Well my camera arrived back from repair and I must say I was jolly impressed as it was as good as new.
The issues with the SD slots had been resolved and the camera itself had had a complete service and clean.
Initially I continued to use my new camera in the mornings for recording and it was only when we planned our next field trip I was faced with the question of swapping the Macro lens and teleconverter back onto the older model.
I must admit I had certain apprehensions at the thought of having to swap my macro lens from one camera to the other every time we decided to go walking.
Although lens changing is common practice for professional photographers I had already discovered that for macro photography great care needs to be taken of preventing any contamination at all in and around the sensor area due to the issues it causes when utilizing stacking as explained in a previous post.
I mulled this over for a while and considered the possibility of purchasing a second macro lens which although an expensive way of solving the problem may well have benefits if this time I went for a 50mm lens.
I had originally, after taking advice, decided to go for a 100mm lens as this would mean I could be further away from the subject so as not to disturb them and give me a better opportunity of getting the shots I was looking for.
Out in the field whilst taking shots of butterflies for example there is a great advantage to being as far away from them as possible as they can easily be disturbed especially if you cause a shadow to fall on them.
In the moth house however, this is not the case as the moths need to be settled in the first place if there is going to be any chance of getting a decent stacked shot.
A 100mm lens when taking pictures of micro moths in the moth house is not too much of a problem as they are so small you are using the minimum distance to focus anyway.
This is not the case for the larger macro moths when taking side shots as to get them in the frame you need to focus at a greater distance.
The moth house is small, and I am rotund and not quite as mobile as I used to be, so I sometimes found myself contorting my body in such a manner to cause the least discomfort whilst trying to keep the camera steady for a 20-shot stack.
It was obvious that I needed to do a detailed cost analysis of a new Macro lens against the possibility of numerous chiropractor visits.
I decided that over time the new lens would in fact be more cost effective and not to add a second teleconverter to the shopping list would be churlish.
I don’t think my wife was totally convinced when I explained that spending more money on photographic equipment would prevent me from spending the rest of my retirement in traction but as always, she came around in the end.
My new lens and converter arrived, and I put my strategy into action immediately but, as in my next post entitled ‘The best laid plans’, the results were not exactly as I had expected