18-200mm with the D80 behind.

That was a mistake. I could leave the D80 behind but I really missed the 18-200mm focal length. I ended up having to switch between the 17-50mm and the 80-400mm lenses at the wedding reception (because sometimes I wanted to shoot close-up from afar), on the ferry to Vancouver island, at the top of Grouse mountain, in Victoria, etc. I also found that at the civic wedding ceremony that was held outdoors, that the 17-50mm was a bit short on the focal length side. I did not want to buzz around close to the couple like a bee during the ceremony. The 18-200mm lens would have been perfect then. Oh well. I should be better prepared next time.