Album: Around the House
I recently purchased a Pentax Q compact interchangeable lens camera. Aside form a wanting a fun and compact camera, I was intrigued by the prospects of excellent macro capabilities using this camera and K Mount macro lenses - along with a K to Q mount adapter.
Here are a couple shots of spiders from earlier today, taken with the Q and D-FA 100mm f2.8 macro lens. The tiny sensor size means great depth of field at open apertures, which also means high shutter speeds and lower ISO settings. I hope to be doing some more macro work with the Q in the days ahead.
These were both out in my wildflower garden, which is now completely overrun by non-wild Sweet Autumn Clematis. I’m certain that the first subject is a Nursery Web Spider, mostly likely Pisaurina mira. I’d guess that the second one is another species of Nursery Web Spider as well.
Click the images for larger files.
Bull thistles have popped up all over my wildflower garden this summer, and Goldfinches have been watching them closely all season long. The bull thistles started blooming a few weeks ago, and when I look out of my upstairs office windows late in the day I see the finches reveling in the thistle seed. They also gather the down for their nests, and this is the time of year when they lay eggs and raise their young.
I took a few lazy stabs at photographing these guys in past years and in the last few weeks, but recently decided to get serious. I broke out the Pentax SMC A*400 f2.8 and 1.7x teleconverter / autofocus adapter, and rummaged through my closet for a suitable flash bracket. It’s been years since I used this setup!
Last weekend I did not have much luck - every time I stepped out the door the finches flew off. So this afternoon I setup the camera and big lens peeking around the corner of my wife’s car, grabbed a book and some beer, and sat back to enjoy the afternoon, reading. It took a few hours but eventually the finches came back to the thistles, and when they did they no longer seemed concerned about me or my efforts to photograph them. With a little luck, I’ll get a few more shots before the summer is over.
Click on the images for larger files.
My new/used Lensbaby 3g for the K-mount arrived today. It is *a lot* easier to use than my old Lensbaby Muse. A couple shots of Jazz hanging out in the office - taken with a Pentax K5. Click the images for a larger picture.
