Quinault Rain Forest Mushrooms (and lichen)

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:19 pm

Spent a couple days over in the Quinault Rain Forest here in Washington State. Used my macro lens instead of a microscope, so I thought I would sneak over here and post a few close-up shots.
(All Nikon D200 with 70-180 Micro-Nikkor)

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 10:52 pm

Sometimes I think I live to see pictures like these. The first two, especially. Thank you, Charles!

Hairyduck · Post by **Hairyduck** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:52 am

Lovely images as usual

How do you rate the zoom macro? I've looked at getting on of these or the 200mm and never came to a conclusion which would be better

acerola · Post by **acerola** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:33 am

The first two is nearly perfect. I like the colors and composition. You had great even light.

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:42 am

Images like this bring about a certain and deep curiosity making one want to delve further into the small world depicted here. Too bad one cannot bring themselves down to their size and explore their hidden secrets but then again if you could, you would have to be on the look out for such things as giant centipedes, SPIDERS!, and also anything and everything else that might consider you a new and tasty morsel in the food chain.

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:16 am

Wonderful shot. The lighting and composition reinforce the graceful forms of the mushrooms. Very well done.

Irwin

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:54 am

These pictures are just fantastic Charles. Everything is excellent IMO. The colors, focus, and the subjects are unreal

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 6:42 am

Hairyduck,

You'll have to pick up a 70mm-180mm Micro Nikkor secondhand now as they were withdrawn either late in 2005 or early in 2006. They come up reasonably regularly on EBAY, or you may find a camera dealer with one. Being a "D" type lens, though a little slower and noisier focusing, they do retain all the automation of current Nikon cameras. I am very pleased with mine though they are quite a hefty lens, but I think slightly less weighty than the 200mm micro Nikkor. You can set up an e-mail alert on EBAY to notify you when one is posted for auction, or with a "Buy it Now" price. They are still a fairly sought after lens however.

There are a couple of reviews here:-

http://www.bythom.com/70180Macrolens.htm

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/co ... /index.htm

Nice backlit pictures Charles!

DaveW

Hairyduck · Post by **Hairyduck** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:14 am

great, thanks for the info Dave!

crotermund · Post by **crotermund** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:56 am

WOW!

Charles, these pics are awesome. The colors, framing, & focus are just fantastic. Very cool!

Mike B in OKlahoma · Post by **Mike B in OKlahoma** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:08 pm

Very nice! I'm with Rik, I like the first two best.

Hairyduck, I'm not a dark side shooter, but I think I'm pretty sure the 70-180 zoom does NOT go all the way to 1:1 magnification. That may or may not matter to you, but I mention it in case you hadn't realized it. I sure wish I could get this lens to mount on my Canon! :-)

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:42 pm

Thanks all for the kind comments!

Kev (aka Hairyduck)...
I think very highly of the 70-180 Micro-Nikkor. When I was shooting film, I must admit that I probably used the 200 Micro-Nikkor more. This was because I could get a little more magnification with it. Using the zoom on a "full frame" 35mm camera the smallest field size I could record was 31x46mm. It seemed that too often I wished to go just a little "tighter". With the smaller sensor in the D200, the zoom will record a minimum field size of about 20x31 mm which makes me a happy camper! Optically it is excellent! It is not as "heavy duty" in construction as the 200 Micro-Nikkor, but it is fine. Some might find the maximum aperture of f5.6 at 180mm provides a darker view than they prefer. I don't use auto-focus with macro lenses, but if you do, you'll find it is (like the 200 Micro) relatively slow in that regard.

One thing that I really like is the ease of using it on a tripod. These shots, for example, were taken in a location where it is a real pain to set up a tripod due to the ground cover and the unusual camera position. With a fixed macro lens you find that you often need to move the tripod (and camera) forward or back (maybe even several times) in order to get the proper subject size. With the zoom it is often possible to "plant" it once and use the zoom to frame the subject as desired. Doesn't sound like a big deal but it allows you to "fine tune" the composition and eliminates a huge amount of tripod-wrestling aggravation.

Too bad they discontinued it, as it is a joy to use with the digital SLRs.

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:54 pm

Mike,

You are correct, the 70-180 Micro Nikkor does not go to 1:1, the quote is:-

"It can focus at 0.37m with a maximum reproduction ratio of 0.75 (or 1:1.33"

Nikon recommend using the 6T close-up lens on it to go to 1:1, which was why I was after one! Though I must admit on my D200 with it's smaller sensor as Charles points out, I have not really found the need for one and I have the 60mm Micro Nikkor if I do need to go to 1:1, plus you can also use an extension tube on it.

You should be able to get this lens to mount on a Canon Mike as you can get Nikon to Canon mounts as the lens to sensor distance is smaller on Canon than on Nikon I believe. You cannot easily mount Canon lenses on Nikon therefore. What automation you would retain with an adapter though I do not know?

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search. ... dy+adapter

DaveW