My friend recently asked me if I could make money selling photographs. Suffice it to say, though I’m immensely grateful for the vote of confidence, I think she has a bit of an over-inflated opinion of my photographic abilities! Read more →

The long story It’s now more than a year since I picked up my Nikon D5300 on Gumtree and once again it’s coming into its own. In July 2021, I posted about the advantage of having a 24 megapixel APS-C camera over a 36 megapixel full-frame camera for macro work. Once again I’m doing the … Read more D5300 Beats The Crop Out Of The D800 →

Having bought this lens so late in the season, I was determined to get out and use it as much as possible as soon as possible. It’s partly a case of instant gratification and partly to fend off any risk of buyer’s remorse. Not that there’s any risk of suffering buyer’s remorse, though. Spoiler alert: … Read more The Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary In The Field →

Something that’s common to many photographers is what’s known in the community as “GAS”. Gear Acquisition Syndrome is a recognised condition that can afflict any photography enthusiast at any time, and manifests as an obsessive drive to prepare for a photography-related eventuality that *may* never happen, by purchasing equipment and accessories often only very peripherally … Read more The Last Lens I May Ever Need To Buy →

The Problem Before moving to full-frame digital photography, my dedicated macro lens – the Nikon Micro-Nikkor 40mm f/2.8G – had been my only macro kit. The lens itself is phenomenally sharp and has been a stalwart in delivering exceptional shots for nearly 10 years. I wrote in this post (Super Macro) about the challenge I … Read more Working Distances →

The best camera is the one that’s with you. Unless you have two cameras with you. Then it depends. Six months in, I’m still over the moon with my Nikon D800. For 90% of the photos that I shoot, the D800 is everything I’m looking for. I love the ability to control depth of field … Read more A Return to DX for 1:1 Macro →

I thought I could get by, sharing my 14mm Samyang between my D3000 and D800 cameras but it turned out that I couldn’t. I absolutely love the 14mm on both of these cameras. The lens is spectacularly sharp and contrasty and, even though it’s manual focus, its ultra-wide format means that it’s almost impossible to … Read more New Lens For Infrared →

One of only two lenses that I chose to carry over from my DX to FX line-up is my Micro-Nikkor 40mm f/2.8 macro lens. At some point I may choose to find an alternative but I am able to shoot macro at least for the short term with this, despite its DX format. While the … Read more Super Macro →