Technical Difficulties and Compact Macro

Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve published anything. Quite a bit has gone on, and precluded me posting anything. Chief among them, work had some busy weeks and my main computer had a storage failure. I recovered from this failure with most if not all of my files intact, but it did keep me off balance for a while.

Equipment-wise I’ve gotten the EF 100mm f/2 repaired and now also have am EF 50mm Compact Macro. I got a good deal on the 100mm f/2 reair, though it’s hard to know if I twisted the repair shop’s arm or if an attempt to upsell me another used 100mm f/2 backfired on them. As for the Compact Macro, it was a good value but Fringer doesn’t have a profile for this lens yet (largely limiting me to manual focus on my Fuji camera).

It’s tricky learning and using an effectively manual macro lens, but it does deliver on the promise of enhancing small subjects on plants.

Yesterday I got quite a bit of use out of this Compact Macro on the Washington Park Loop in Anacortes. While it is often a great spot for birding (as someone feeds the birds in the park regularly), it was too crowded that day for the birds to make their usual rounds. Instead, quite a few bugs were out but getting focus was a bit troublesome. Bees were out in abundance, but they were moving erratically enough I couldn’t get a good combination of framing, angle, and focus without disturbing them.

A simple flash and tiny aperture make the going easier. However, it renders the background pitch-black. I’ve yet to develop an appreciation for this effect, but some others I’ve shown my pictures to love it.