Flying High Part 2

Tonight I did another macro trip through the neighbourhood and I spotted some hooverflies. In the last few weeks I'm slowly building a "bug in flight" database and these are a nice addition to my collection.
I was very pleased with the photos I got tonight and even more so with the succes rate. The first 4 images are from a series of 8 photos!That's a whopping 50% succes rate :-) Even for my standards I'm very happy with that number!


I used my Pentax *ist-DS with a side mounted AF400T flash again in combination with the FA* 200/4.0 macro lens as this lens has the best manual focus feel compared with the A* 200/4.0 macro. Aperture was set fixed at F16 and the distance to subject was about 60 to 70 centimeters. The flies would slightly overexpose with these settings, but nothing that wasn't within the RAW files limits so no real information was lost here in postprocessing.

I liked the series so much that I'm currently wondering what I need to do to improve these photos in the future. Perhaps two of them in the same frame facing each other?

Lowepro Nature trekker AW II vs Mini Trekker

After having spend almost 1,5 years with using the Lowepro Mini Trekker extensively, I found that it wasn't up to the task of carrying my normal travel lens kit anymore. The weight of the fast Pentax lenses pressed it out of shape and I had the feeling the padding wasn't up to absorbing the shocks well enough. So I went looking for a good replacement.
So far I'm very impressed with the build quality of the Nature Trekker AW II.



In the photos I've attached it's packed from topleft to the right and downwards with the following lenses:
- F 1.7X converter on top of the FA 50/1.4
- F 100/2.8 macro
- FA* 24/2.0
- Metz 40-MZ2 flash
- DS with FA* 28-70/2.8
- FA* 300/4.5
- FA* 80-200/2.8 - A* 85/1.4

In the 3 compartments in the flap: 3 times 4 AA batteries, some memory cards and an image tank. The compartment on the outside is still empty
The pockets are fairly deep so the smaller lenses can be placed in there in pairs if need be (like the converter with the 50mm), the 300mm is placed fairly spacy so with some adjustments over there, an additional lens can be fitted in. The waistband really gives good support so not all weight is carried on the shoulders, but is also transferred to the hips. The padding is a lot thicker than with the mini trekker so protection is much better also, the two main dividers on the inside have a plastic strip inside to help it keep it's shape.
The tripod holder on the side works like a charm with the monopod and I assume it will also with the normal tripod.

Flying High

Last weekend was a very good day to perform some macro shooting again. At the end of the day, temperatures had dropped to about 20 degrees Celsius so the various bugs came out of their hiding place to feed and bask in the afternoon sunshine.
I attached the Pentax AF400T to the side of my camera and mounted the FA* 200/4.0 macro for some shooting. Especially the various fly species were present in large numbers.

I did capture some bubble blowing flies before during a shoot, but that day I spotted a particular large one that gave some excellent close-up abilities at 1:1 setting. I have to remind myself to look into the phenomenon to see why they are blowing these liquid bubbles!

In a nearby forest there were large quantities of hooverflies flying in the afternoon sunbeams. The use of the flash enabled me to capture quite few of them in mid-air. Needless to say I was pleased with these photos, as I don't get the chance to shoot them like this. After cropping to about 50% of the original size, they make quite handsome enlargements.


The sample above was taken with the following specs:
Focal Length: 200 mm
Exposure Time: 1/180 sec
Aperture: f/16
ISO Equivalent: 200
Exposure Bias: -2/3