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Jerry van Dijk
09-01-2010, 02:37 PM
I got a quick try-out with a friends DSLR. A try-out which will probably cost me a lot of money in the near future, because the camera and lens were just GREAT! A huge difference with my usual bridge camera.....
This is a Willow Emerald damselfly (Lestes viridis), a common species here, but beautiful nonetheless.

Canon 400D, EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, ISO100, f/5.6, 1/200 sec, RAW.
ACR 5.0 and PS CS4. Cloned out a cut-off OOF leaf at the bottom.

Roman Kurywczak
09-01-2010, 02:53 PM
Hey Jerry,
It always costs us money!!! I think the sharpness is VG where you have it....even for that wide open. The BG is perfect.....perhaps a bit over to the left for a better angle......but all in all very nicely done!

Ken Childs
09-01-2010, 04:25 PM
I agree that a step to the left might have improved this slightly but it looks great as is!

Ian Cassell
09-01-2010, 04:53 PM
If this is the first time you've messed around with a dSLR/Macro combination, I'm going to cry. Excellent image!

Jerry van Dijk
09-02-2010, 04:57 AM
Thanks for commenting! I agree that the angle looks a bit off, but this was the plane in which I could get full focus from head to tail, so I'm guessing I had the right angle.
Ian, hold your tears. Working the bridge camera with closeup lens for macro makes using the dSLR/macro combination a walk in the park! With the bridge you are confronted with very slow autofocus, a long shutter delay, a very shallow focal plane compared with the macro lens (which focussus to infinity) and at the same time much less 'bokeh', no possibility to shoot high ISO because of all the noise, etc. etc. The only real advantages are that they are relatively cheap and wheigh next to nothing, which were my primary reasons to buy one in the first place. I've got the equivalent of a body, a 28-500 lens and a macro lens with a total weight < 500 g, which fits in a 15 x 10 x 10 cm bag :D!

Steve Maxson
09-02-2010, 05:14 PM
Hi Jerry. Good sharpness head to-tail on your damselfly, nice light, good comp, and a clean background. This very nice image would be even stronger, IMO, if we could see more of the damselfly's face (we're kind of looking at the back of its head, as presented). :) A very good result for a first try with the gear!

Don Lacy
09-04-2010, 11:02 AM
Hi Jerry, Nice work with a new camera, I really like how the Damsels color compliment the BG. I think you could have moved to the left and stopped down to around f/10 to get enough DOF for the body that is assuming you had enough distance between the BG and the subject .