Minolta was oddly fanatical about having zoom lenses with 1:4 macro. A couple of the MD's had it (28-85, 35-70/3.5, and 35-105), but with their first batch of AF lenses they went plain nuts:
28-85, 28-135, 35-70/4, 35-105, 70-210/4, and the 75-300 all had 1:4. But they weren't all at the long end. The 28-85 and 28-135 both had it at the short end. With 1-1.5m (!) MFD, I find the 28mm macro to be quite useful. The 35-105 might be the best of the bunch for ease of finding a good copy. But the 70-210/4 (Beercan) and the 75-300 (Big Beercan) were both 1:4 at the long end. A 300mm at 1:4 is surprisingly useful.
But the most interesting one to me is the MD 35-105 first version which had 1:4 macro throughout its range. Been looking for one of these for a bit. The other one I am dying to find is the 50-135/3.5. So curious about this. What a great lens for an aps-c body with a 75-200/3.5.
arduluth wrote:
Boring photo, but I love what this lens is able to do. I don't get a lot of use out of it, since I usually reach for something faster or smaller, but it's the one zoom that actually sees occasional use. Taken handheld in macro mode, I think at 1:4. Feel free to check out the full size.
Before & after: same subject, same lens, taken 23 hours apart. It was great to have this part of Olympic Nat'l Park to myself as the storm descended on the area, but it did become an adventure getting back to the highway. Maple & lichens--Staircase area, ONP, WA.
A few more from our trip to Istanbul. Thinking about Istanbul today and knowing that the first two of these pictures were taken just over a month ago within a few hundred meters of where the bombs exploded today (and the others not much farther away).
Hagia Sophia with FE 35/2.8 at F8:
Blue Mosque with FE 55/1.8 at F8:
Inside the Harem at Topkapi Palace with Leica WATE:
Topkapi again with FE55:
Harem ceiling with Leica WATE (1/5 of a second hand held at ISO 3200, the A7r2 is a marvel):
Luvwine. Lovely shots. Good to hear you were unaffected.
My wife insisted we cancel our planned one month Xmas/New Year visit to, and travel via, Istanbul (we had to cancel the same planned trip, at a substantial financial loss, 2 years ago because my wife slipped 3 discs in her back) and on to Valencia.
We would have been returning via Istanbul, staying a week in each direction, just at that time. Our Croatian friends (currently just pen pals - known via FM) have just returned so I'm happy that they also escaped any involvement.
The location of the bomb, close to the Blue Mosque, shows that it was specifically targeting tourists and large crowds. Very sad. This is really going to hurt Turkey, with Russian tourists already banned from visiting the country.
Frogfish wrote:
Luvwine. Lovely shots. Good to hear you were unaffected.
My wife insisted we cancel our planned one month Xmas/New Year visit to, and travel via, Istanbul (we had to cancel the same planned trip, at a substantial financial loss, 2 years ago because my wife slipped 3 discs in her back) and on to Valencia.
We would have been returning via Istanbul, staying a week in each direction, just at that time. Our Croatian friends (currently just pen pals - known via FM) have just returned so I'm happy that they also escaped any involvement.
The location of the bomb, close to the Blue Mosque, shows that it was specifically targeting tourists and large crowds. Very sad. This is really going to hurt Turkey, with Russian tourists already banned from visiting the country....Show more →
Thanks for the kind words. Agreed on all counts. Casualties were primarily Germans (8 or 9 out of 10). It is so sad and senseless. I made a conscious decision to go through with our trip despite knowing there were risks. The statistics made me feel better in that the odds of dying as a result of a terrorist attack are somewhat more remote than being struck by lightning. One is far more likely to die in a car crash abroad than by any other means. Still, fear is a powerful motivator and I suspect Turkey's tourism industry will no doubt be hurt by this. For those brave enough to go, the Lira is weak and therefore prices for food and hotels are bargains in one of the great cities of the world. The people are seemingly uniformly helpful and welcoming to tourists. It is a very sad time.
Photo taken about 35 minutes after Sunrise on August 16, 2015 of a Doe White Tail Deer, Big Meadows, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. Image cropped and taken with my tripod mounted Canon new FD 500mm f4.5 L lens and my A7r, ISO 250, lens set to f4.5 for 1/160 second. Processed in LR6.
Our new backyard sees so much traffic from all sorts of critters... Lots of deer, squirrels, hares, and possibly even bobcat and coyote. My wife, a master naturalist, and I got ourselves a trail cam for Christmas. Can't wait to see what we find is sharing our yard with us!
