Here's some shots with the 300mm f/4 AF-S and my D300. All except for the last were shot with a PN-11 extension tube attached. All on a tripod with mirror lockup.
Andre Labonte wrote:
Nice work. What is the working distance for those close up shots?
End of lens to subject... Probably a bit more than two feet. Two and a half maybe? Lots, anyway. Gets down to about 1:2 at the closest distance.
Any comments on that last shot? Something draws me to it but it's one of those frustrating images where it catches my eye but I'm not sure if I love it.
Nope, no autofocus. The Nikon PN-11 is a 52.5mm extension tube intended for one of the old 90mm macro lenses. It has no electrical or mechanical contacts whatsoever except for the aperture lever. Aperture is controlled by the ring on the lens, metering is performed by the D300 on-sensor and the focus is manual.
At these magnifications, though, I don't find autofocus to be useful at all. The depth of field is very shallow and the AF simply isn't going to guess right most of the time.
Minimum working distance is right around two and a half feet and that's about where I stay most of the time. All of the bug shots have some small cropping - not a lot, but it is indicative of my using the maximum magnification available.
I hate you, I had thought about this lens and researched it and decided not to spend the money because I didn't gain that much and the sample images with it i have seen were less than impressive, but i am always leary of peoples sample shots.
These shots are beautiful, tack sharp and do exactly what i wanted the lens to do for me. It is now back to #1 on my save for list and has kicked the 80-400vr off of it for good i believe.
Thank you for posting these wonderful images it has confirmed my belief that this would make a wonderful addition to my lens line up.
If you could post some with this lens and the 1.4x tele i would appreciate it as well.
I don't have any with the 1.4x since I don't own it (I used it quite a bit because my dad owns the 1.4x and 2x, and he mailed 'em to me for a couple months, but those pictures were lost in a theft). Lots with the 1.7x, though. I didn't specifically upload any this morning but here are some that are kicking around on my server/Photobucket account.
Any comments on that last shot? Something draws me to it but it's one of those frustrating images where it catches my eye but I'm not sure if I love it.
Yes, I like it a lot. If it were mine, I think I'd be looking for a frame.
Man i am really liking this lens now, I need to throw 3-400 more into my play fund and i should be able to pic up a copy if i can find one. I really don't want to put anything else on cc's I still have 2-300 on it form camera gear as it is now....
Genes Home wrote:
I was doing fine and was really impressed with your work with this lens until the darn mosquito showed up.
I think it's technically some variety of crane fly, but I've passed along your dissatisfaction with his modeling shots and he was very sad. Muttered something about losing weight and getting a facial.
lol