To get the game rolling along, I here is another "Unfair Pair". About ten minutes after I shot the Anemone picture in the post above, I took the first of these two shots:
One Tired Dragonfly, #1 One Tired Dragonfly, #2
This pairing is a shot at redemption for the
Pentax FA 77/1.8 Limited. I spied this dragonfly perched in good light on a piece of rebar in my garden. Not wanting to waste the opportunity to get a shot at the beastie, I aimed the FA 77 at the bug and got as close as I could using AF with SR turned on. After several shots, I decided to take a chance and hustled back to exchange the FA 77 for a proper macro lens.
Now my
Sigma 50/2.8 EX DG Macro is not the best tool for approaching a powerhouse dragonfly, but this fellow must have been pretty tuckered out. He very tolerantly let me grab about 25 shots in various poses on various perches at magnifications close to 1:1. Whoo! Hoo!! Finally a friendly/tired bug!
Later that evening, I was looking at the shots and doing a bit of pixel peeping. At that point I realized that the 100% crop from the 77 Limited was pretty close in quality to the best un-cropped images from the Sigma. Both of the above where hand-held using natural light.
Unfair!? You Betcha! What a nasty thing to show up a macro lens doing what it is supposed to be good at. Everyone knows that you can't do macro with the 77 Limited. It doesn't even have a close focus setting! It is like taking a Ferrari into the mud bogs to play with the Hummers. BTW...the FA 77 was at f/4.5 and the Sigma was at f/9.5. You want to know which is which?
Suggestions for future posts...
Fisheyes and teles for various subjects?
Low light/Hi Light for various subjects?
High ISO/Low ISO for various subjects?
Strobe/Available light?
Proper use/Improper use?
Makeup/No Makeup?
Again the idea is to mix the pot from both a technical and artistic point of view...SO BRING ON THE UNFAIR PAIRS!
Steve
(BTW...I am not sure what these shots say about Pentax AF...)
(Considering pairing the FA 35/2 on the K10D with the K 55/1.8 on the KX...what could be more unfair than viewing the output of a modern lens/camera with that of an antique shooting film!!! Bru...Ha! Ha! Ha!)