Macro or Micro or Close Up..... Whatever you call it they're pretty!!

Being a stay at home dad does have it's benefits. I get to wander the streets like a lost puppy, and do pretty much anything I like during the day!! I can eat what I like, watch what a like, and listen to what I like (until the kids come home then all my fun is spoiled)..

So in these times of waning enjoyment of having not really that much to do all day, I get to experiment more than most others on photos and photographic techniques.

So yesterday was a nice sunny day in Melbourne (yes sun in winter) and I had to go shopping to get bread and milk, pick up some mail, and maybe even get a bite to eat. I always grab my camera before I leave the house, and chose to pop the Nikkor 60mm Micro. Now I must explain I have the older version of this lens (mine is the f2.8 D), but many of the characteristics of the lens are very much the same. 

I would LLLLLLUUUUURRRRRRRVVVVVEEEEEEE to get my hands on the new edition of this lens, even a slightly longer length would be nice, but I am loving what is achievable with more and more practice. On a technical level, one of the hardest things to get right is the DOF (Depth Of Field). Your working in such a small area that the DOF can be thrown out by something as simple as you breathing! I try and shoot at least f8 for most of my Macro use. If you can got to f14 or f16 you will get an even better look, but you risk needing a tripod unless its very sunny out (or you use a close up flash).

Think about these tiny little flowers we are trying to shoot.

These are barely the petal tips. Look at the amazing detail though!! The look as though the were snipped with scissors, or clipped at the ends with a punch. It's truly amazing what you can do with a macro lens. Remember that flowers and water drops aren't the only things you can photograph.

Sometimes a sign behind a wire fence can have a great repetitive pattern. The wire looks almost like you can touch it, and the pattern behind on the tin giving you something else to follow. 

So get creative with your Macro lens. I will be!!

Flinders Street Station Tunnel...

This is just a small capture I made on the way home from getting my hair cut today. 

It's very Zombie Apocalypse.. 

I suppose sometimes this is how people see these tunnels. Cold and lonely, with just enough scariness to get you to walk just that little bit faster.   

Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8.... Bow Down to it's AWESOMENESS

I have just become a "Nikon Nerd" today. Well I have always been a bit of a Nikon Nerd, but I entered the realm of UBER NERD today..

Yerp... I'm now the owner of just over 2K worth of probably the best glass in ALL THE WORLD!

The 24-70mm would have to be best regarded as a "Bread n' Butter" lens for most photographers Pro or Amateur. It covers the focal lengths for 90% of photography done today. Yes you might need a 12-24mm for Landscapes and Indoor Architecture shots; and the boys and girls shooting Sport and Wildlife will want a 70-200mm for those frame filling action works; but this lens will do pretty much anything you could want in between those two "specialty" styles of shooting.

I would argue that you could ask every photographer shooting now and I think almost everyone would say that if they had to choose 1 lens focal length, this would be it.

The nuts and bolts of this lens.. 24-70mm zoom (so on an APSC it would be 36-105mm) at a constant f2.8; 0.38m min Focusing Distance; Nano Coating for less flare (show ya later); Silent Wave Motor Focus; and heaps of other BLAH BLAH and WAH WAH....

So what's the reality... THIS IS FANTASTIC!!! I have owned a lot of stuff over the years, and this makes most everything look like Camel Piss!! This thing pulls your pants down and kicks you so hard in the privates, you ask for another to make sure that was the right thing to do. It is FACE SLAPPINGLY sharp!! I just cant get over it.

Just think, if your name isn't Limit or Full your out of focus!!! This lens is INSANE!! OK even I will admit that the Auto Focus is out by about 3-4mm but DAM!!

By the time you hit f8, it's in focus edge to edge (pretty much) and PIN SHARP!! 

Now you can see just in the bottom right of frame there is just a little bit of Flare. But lets be realistic, im pointing the lens pretty much in the sun behind the cloud!! 

So from zoomed all the way in at 70 or pulled out to 24mm, this lens out shoots anything I think I have seen ever!!

Again this lens is not for the feint hearten, as I said earlier it's going to set you back the better part of 2k. But it is worth EVERY PENNY!! You can forgive the Barrel Distortion and Pincushion (Photoshop will fix it later) because the lens is just SO GOOD!!! SOOOOO clean and crisp, with lovely color and tone. If I had to rate it you would say 4.5 out of 5 just because of the distortion, but that's being pretty harsh.

You can see all my test shots here with a lot more to come..