I've been wanting to get a proper macro lens for insect photography for quite a while now but the lenses have always been out of my price range. Recently however, I found I had saved up enough money to buy myself a Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens. The lens has been given brilliant reviews so I was expecting good results when I gave it a little test run at Bookham Common yesterday.
The weather was perfect for insects, with sunny skies and a gentle breeze meaning everything was active.
Scorpion Fly were numerous, so called because of their abdomen which appears to curl like that of a Scorpion, although you can't see it from this photo. The len's autofocus isn't it's strong point, being quite noisy and slow, but for macros I mainly use manual focus, which is easy and quick to use; allowing me to quickly adjust the lens to focus onto this flighty insect...
The lens' extremely close focus distance gave nice, frame filling shots of Helophilus Pendulus, a common Hoverfly on the Common, without any need to crop...
And of Common Darters, looking a bit worn for wear as we enter the autumn...
And a Speckled Wood, which allowed me to get close whilst it sunned itself...
I almost looked right past this spider, which had positioned it's legs so that it was as thin as the stem, presumably to allow it to catch prey un-noticed...
An added bonus was stumbling upon some young Toad along the path, and with help from the family, they were safely moved to an area of moist grass...
This lens couldn't be more different from what I'm used to, and the distance it can focus to is absolutely phenomenal to me at least, whilst still producing sharp and clear images.
A real test for the lens will be when I go to try and photograph a rare butterfly, occupying chalk downland in the South for just a few weeks every year, on Old Winchester Hill. See how I did in tomorrow's post...
2 comments:
Excellent results from the new macro lens.
Nice macro shots Bill.
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