Wild Flowers and a Macro Lens

-
On Tuesday morning I went for a very early (06:30) walk down by Hailes Castle. The sky was blue, the sun was in the sky and the birds were singing - it was one of those 'great-to-be-alive' days.  

 I was there to carry out a recce for a project that I am working on (more on this in the next couple of months) and with so many wild flowers and insects lit by the bright sunshine streaming through the branches, I decided to get the Fujinon 60mm macro out of the bag.


Out of the five Fujinon lenses I have, the 60mm f2.4 is the lens I use the least.  This isn't to say it is a bad lens, it isn't!  It is a superb lens but since I got to 55-200mm zoom I have found myself leaving the 60mm in the bag or back at the office.  However on this morning I reminded myself why I bought this lens and what a great macro performer it is.

 Let's get one thing straight from the start, the 60mm f2.4 isn't a true macro lens. The magnification ratio is 1:2 on the Fujinon and all true macro lenses are 1:1 or better.  BUT it doesn't really matter because not only is the 60mm a great performer in the close focusing stakes, it is also a great portrait and landscape lens as well.

 The 60mm fitted to the X-T1 is a great combination for one reason, the focus assist function on the X-T1 makes manual focusing a doddle.  Because AF can be a liability when working with such a shallow depth of field, manual focus is the best way.  

 The X-T1 EVF can be selected to 'Dual Mode' so you have two screens displayed in the viewfinder. On the left you have what the camera is seeing and on the right there is a smaller screen, showing a magnified version of the focusing area (see below).  

 With this you can immediately see if something is in focus or not -  for me it is one of the biggest plus points of the many the X-T1 has.
Dual Mode Viewfinder - image www.fujifilm.com

 Here are some of the wild flower shots I took on Tuesday morning with the Fujinon XF60mm f2.4R macro fitted to the X-T1.  










All images taken on a Fujifilm X-T1 and Fujinon XF60mm f2.4R

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY CLICKING THE GOOGLE ADVERTS
It doesn't cost you anything to click on an advert but we get a small fee for every click thru from Google and this helps support this blog - thank you for helping
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION


If you like what you see on this blog please visit our Facebook page and click 'like'

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: The New Fujinon 2x Converter

-
Image
Yesterday Fujifilm launched the latest edition to the Fujinon XF lens line up, the XF 2X TC WR teleconverter for use with the XF50-140mm f2.8 and XF100-400mm f4.5/5.6 zoom lenses.  In April I was invited by Fujifilm to test the new converter and here are my thoughts on this new lens. Before I go into details I need to be upfront about something.  I've never been a fan of 2x converters because the optical quality of the lens is usually affected to a large degree.   I did have a 1.4x and 2x converter for my lenses when I was shooting with Nikon. While the 1.4x converter was regularly attached to my long f2.8 lenses, the 2x converter was probably used about three times in the 18 years I used Nikkor lenses.  I didn't like the results when using the converter so tended to not use it. Anyway back to the X-Series!  The 1.4x Fujinon converter was launched in 2015 and I have been a fan of this diminutive lens attachment on both the 50-140mm and 100-400mm.  The optical qu
Read more

REVIEW: Using Nikon Lenses on a Fuji X Camera

-
Image
I've been using the Fujifilm X-Pro1 for the past month and I haven't enjoyed my photography so much since I bought the Fuji X100 12 months earlier.  The only issue I have with the X-Pro1 is the lack of a long telephoto lens.  The longest lens I have is the 60mm f2.4, which is the equivalent of a 90mm telephoto; it's a great lens but I sometimes wish my Fuji system had a bit more pulling power.   Fuji have provided the X system with a telephoto zoom, the 55-200mm f3.5 / f4.8 R LM OIS and I will be testing this lens next week for three days. I will be showing the results on this blog. However my Nikon kit has one of the best short telephoto zooms in the world, the Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 AF-D.  I bought this lens brand new in 1996 for £1600.00 and it has been a faithful companion ever since. I've bought and sold plenty of SLRs / DSLRs in the past 18 years but I've never felt the need to upgrade the 80-200mm because it is still optically the best lens I own and it ha
Read more

Rode Wireless Go for the Fujifilm X-T4

-
Image
One of the things I learned very quickly when using video is the need for clear audio. It doesn't matter how good the video looks, if the audio is poor, then the video is not going to be well received. Over the years I have invested in good, portable microphones even invested in a radio mic system.  This worked really well but when working in a motorsport environment, a broad range of radio frequencies are used for various uses and radio microphone frequencies are strictly controlled.  in some countries you also need to buy a licence, which can cost hundreds of pounds, so I quickly reverted back to wired microphones. This brought its own problems as when interviewing drivers the surrounding environment can be noisy, so you need to get the microphone as close as possible.  Of course, the extra added complication in the last few months means the interviewer has to stand at least 1.5 metres, which means wires trailing across the floor, which isn't good. In March
Read more