© 2018 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
While hiking to stretch my legs I spied two different types of Wild Mushrooms.
I have no idea what their names are. Since I have no knowledge of which ones are harmless ~vs~ those that are deadly I have a healthy respect fear of them in the wild.
Aside from photographing them that is. They make wonderful subjects for macro/close up imagery.
I think these are in the Shelf Mushroom family. I liked the big one on top that looks like a fan. The stripes had a greenish/gray hue that I liked. I spied them growing on a fallen log just off trail.
These Brown ones below were growing under Valley Oaks among the fallen leaves and twigs. I laid down on my stomach to see if I could spy any Fairy Folk, but they must have known I would do that and scattered among the leaves and debris. Sadly, I didn’t spy one. Not one! 😦
I was hiking with a new lens. I’ve longed for a replacement lens for my very old 28-105mm Nikkor lens. Nikon replaced the 28-105mm with an AF-S 24-120mm f/4 VR lens in 2003. That version doesn’t get good reviews . I didn’t upgrade to that one since my old 28-105mm was better.
In 2010 Nikon improved the Af-S 24-120mm f/4 VR adding VR II, better lens coatings, and some other things so it’s sharper at the wide end, and the long end: that version is still sold new today. It’s well liked, at least a lot better than the first version was. It’s the lens I replaced my 28-105mm with. I’ve had it now about a month, and I like it. I’ve wanted a lens a bit wider, and longer for a long time for a walk-around/hiking lens. My lens as you can imagine is old. Nikon hasn’t supported it for a long time now so should it break finding parts is going to be really hard, and finding somewhere to fix it might prove just as hard. Replacing it has been on my mind for several years.
Just after the Holidays Nikon had a sale on their Refurbished lenses and the AF-S 24-120mm f/4 G ED VR II was on the list. The price was right… so, after stalling and/or balking on the purchase for several years I finally pushed the “buy” button.
Early impressions are good. I think I’m going to be able to live with this lens for many years. At least as many as I have the old 28-105mm lens.
Of course cameras improve with every new version released which can make the lenses of yesterday and today redundant in resolving power. Which is what I faced with my 28-105mm. It isn’t as sharp on my Df as it was my D700. When I upgraded the D700 to the D810 which has 36 mega pixels ~vs~ 12mp I was afraid my old lenses wouldn’t resolve on it well. Reviews since have proven that. 🙂 I haven’t even tried my old 28-105mm on it since it’s not quite as sharp on the Df at 16.2 MP. I’m keeping it to use on my Df though. Just a little added sharpening and contrast is all it needs on that camera. I LOVE my Df. I think I should have just bought another one of those, but that’s another post.
Too much gear talk? I’m wild about gear. I could talk about it all day…well not all day, but for a good while! 🙂 Anyway, because I was testing out the lens at this stage I wasn’t carrying my Canon 500D Close-Up lens, or a macro lens. I wanted to see just how close I could focus with this lens, and find out how the images look.
They’re not bad. If I had carried my tripod they probably would be better, but since it was quick “stretch my legs” hike I didn’t carry it.
I am now looking forward Spring when I’ll be carrying my close-up lens with me everywhere to see how much closer I can get, and get really close. 🙂
I’m so excited for the possibilities this lens brings me when opportunities arise in the Spring, and using my LensBaby lenses, and Macro Lens. It’s so hard for me to pick a favorite lens. I love every lens I own. I don’t know how I would ever be able to pick just one! I’d need at least 3 to be truly happy.
What about you, could you live happily with just one lens? Do you use one lens 90-100% of the time? What lens would you choose if you could only have one?
Nikon D810| Nikkor 24-120mm| SanDisk Digital Film| PS CC 2018
more to come…
Circadianreflections Blog 
Happy new lens. In the old days, cameras were cameras and would last “forever.” Now technology keeps improving them and increasingly makes older equipment inadequate. The same is happening to cars, whose latest models can almost now be described as computers that happen to have wheels attached to them.
No gear talk for me but I like the mushrooms. Do you know that a nation is either mushroom-phobic or mushroom-loving? 🙂 It appears that Americans often display a healthy fear of mushrooms, whereas Slovenians love the hell out of them, often too much and then they poison themselves. :p I think with guns it must be the opposite.
I like your fungi finds and fotos! I have lenses that run the gamut from 14mm – 600mm … mostly Canon L series zooms. I love my 70-200 f2.8 but my go to, go back to, most used lens is my 24-105 f4. I keep a Sigma 150-600 on my older body at all times and use it quite often.
I really like your story about deciding to buy a lens, Deborah. I liked the greenish wild mushrooms since they are unique! The tannish ones are so crisp! I went back to a post in 2015 and wasn’t able to tell you, maybe you’ll see a like (?) The deep indigo blue with layers of lighter blue was a photo of a stunning, long distance blood full moon. 🙂
Hi Deborah, I enjoyed hearing about your camera lens that you enjoy using – always fun to get something new too! ❤️😃👍 I have gotten kind of lazy and mostly use my iPhone for photos. I need to get out my Canon Rebel T3i and learn how to use it better. I always enjoy the photos you take! I love taking photos of mushrooms in the woods. 🍂🍄
Beautiful mushroom photos, Deborah :-). Such interesting shapes. The lying on your stomach got you a great view. I think I see a little fairy face peering out from under one of the leaves :-). I only have one lens but I can totally understand the appeal of owning at least 3 – a macro, a mid-range and a long-range… because those 3 distances require different visual super-powers.
Thank you so much Myriam for the lovely comment. It’s so nice to hear from you!
The 3 I would choose would be a wide angle zoom, macro, and super telephoto lens.
I didn’t know anything about wide angle lenses, so I looked it up. Sounds like it allows for some interesting effects. Do you use one sometimes?
I use wide angles for Night Sky, and landscape imaging. A range from 14mm-35mm works for me. I rarely use the ranges between 35mm to 105mm.
Interesting! 🙂
Great shots, Deborah! Mushrooms are an interesting subject! Congrats on your new lens, happy shooting for a long time!
Thank you so much Donna!
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Pity you found no fairy folk. I share your disappointment. Rather like the first time one sees the entire arc of a rainbow and there’s no leprechaun.
I agree, the mushrooms make for wonderful photo opportunities, even with my silly lil iPhone.
There’s nothing silly about your iPhone! You make great images with yours. I wish I could make good images with mine, but I stink at it. I wobble and shake with it, but I can hold my DSLR relatively still. Figure-toi?
One day hopefully we’ll see the Leprechaun and the wee fairy folk! 🙂
Hah, well thanks!
I love these shots Deborah! As for lenses, I’m still working out how to get mine to do what I want. I think I’d ultimately like something that covers more than my current 28-70 mm, especially for travel. One of the local photographers is raving that he loves the a6500 and sold his a7II. He’s much more experienced than I am and says the crop sensor on it is amazing. I’m feeling a slight envy because it would be so wonderful to travel with a lighter camera. 😉
Weight I think is relative b/c your camera to me is as light as a feather! 🙂
I also have a little bridge camera, but I like the IQ of my DSLR a lot more so don’t use it often.
I love mushroom photos! I have so many different ones, some on paper and others digital. So much fingi, so little time….
🙂
Such cool photos Deborah!
Thank so much Lynn!
So interesting. Love the photos.
Thank you so much Jennie!
You are welcome, Deborah! 🙂
🙂
Here’s to mushrooms, Deborah. But I’m with you about being afraid to just pick and eat one…
Although the photos are gorgeous. I got a kick out of the fairy remark.
I look forward to seeing what you photograph with the new close up lens. Hugs!
I’m looking forward to Spring! I noticed today our warm weather is having an impact of the flowering trees. Several types are already in full bloom, and my flowering Plum has little pink buds.
One deep frost and it’s curtains for the blossoms though!
Oh! Beautiful. But yes, it’s such mixed emotions when they bloom too early.
You are so good you have to take every bit of gear with you when you are out there. We want to see every form of photo that we know you can take. (pretty please)
🙂 LOL! You’re too kind. I hope I don’t bore you to death!
Not at all.
🙂
Your second photo is just what I love about mushrooms. So beautiful!
🙂 Thank you so much Cecilia! I’m so glad you like that image.
Nice photos of the fungi! Enjoy your new lens😊
Thank you so much Belinda! 🙂
Yeah, I’ll bet you would be a great teacher but I question my ability to learn technical stuff. I do enjoy these images though. It is always fun to come across fungi in the field 🙂
(just not on my plate!)
Mushrooms take awhile to get used to don’t they?
He-Man used to be able to eat them but since his gall bladder removal can’t eat them at all. Weird!
I’d love to find some of those red ones with white dots to photograph. I’ve only see those in pictures and fairy tales.
Thank you so much for the lovely comment!
Prior to photography I wasn’t technical about anything!
I wondered about that. I can see that if I started pursuing photography I might get drawn into the technical side of things. Or not! My chemistry classes never inspired my mind to to other than shut down 🙂
I’m guessing the wee folk are all lurking beneath the red mushrooms with white spots.
Chemistry didn’t turn me on either, but other sciences have.
That must be where the wee ones are! 🙂
All this talk about new lenses makes me sigh with jealousy. I had just reached the point where I was ready to start looking at zoom lens and my car decided it was time to need some major repairs. {sigh} … the Universe has decided I need to wait longer 😕
The car is much more important. I’ve been there which also was one reason I stalled or balked on the purchase.
I’ll be paying myself back for some time to come.
I find fungi fascinating, too, Deborah. I’m trying not to get down on the ground these days as we have snow, but one of these days spring will come (and then the mud)… 🙂
janet
When I know I’m going to be on the ground or have the possibility of being on the ground I wear my pants that have knee pads, and I sometimes carry a small tarp to lay on. A trash bag works well too. 🙂
Snow wouldn’t bother me, but mud would!
I love listening to gear talk! My daughter has told us many such stories. As you know, I’m only carrying a point & shoot these days. I like it well enough, and I don’t want to go back to carrying heavier gear. Then again, I’m only rarely going on dedicated photo shoots or hikes for that matter. Maybe when I have more time – oh, wait, that’s after I retire and I’ll have less money. Maybe an upgraded point and shoot is in my future 😉
I love the photos. In the top row of the top photo, I see animal faces. Left to right, they are staring down at the ground, laying down (either with lots of feet or babies nursing) and looking out at me.
🙂 I love hearing what you see when looking at the shelf mushrooms!
I just see that fan and weird feet. 🙂
Oh yes, get a new camera, lots of memory cards, and spare battery before you retire and have a tighter budget.
Did you ever consider or look into a Bridge Camera? They’re a bit bigger, but a step up from the point and shoot. They have DSLR styling, but are more compact and lighter, have manual controls plus built in scene modes, and a lot of zoom range. The newer ones even come with bigger sensors for better resolution/IQ = image quality.
Sony, Panasonic Lumix, Nikon and Canon have them. I believe Sony and Panasonic Lumix are at the top of the heap in Bridge Cameras.
The camera I was using prior to the Nikon Coolpix was a Panasonic Lumix in that style. I like it a lot (I still have it) but I decided that I wanted something I could stick into a pocket.
For instance, I was in Ft. Myers, Florida over the weekend for business. We had breakfast meetings Monday and Tuesday. I took my camera to get sunrise photos over the canals. I could do that, then drop the camera in my jacket pocket and not be obvious.
If I buy another, I have a list of features to look for. the Nikon does have scenes, but it also has a manual option. I’d like a macro function or an easier to figure out and control close-up feature. This camera has a close-up mode, but in 90% of my pictures in that mode, the object of interest is blurred 😦
Aperture Priority/Mode, F/2.8, auto focus in the Macro Shooting Mode? The better the light the better the image. The depth of field will be shallow so any little breeze could knock out your spot of focus.
Let’s play! I wish I were closer to play with your camera and see what it does in macro mode.
Maybe I’ll take a series and post them for you. Or, maybe I’ll ask Faith to figure it out 😏
Oh yes a series! It would be better if you figured it out. 🙂 That’s a great exercise. One subject, different apertures. Keeping your ISO at the lowest possible setting to give you the shutter speed you need to keep the images from suffering from camera shake. Or use a tripod. 🙂
Judy wanna play too?
I think if I start taking a tripod on our walks, Maddie will photobomb everything 🙂
LOL! Diva Dog pulls on me which messes up my shots.
Forget choosing lenses. I would like to choose a photography class that you would teach those of us way, way down on the spectrum. 🙂
Oh wow what a compliment! My head is swelling! I wish we were closer to each other so we could hang out and shoot together.
You learn so much when shooting with other photographers.