*duncan-blues

It's there!

I finally got myself a true macro lens for my digital SLR camera!
I found an affordable second hand (but almost new) Tamron 90 mm/2.8 1:1 macro lens in a photography BBS and it arrived in the mail yesterday.
You can't imagine how cool this thing is! The sharpness and the amazing extreme close-up potential of the lens is awesome!
I've spontaneously visited the botanical gardens in Wuppertal/Germany today and went photo-hunting for insects. They have a vast variety of dragonflies there, buzzing around the little ponds there everywhere. Dragonflies are the coolest flying insects. Period.
Too bad though that they have such an amazing eyesight, you have to creep up on them very carefully or else they'll just whizz away. I did get a bunch of cool shots though. I still have to learn how to properly focus the lens though. Still not sure wether to do it by hand or let the auto-focus do the job. The closer you get, the more perfect the focus needs to be "spot-on".
Anyway: A good macro lens is certainly one of the most fun toys for a dedicated photographer, on par with a powerful tele lens.

UPDATE:
This Tamron SP 90mm lens is so FU**ING AWESOME!!!
Just now I'm beginning to fathom the full potential of my Sony Alpha 700 camera! The 16-105mm kit lens that came with the camera is decent - better than it's reputation I think - but this prime lens really does magic on my camera! It's not only great with extreme close-up macros but also for medium distances and portrait shots. I'm really loving this lens!

W00t!