Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6

A couple of friends went down to NYC and picked up this super-wide angle Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 for me. I think I now have the full set of ranges and types of lenses: a super-telephoto (a Tokina 80-400mm, and a Nikkor 500mm), a walk-around (Tamron 17-50mm, Nikkor 18-200mm), a portrait (Nikkor 50mm), a macro (Nikkor 105mm), and a super-wide (Sigma 10-20mm). Now, I need more time to get out there and shoot cool stuff!

Macro with a Nikkor 105mm AF-D

I decided to bite the bullet and invested in a second hand Nikkor 105mm AF-D lens -- not the VR version. I shot some tests and it looks much more promising than my 50mm + extension tube system. What I was looking were the following:

• Depth of field: the 50mm system gave me only about 2mm to work with. There was no way I could not capture the whole body of a bee with it. The Nikkor 105mm gives you something somewhere between 1.5mm (at maximum aperture) 10mm (at f/16) to 25+mm (at f/57 at 1:1 macro). This greater DOF will be extremely useful when shooting without (and also with) a tripod.
• At minimum aperture, the picture in the viewfinder through the 50mm system is completely dark so it is nearly impossible to focus on the subject. It helps in bright daylight but light is not always available. With the 105mm lens, the aperture stays wide open until you release the shutter. This way, you can easily focus on the subject.

Some issues I found:

• Not that I did not know, but things become quite jittery at macro level. Without a tripod it is hard to obtain a sharp picture unless there is a strong source of light.
• The Auto Focus system is a bit hard to use. I use this lens with my D300 and I was trying to shoot a ruler at a 45 degree angle to gauge the DOF. The AF has no problem with hunting for a focus point 40cm away but was having some problems at really close distance. I'd be better off using manual focus in this case.

Well, I took some shots of a house fly on a flower (weird uh?) yesterday. I was quite happy with the result. I used the built-in flash for these shots (image contrast adjusted and image sharpened a tad bit in Irfanview):

Macro with the 50mm and extension tube, part 3

A couple of macro shots of a tiny spider clinging to a wall:


DOF is really small at all f/stops!

Macro with the 50mm and extension tube, part 2

It rained hard about an hour earlier. I thought I'd look for some insects to shoot after the rain. There were a few but only one that stayed in one place long enough for me to shoot.

I have no idea what this fellow is, but it is colorful and tiny (maybe 1cm long). Was it going to drink from the water droplet? It took me 10 shots to get its head somewhat focused. (My 50mm with the extension tube is far from the perfect macro setup, but it helps that the D300 can meter properly.)



There was a weeny tiny little larva on this flower. After the rain, the larva was crawling in very wet cracks.


The world according to a water droplet hanging off the tip of a leaf.

Camera bag

Finally, I found the right camera bag for my super sized cameras. It is not too small, not too big, just enough to fit one of my two cameras with many of my camera accessories. It is actually not a camera bag. I stumbled upon this $10 wine and cheese cooler. The bag is padded all around but probably not enough for camera equipments so I added some extra padding with bubble envelopes and some cartons I obtained from Michaels' a couple of months ago. With some Krazy Glue and some more foam sheets, I've got a camera bag. The outside is black and has that nice design I can take the bag to parties and wedding receptions.

There is a small compartment at the top to store various little items. The bottom compartment is where I'd store the camera, lenses, and a flash.


Here is my oversize D300 (with a lens, a battery grip and hand strap) fitted in the bag: