The right gear for the job

After nipping in to town on Wednesday to chase up a lens I had on order I got an e-mail yesterday to say it had arrived. First thing this morning I went to collect it, then raced home to try it out. Right on cue the rain stopped and I got down and dirty shooting some ants. Too mobile for me! Looking round the back of the garage I found a damp and cold butterfly which proved to be a patient model for me to practice on. It was low to the ground which made life difficult and the results weren't perfect.

First effort with the new lens

After lunch I had an errand to run, taking the camera along as I planned to wander round a local nature reserve looking for small things to photograph on my way home. Before that I tried the lens out as a simple telephoto and found it pretty darned good.

Headlight reflections

At the reserve I kept my eyes on the ground at the side of the path on the lookout for fungi, of which there were plenty, but most either chewed or past their best. It was good practice which made me think that a simple reflector to use opposite an off-camera flash might be useful for fungi shots under the tree canopy.

Some toadstools

Always thinking of images I tried to capture some of cricketers practising before a village match. Some almost worked.

Bales and bails

As I was chasing a ladybird round a plant the rain came back and having no jacket and nothing to keep the camera dry I raced back to the car and home having started to get the hang of the lens. On the PC the results are quality of the images is pretty impressive, even if the pictures aren't yet. It certainly looks to do a better job of the close-up stuff than my 70-300 - it focuses faster and with less noise too.

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