CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Image taken on X-T4 with XF35mm f1.4 and a 16mm Extension Tube Macro photography is a fascinating subject but cost wise the equipment needed can be eye watering, but it doesn't need to be.  There are several options to produce a macro image. A dedicated macro lens Adding extension tubes to decrease the minimum focusing distance and increase magnification. Using close up filters MACRO LENSES Fujiflm make two lenses that are labelled as 'macro'.   The first is the XF60mm f2.4 R, one of the three original X series prime lenses launched in 2013 and the newer XF80mm f2.8 R LM OIS WR macro.  The 60mm is not a true macro lens as it doesn't reproduced images at a ratio of 1:1, it is a 1:2 (half size) lens, where as the 80mm is a true 1:1 macro lens. I bought a 60mm in 2013 alongside the 18mm f2, 35mm f1.4 and 14mm f2.8 primes when I bought the X-Pro1.  It was an excellent short telephoto lens.  It was a bit slow in the auto focus department but optical...

The XF80mm f2.8 macro was unveiled last year and is the first 1:1 macro lens for the Fujifilm X Series.  With an equivalent 120mm focal length, this lens can double up as a short telephoto / portrait lens as well as magnify small objects. As someone who does a little bit of macro work I was intrigued to see if the 80mm was a better option than the 90mm f2 Fujinon prime which I use with extenders to allow me to shoot macro shots. There is a cost factor here as well.  The 90mm f2 is £879 compared to £1249 for the 80mm on the Fujifilm UK online shop, so does the 80mm justify the extra £370?  I suppose it depends on the amount of macro work you do. There are two obvious advantages that the 80mm has.  First it has OIS, the first XF prime to have this, and it can also accept the 1.4x and 2x converters, also the first prime lens to do this after the 50-140mm and 100-400mm zooms. As a portrait lens the 80mm is fantastic, but it isn't an f2 and this is where the 90m...

Today I hosted a MacLean Photographic Woodland Exploration workshop here in East Lothian and after a week of torrential rain and howling winds the weather gods decided to smile on me and abate for the day. This morning was spent up at Innerwick Castle, exploring the woodland around the old ruin.  With bright sunlight filtering through the trees we were able to shoot some of the ferns and fungi that were spotlit by the natural light piercing the canopy of leaves above our heads. After a spot of lunch we headed out to Tyningham for a walk through the woods and along the shoreline, capturing the flowers and trees in this wonderful natural woodland setting. If you are interested in joining me on a workshop here in East Lothian you will find details on the MacLean Photographic website HERE .   Remember if you don't find a suitable date you can contact me at tours@macleanphotographic.co.uk to see if we can find a more suitable date for your schedule. All images we...

A macro shot of a dandelion clock at the John Muir Country Park near Dunbar.   It was taken on the Fujifilm X-T2 and 35mm f1.4 Fujinon lens fitted with a 16mm extender to allow closer focusing on the subject.

I spotted these spider webs on the shore of Lake Chuzenji in Nikko National Park in Japan when we visited a couple of weeks ago.  The lake was shrouded in mist and the scene was very spooky as there were boats and pedalos pulled up on the beach after the summer season. The shot at the top of the page was shot on the Fujifilm X100T on the macro setting, which allowed me to shoot a little closer than normal to focus on the centre of the web.  The lens was set at F2 to give me a shallow depth of field. The second shot below is of a web attached to a boat winch was taken on the Fujifilm X-T2 which was fitted with the XF50-140mm f2.8 zoom lens and set at the 140mm end of the zoom range. Both images were shot in colour and converted to mono in NIK Silver EFEX Pro2 software in post production.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISE...

The Apple iPhone 6S Plus continues to impress and I have added a set of Polaroid lenses to enable me to get a video variety of images with the camera phone.  The Polaroid lens set clips onto the camera lens and gives me three options - wide angle, macro and fisheye. The seashell shot above was taken using the macro adapter and the image below was taken with the standard iPhone lens at the closest point it would focus.  As you can see the macro lens allows you to focus a lot closer and the detail is excellent for a phone camera. The images were shot on Belhaven beach near our home in Dunbar using the iPhone's SQUARE format mode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. -------------------------------------...