Tag: Macro Photography

Lensbaby Macros

I got up this morning and checked my phone to see that I had a text from my client. The delayed opening is delayed further. This winter weather is affecting my revenues. I expect to have a 25% financial shortfall this quarter. Sigh!

I had a strange night. I went to bed around 10 PM but had difficulty falling asleep. I had weird dreams about wide-angle zoom lenses. The entire night! Perhaps because I was reading through some of the photography articles on my iPad right before bed. I'm not sure, but I was not too fond of it. I woke up feeling tired.

Tuesday 18 February, 2014 | Nikon D5100 | Composer | 0.5 sec at f/11 | ISO 100

As I made my breakfast, I thought that perhaps I needed to get something out of my system. It's been a while since I used my camera equipment. Using the 35mm meant going outside and walking around. Perhaps I could find something inside to shoot with the 85mm. I saw the flowers on the dining table and decided to shoot that. But then I realised the 85mm has a long focusing distance. I wanted to shoot something close-up. I remembered I had Frank Veronsky's Lensbaby Composer and macro kit.

I experimented with different f-stop settings until I found one that gave me the depth of field that I wanted. f/8 didn't give me the results I wanted, so I tried f/11 and f/16. I lit the flowers from above using three 60W daylight compact fluorescents. I shot in manual mode on a tripod and a Sekonic lighter-meter to set the exposure.

The images were processed in Adobe Lightroom and Color Efex Pro.

Tuesday 18 February, 2014 | Nikon D5100 | Composer | 1.0 sec at f/16 | ISO 100

Olympus OM-D E-M5 + M.Zuiko ED 12-50mm F:3.5-6.3 EZ

I'm looking for a new camera system, something for family vacations or road trips. I want something smaller and lighter than my Nikon D5100, but also interchangeable lenses. To me, that means one of the compact system interchangeable lens (ILC aka mirror-less) cameras such as the Sony NEX system, the Fujifilm X system, or the micro-four-thirds system. I tend to hang on to my tech longer than most of my friends. I bought a Nikon D40 in 2006 and didn't upgrade until 2013 when I purchased a used D5100 on eBay. I want a compact system that will suffice for just as long. I could buy a point-n-shoot, but I would miss choosing lenses, control aperture and shutter speed, etc. I think in the back of my mind, I'm not committed to the DSLR format. In five years, I've bought only three lenses, and none are so expensive that I couldn't dump the system and start over.

Saturday 19 October, 2013 | Olympus E-M5 | 1⁄160 sec | ISO 200 | OLYMPUS M.12-50mm F3.5-6.3 | F8

Over the summer I rented the Fujifilm X-E1 and last week I borrowed my friend's Olympus PEN EP-3.

I like both cameras, but each had faults. The Fujifilm X-E1 had a slow (electronic viewfinder) and auto-focus (AF), and the Olympus PEN EP-3 had no EVF. The Fujifilm X-E1, however, convinced me that the CSC format could produce excellent results. I also loved the retro film camera look and feel of some of the cameras.

Saturday 19 October, 2013 | Olympus E-M5 | 1⁄125 sec | ISO 500 | OLYMPUS M.12-50mm F3.5-6.3 | F8

Before my friend offered to loan me his EP-3 I had ordered a rental, the Olympus OM-D EM-5, from Lensrentals along with the Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 lens. I had the weekend to try what is considered the high-end Olympus line. Of course, Olympus announced an update to the EM-5, the Olympus OM-D EM-1, so I was testing out the deprecated technology.

Friday 12 November, 2021 | Olympus E-M5 | 1⁄125 sec | ISO 1600 | OLYMPUS M.12-50mm F3.5-6.3 | F8

This article isn't a review1. It's more my thought and impressions on the Olympus OM-D EM-5. The camera is about the same size as the EP-3. The EVF worked better than I expected. The EVF in the Fujifilm X-E1 felt quite slow and couldn't keep up with the fast movement of the camera for tracking running kids, flying birds etc. The Olympus OM-D EM-5 tracked well. I didn't notice any lag. Setting the camera up was quite easy. It's quite light. Battery life isn't quite up to the level I expected. It's a lot worse than the Nikon. After just one day of shooting about 100 images, the battery was exhausted. I can easily get three to four full days of shooting out of my Nikon D5100's battery. Perhaps the EM-1 is better.

The images below give you a decent idea of what to expect from the EM-5. Since the D5100 has an APS-C sensor with a 1.5 crop factor and the EM-5 has a micro four-thirds sensor with a crop factor of 2.0, I used my AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 G lens. To create a near similar comparison, I set the 12-50 mm lens to 26mm. This means that both cameras were shooting at the 35mm equivalent of 52mm. Both cameras were set to ISO 200 and f/8 in aperture priority mode. I couldn't see much of a difference between these two images (other than the slightly different crop). The Olympus OM-D EM-5 pictures seem to have more contrast, and the colours are more vivid, but these may be some settings that I overlooked or the slightly different aperture. The EM-5 felt tiny in my hand. I missed having a grip to hold the camera one-handed.

Olympus OM-D E-M5 | Saturday 19 October, 2013 | Olympus E-M5 | 1⁄100 sec | ISO 200 | M.Zuiko ED 12-50mm F:3.5-6.3 EZ | F5.6

The Nikon with the AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G at f/6.3.

20 October 2013 – Nikon D5100 + AF-S Nikkor 35 mm f/1.8 G @ f/6.3, ISO 200

The Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 is a macro lens. I shot the spider at f/10 to provide enough DOF to capture the spider in focus. Once turned on, the lens locks in at 43mm. It's straightforward to use, and I love the results.

Given that Sony, Fuji and Olympus announced new cameras and lenses this month, I have many choices. PhotoPlus Expo is coming up, and I may have an opportunity to try out the new Sony A7, the Olympus OM-D EM-1 and the Fuji X-E2. I am very excited about the X-E2. Early reports are that Fuji has fixed the problems exhibited by the X-E1. If so, then my decision will be even harder. The results from these CSC cameras makes me wonder if I can replace my DSLR altogether.

Friday 18 October, 2013 | Olympus E-M5 | 1⁄125 sec | ISO 1600 | OLYMPUS M.12-50mm F3.5-6.3 | F6.3
  1. Robin Wong has written about the Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm F3.5-6.3. ?

Backyard macro photography with the Lensbaby Composer

What's the real difference between the Standard post format and the Image post format? The same number of images and the same result.

I'm getting better with the Lensbaby Composer, and I'm enjoying using it for macro photography. My biggest challenge has been focusing on. With macro, one has to be very steady when hand-held. A tripod helps, but it's not easy to place a tripod for the shot.

All images were shot handheld on my Nikon D5100 in manual mode. My Sekonic light-meter helped get the shutter readings for the chosen lens aperture. I used an aperture of f/5.6, which provided enough depth-of-field to get the subject in focus.

Sunday 1 September, 2013 | Nikon D5100 | Composer | 1⁄500 sec | ISO 400

The Lensbaby has no electronics to signal the DX body. The Lensbaby Composer has a novel way to control depth of field using little discs with holes that are dropped into a cavity at the front of the lens. Apertures are manually controlled and not reported to the camera. The aperture discs allow apertures of f/2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, and 22. Focus is accomplished by pushing the entire lens assembly forward for close focusing and back for distant focusing. This is a fully manual setup.

This little green guy was hopping around in the grassy area behind my home. He stopped his hopping to pose for me. I was happy about that. It can be hard to focus when the depth of field is minimal. Move your setup even just a few mm, and the entire image is out of focus.

Sunday 1 September, 2013 | Nikon D5100 | Composer | 1⁄250 sec | ISO 400

The spider built a web between the stalk of one of my palms and the side of the house. Unlike the grasshopper, it didn't like posing, and the web moved gently in the wind. I had to take about twenty shots to get these two.

spider
Sunday 1 September, 2013 | Nikon D5100 | Composer | 1⁄500 sec | ISO 100