Cameras-n- Stuff

I discovered something really neat on YouTube a couple of days ago. You can find “sleeping” critters in the early morning who are oblivious to your presence as you photograph them to your heart’s delight.

Canon Rebel T3i equipped with Canon 70-200mm f/4.0 lens

So this morning I was out looking for napping bees or butterflies. I found a pretty nice looking bee on my butterfly bush, so I set about moving him to a position that would be best for a full body photo. What happened was not what I expected. The little fella was more alert than I thought, and with the jostling, he awoke from his nighttime stupor and flew off.

Above is actually a picture from a couple of days ago. This guy was quite alert, so not as much detail as I wanted from this morning’s shoot. Alas, tomorrow is another day.

Rebel T3i and Sigma 105mm f/2.8 macro lens

No other critters were in sight, so I took the opportunity to take a couple of pictures of some Butterfly Weed and cucumbers. The butterfly weed is just blooming, so I got some nice buds and flowers to cooperate.

The cucumbers, on the other hand, are just about done. I have had some really good-tasting salads using my first-ever crop of cucumbers. What is left does not look very edible, but they are good enough for photos.

I lined these guys up and put toothpicks in them to keep them steady.

Canon Rebel T3i with Sigma 105mm Macro Lens

The beauty of buying a new Rebel has been being able to use all the same lenses, lenses that I already own and don’t have to spend a dime for… yea!

What is the best Canon Rebel T3i lens for macro?

I spent literally days agonizing over which macro lens to get. (By the way, a macro lens was the type of lens I wanted because I absolutely love taking close-up photos of… well, just about anything.) In the end, the decision was between the Sigma 105mm and the Tamron 90mm macro. With one of these two lenses, I could save roughly $100 at the time. Why did I settle on the Sigma? Basically, it was a coin toss. Both lenses had identical reviews and user satisfaction.
If I had it to do over again, I would definitely go with the Canon 100mm macro, because now it has a USM (utlra-sonic motor) for quick focusing. The price is still higher, but that quick focus motor is worth some extra cash.

The bottom line, though, is always image quality, and the Sigma 105mm macro lens gives me that. I simply have to avoid fast moving objects. Well, not really, because I use this lens often when photographing butterflies, and the results are good with those, too.

Now, with the Canon Rebel T3i, I can back off just a bit and take in more of the surrounding area. That is a function of the sensor size. I always know that I have plenty of pixel real estate to work with if I need to crop.

Here are a couple of recent macro images taken with the Canon Rebel T3i and the Sigma 105mm macro lens.

More about the Canon T3i at http://canonrebelt3i600d.com/

Exploring the Live View Capabilities of the T3i

The Canon T3i has a zoom feature when in Live View that is pretty handy.

In these two photos, I was using this new feature – it isn’t even available on the 60D… yet.

The best way to do this is to turn off the AF of the lens. Then you turn on Live View and get “kind of” focused. You then press the zoom button on the back of the camera and it zooms in 5x so you can fine tune the focus. If you press the zoom button again, it zooms to 10x. Pretty amazing detail.

Did I mention that a stabilized camera is best for this technique? I tried some hand-held and got about 50% keepers. But I must admit, I do not have the steadiest of hands. When I used a tripod, it worked great. I would also recommend a remote shutter release (at least for guys like me – I tend to press the shutter button with gusto and ruin lots of pictures with camera shake).