Flower close-ups with the GF1

[Brian]

<p>Things are rather quiet on the forum so I thought I'd share my set-up for taking flower close-ups. The low-down tripod, tripod head and focus slide are all by Cullmann, and are steady enough for this purpose. The lens is the old Minolta 35-70mm f3.5 zoom, with a focusing extension (so-called macro setting) taking us to 1:4, plus the venerable Nikon No.1 close-up dioptre giving a resulting field of up to 1:2. So it's close-up rather than true macro. I use a cable release for extra steadiness.<br>

I think the Nikon dioptre sacrifices some corner sharpness, but that's OK with flower close-ups generally.<br>

I like the ergonomics of the GF1 plus LVF1 viewfinder for this kind of work - it's not the latest and greatest in ISO performance or megapixels but I think it suffices for this kind of thing.<br>

Incidentally that Minolta lens was well thought-of in its day - Leica re-badged it for use as a standard zoom on the R series SLRs.</p><div></div>

[Brian]

<p>And a closer look...</p><div></div>

[Brian]

<p>Sample result - snake's-head fritillary.</p><div></div>

[SCL]

<p>Nice use of a good lens, and good shot!</p>

[harold_gough]

<p>It looks like it needs a good clean!</p>

[Brian]

<p>I don't see the problem. You would find, if you took some photographs, that a bit of surface dust on a lens has no impact on image quality. But perhaps it's not about that for you.</p>