Mr. Ant, Mr. Dragonfly, Mr. Frog and Ms. Flower

I knew spending time out in the field this week, North of Seoul, way North of Seoul, near the DMZ, would provide some opportunities for macro photography.There's never a shortage of bugs, gnats and assorted other creatures just waiting to crawl in your sleeping bag out there. I went well-prepared by including a nice macro lens in my camera bag; the Minolta 100mm f/2.8 macro lens. By all accounts a very fine macro lens, and you can see just why in the results below. Keep in mind, these are all hand held shots by an inexperienced macro photographer! Not too shaby.

I had gone out yesterday without a macro lens and managed to get a decent close up shot of a dragonfly, but today I wanted to see if I could top that. Fortunately for me, the wildlife seems to like me taking their photos. Hats off to Mr. Ant, Mr. Dragonfly (I wonder if he is the same one from yesterday?), Mr. Frog and Ms. Flower for posing so eloquently for my photos.

As captured by the Sony A77 with Minolta 100mm f/1.8 macro lens.

New Lens - Sigma 28-80mm 3.5 - 5.6 Macro

I'm always on the look out for a new lens that might add to the versatility of my lens inventory. I spotted a Sigma 28-80mm Macro lens on eBay for 30 bucks and thought why not? At 28-80mm it offers a wide enough focal range to be a decent walk around lens as an alternative to my Minolta 24-105mm but the Sigma is also an impressive macro lens, given it's price point. I included a sample below (I did not shoot the photo) and a couple of YouTube videos which give a good account of what I'll be getting with this lens.

I ordered it a couple days ago, should be here when I get back from the States in a month or so. I'll update with my own sample photos as soon as I get my hands on this awesome, affordable lens.