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Photo Of The Day - February 2021

tizeye

tizeye

macrumors 68040
Jul 17, 2013
3,241
35,935
Orlando, FL
Econ Wilderness Jan 2021 - 2500px-2.JPG
 
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tizeye

tizeye

macrumors 68040
Jul 17, 2013
3,241
35,935
Orlando, FL
Clix Pix said:
When I got my Sol 45 from Amazon, the trio of +1, +2 and +4 close-up filters came with it, and one of the first things I did was to order a step-down ring in order to also use this trio on my Sony 50mm f/2.8 macro lens if I had the urge, and they work well with it when I want to experiment with getting really, really deep-in and super-close to my subject. I've only tried this a couple of times so far, though. I have larger close-up filters that work with my other normal and macro lenses but didn't have any that worked with the fairly small filter size of the 50mm f/2.8. Used extension tubes in the past, though, with it. Fun to have the flexibility and choice!

Yes, extension tubes work really well, too, for this sort of thing, and the advantage is that there is no need to worry about filter size on a given lens; the extension tubes mount on the camera body and then any lens one chooses mounts on them (either individually or stacked). This can be a great way of getting in closer to a subject with a lens which is not a macro lens and which does not have a particularly close focusing distance -- both this and the technique of using close-up filters are often referred to as the "poor man's macro lens," so to speak. Either does fairly well but is not really a true substitute for an actual macro lens. When you do use one of these strategies in combination with an actual macro lens, too, though, this can produce fascinating results! Once just for the heck of it a long time ago I experimented with both close-up filters and extension tubes -- let's just say that this was a bit extreme and as for DOF....WHAT DOF??! LOL! It was fun playing with the idea, though! One technique or the other works fine, but together......well, a bit OTT. It is great that we have these various options for exploring our creativity and seeing what happens when we do thus-and-so.....
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Since need to order a replacement lens hood from B&H, thought about including extension tubes to get it over the 'free shipping' limit, but those were cheap and reviews supported that observation, where the more expensive supported 'free shipping' in their own right. My real desire is for a true macro on native FE mount in the 90-105 range. With limited macro use, it is not my next lens priority. The Tokina looks interesting at an 'occasional use' pricepoint. Was thinking about a used Minolta macro with EL-3, even purchased one at a local store only to find that the Minolta mount evolved over time and the EL-3 wouldn't fit the earlier Minolta mount.

Son gave me an old Sigma 50 macro on a Nikon mount that I use with an adapter - lens was manual anyway, so no big deal other than the 50 not allowing the level of separation that a 90 would. Local photo club having an outing this Sunday to local garden and suggest a macro or tubes. While a good idea, it is one of my favorite locations to leave the zooms at home and force myself to use primes - and by experience, 85mm preferred over 55mm - but a 50 macro might be good in the bag. Only problem, with the limited use, I stored it for safe keeping...and now I can't find it, so will tear the house apart between now and Sunday.

EDIT NOTE: Found it! Now to practice a little with the full manual operation before Sunday.
 
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mollyc

mollyc

macrumors G3
Aug 18, 2016
8,065
50,748
tizeye said:
Since need to order something from B&H, thought about including extension tubes to get it over the 'free shipping' limit, but those were cheap and reviews supported that observation. My real desire is for a true macro on native FE mount in the 90-105 range. With limited macro use, it is not my next lens priority. The Tokina looks interesting at an 'occasional use' pricepoint. Was thinking about a used Minolta macro with EL-3, even purchased one at a local store only to find that there Minolta mount evolved over time and the EL-3 wouldn't fit the earlier Minolta mount.

Son gave me an old Sigma 50 macro on a Nikon mount that I use with an adapter - lens was manual anyway, so no big deal. Local photo club having an outing this Sunday to local garden and suggest a macro or tubes. While a good idea, it is one of my favorite locations to leave the zooms at home and force myself to use primes - and by experience, 85mm preferred over 55mm - but a 50 macro might be good in the bag. Only problem, with the limited use, I stored it for safe keeping...and now I can't find it, so will tear the house apart between now and Sunday.
Click to expand...
I use a Nikon 105 and used the canon 100 macro when I shot canon. Both of those also double as portrait or regular zooms. They are just slower for focus so not great for sports but otherwise they aren’t always just a macro lens.

I got a set of Meike extension tubes for like $35 and while I have nothing to compare them to, they seem to work well and AF does work when I use an AF lens. Although mostly I use them in MF anyway.
 
Darmok N Jalad

Darmok N Jalad

macrumors 603
Sep 26, 2017
5,425
48,322
Tanagra (not really)
Dpcanon said:
How much do you feed them in bird seed to get them to pose so perfectly for you?. Beautiful shot!
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They don’t pose for long. They are all rather twitchy little birds, so sometimes you just have to hope you hit the shutter between twitches. :) The bird seed certainly brings them near, but they still don’t trust “that guy with the camera” very much. :D
 
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Clix Pix

Clix Pix

macrumors Core
Oct 9, 2005
21,652
48,696
8 miles from the Apple Store at Tysons (VA)
tizeye said:
Since need to order a replacement lens hood from B&H, thought about including extension tubes to get it over the 'free shipping' limit, but those were cheap and reviews supported that observation, where the more expensive supported 'free shipping' in their own right. My real desire is for a true macro on native FE mount in the 90-105 range. With limited macro use, it is not my next lens priority. The Tokina looks interesting at an 'occasional use' pricepoint. Was thinking about a used Minolta macro with EL-3, even purchased one at a local store only to find that the Minolta mount evolved over time and the EL-3 wouldn't fit the earlier Minolta mount.

Son gave me an old Sigma 50 macro on a Nikon mount that I use with an adapter - lens was manual anyway, so no big deal other than the 50 not allowing the level of separation that a 90 would. Local photo club having an outing this Sunday to local garden and suggest a macro or tubes. While a good idea, it is one of my favorite locations to leave the zooms at home and force myself to use primes - and by experience, 85mm preferred over 55mm - but a 50 macro might be good in the bag. Only problem, with the limited use, I stored it for safe keeping...and now I can't find it, so will tear the house apart between now and Sunday.

EDIT NOTE: Found it! Now to practice a little with the full manual operation before Sunday.
Click to expand...

I knew that the first lens I was going to buy with my A7R IV would be the stellar 90mm f/2.8 and although I also bought the 50mm f/2.8 that day as well, the 90mm spent most of last winter pretty much glued to the camera. I absolutely love that lens! I open the cabinet door and my hand automatically reaches for it.....LOL! It is well worth the money, and like other macro lenses, is versatile and can also be used as a portrait lens or for other purposes as well. I use it mostly for macro and closeups, though, since I'm not into portraiture and don't have anyone to pose for me anyway.

Shortly after I purchased the new gear I also bought a set of Kenko extension tubes. For years I had used Kenkos with my Nikon gear and found them to be very good quality, worth the money, so went for the same brand in the Sony E-mount and they have been very useful from time to time. I also have the well-regarded Nikon T6 closeup filter (no longer made) and the equally well-regarded but quite heavy Canon 500D closeup filters in a couple of different filter sizes, all which occasionally get used when I'm in an experimental mood. It's fun to see what kind of results one can get with these tools, either on a regular non-macro lens or on an actual macro lens!
 
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Allyance

Allyance

Contributor
Sep 29, 2017
2,074
7,662
East Bay, CA
I lived in the Finger Lakes of NY for over 20 years, quite satisfied to look at other peoples snow pictures! Some days it was so bad I had to use my front end loader to clean my driveway (over 200').
 
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