Tamron 90mm Macro

Tamron SP AF Di 90mm Macro

     Today's weather was heavy overcast and no contrast. I thought "What better way to spend the day?" Macro photography! I went to a field behind the house, sat for a few and just looked until the little creachers came into view.

    The Pentax K5 iis designed with "Digital Filters" one of these filters Pentax calls "Color Point" allows the user to pre-select the color in the image to appear in the final image. So if you want just "Red" to appear in the image, select "Red" in the menu and that's about it. I had a lot of fun digging into the custom features of the Pentax K5 iis, this is something I don't do and I'm pretty straight forward with my settings. 

    Below I have posted some samples of my "Macro Photography" and will continue to use this rig as my "Go-Too" macro rig. 

    The Tamron SP AF Di 90mm Macro Lens in my opinion is the best/sharpest Macro Lens for the money. This Macro Lens continues to shoot great photos and remains one of the best lenses in my kit. I can't wait to shoot with it again!

End Of The Season

     Well, we have reached the end of warm weather in Ohio and my little Macro friends have all but vanished until warmer weather returns. I have thousands of images to edit over the cold months and still thrive for any creative ideas for winter time. 

    December through March Ice and snow are always great subjects to photograph. No Snowflakes are the same (so I'm told) and always presents a challenge. Most of the leaves have fallen and the tree's are bare until spring time.

    I continue to enjoy my Pentax K5 iis along with the many lenses I use regularly. I plan to invest in a new DSLR over the winter months, The Pentax K1 full frame. I look forward to pushing the K1 to the limits and can't wait to see the image quality.

    Until we meet again, Happy Shooting!

Mt. Jeez

     For quite some time, I have been wanting to ride to the top of Mt. Jeez and get some landscape shots. The winding road leading to the top was nothing more than a goatrail. Once at the top I was gifted with a wonderful view of the surrounding area in all directions. 

    After some research, I discovered Mt. Jeez has the highest point in Ohio. Mt. Jeez stands 1,310 ft above Sea level and the best part it's only twenty miles from home. Mt. Jeez is located just off the beaten path next to Malabar Farms. 

    My final thoughts from this road trip brings me to this conclusion, Things in this World change with the seasons. I arrived at this location at the wrong time of the year. The folidge appear bland to the eye due to all the green colors. This same image will be completely different come fall with all the leaves changing. I plan to return to this same location when the leaves have changes in the Fall. I posted an image from the first trip and will post another from the second trip come Fall.

 

 MEKE MK-14EXT RING FLASH

    So for about two months now, I've been focused on Macro Photography and just received the new MEKE MK-14EXT Ring Flash. The image quality I get from the Tamron 90mm Macro are spot on but what I was seeing were hot spots. Hot spots were a result from using the on-camera flash unit. The direct, harsh, and uneven light causes me way too much post processing and I have found my solution.

    Attached to this post will be some sample images using the Ring Flash. Overall I like the control of the lighting this unit gives me and look forward to more shots with it.

    In a few week I will add to this post after I've had time to really see what this flash unit will do along with more images.

This Image was shot with the PENTAX K5 IIs

TAMRON SP Di90mm Macro

It Left As Fast As It Came!

     

BUSTED

    A few weeks ago I posted on the Blog a camera I was awaiting. The Panasonic Lumix FZ80 arrived and I got things going. The camera was rated within the upper range of Bridge Cameras due to It's long focal-length and additional features. My expectations were higher than reality and that's the bad part. So let's get started... 

    First of all,  this is not the type of review for future purchasers of this camera looking for recommendations. This is nothing more than my (personal) opinion of this camera from the retail price to Its quality and features. I chose not to include sample images to backup my praises or faults. I chose to go this route because my intent with this is not to convince you to buy or not to buy this camera.  With that being said; I have used digital cameras from the start and have seen the quality advance throughout its existence. I will never claim to be above anyone with my opinion or criticism.

Let's start with the good....

The first thing I liked was the size and weight. The FZ80 felt well in my hand  and well balanced. The controls offered to your fingers were well thought out and the menu system offered a ton of options. Once upon a time, I owned the Sony Mavica when digital cameras were in the early stages of usable quality, and 35mm film was still king in the Pro world. Why am I telling you this? because when I first looked at the images, (3000+) the Mavica was my first thought. Image quality was horrible.

Now to the bad....

    A camera for the most part has two sections. The camera body and the lense. On the Lumix FZ80 the combination doesn't work. The photosensor can't support the extreme focal length (1200mm). Let me explain. When the lense is zooms to the max (1200mm), the image quality is unusable. My opinion is that the image detail is being destroyed due to the (CellPhone) sensor to the point it's unusable. Image noise can only be corrected to a point in post-production before sharpness fades and this Body/Lens combination rides well above that point. I think the zoom range is amazing and just wished they (Panasonic) would have given a bit more focus on the sensor quality. My question is "What good is a 1200mm camera if the quality is MIA?" I see no sense in sacrificing image quality for focal length, it doesn't work and that's my beef. 

Finally....

    The Panasonic Lumix FZ80 1200mm would be a great! camera if it had a sensor that would stand up to the lens. I'm happy I purchased the camera and even happier I was able to return it via Amazon. And I got a chance to see what the Bridge camera was all about. 

In The End....

    In the end I think this camera fits somewhere in the photo world. Maybe to a real estate agent needing a quick photo of a property to post on the web this camera would work, but then again, most agents are using their cell phone and I can't blame them, the quality you can get from today's cell phones are much better than this camera.

    

 Car Show Ashland Oh

2021

This was my first photo shoot with the new Lumix FZ80. First thing I learned was "FAST SHUTTER SPEED!!"

Opteka 500mm f/6.3 Mirror Lens

 This Lens I got two weeks ago on Amazon ($52) and this is what it is and what it's not....

    What it is: Opteka 500mm f/6.3 Mirror Lens. This lens has manual focus only that I found to be very smooth. This lens weighs about as much as my 50mm 1.4 prime and feels well in the hand.

    That's It........that's all there is

Image quality on anything you have to crop is lost and hand holding this beast is near impossible even at speeds of 1/4000.

    Let's take a step back for a moment. I purchased this lens for the focal length shooting wildlife. In my opinion you have to have at a minimum of a 400mm lens to get the image size you want (Or close to). The issue is a prime lens or telephoto lens at these focal lengths become very expensive. It's not uncommon to see a 150-450mm lens at the $2000.00 price and up. So with that said, I have been searching for a solution to this problem and took a try on this long Mirror Lens.

    I wont take anything away from this lens based on It's price and amount of fun I've had shooting with it. But It has a market place and maybe in the hands of the right person for the right situation, It might be ok. I had a blast testing this lens but for what I'm shooting, It fell well short. The below image was shot handheld and the sharpness is the best I could get.