R. T. F. M.

If you have ever worked in I.T. or been around someone who works in I. T., you probably know what that stands for.  

I went to Brookside Gardens today and decided to take my 90 mm f/2.8 macro lens only.  There were lots of flowers to shoot and a few flying critters as well, but the critters get quite challenging with the 90 mm lens.  My camera has an APS-C sensor so that is the 35 mm equivalent of a 135 mm lens.  Even so, they tend to fly away if I get too close. 

I came across a beautiful cardinal and immediately was wishing I had my 400 mm lens with me.  That’s when I remembered that if I switched to jpg ( I normally always shoot in raw), I could turn on the digital zoom.  I decided to give it a try.  This was shot with the equivalent of 380 mm.  I have not cropped it at all.  This little insect is very tiny as are the flowers.  In addition, it was quite breezy.  I have added an extra image of a fly on the same flower to give you some perspective on how small this insect is. I was quite pleased with the results. 

My camera didn’t come with a comprehensive manual.  In fact, I was quite frustrated looking for a digital one until WWombat came to my rescue and sent me the digital “Help Guide” which is 453 pages long!  Needless to say, I haven’t read it.  In the course of the 18 months or so that I have had this camera, I have learned how to customize buttons, set up back button focusing and make all the settings quite easy to change manually since I always shoot in manual.  Slowly I have picked up a few other tips, but if I don’t use them regularly, I forget about them. 

So, that leads me to the moral of this story, which is to read your manual and learn what your camera can do.