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Male Chalkhill Blue at Barnack Hills & Holes


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A meet-up with friends at Barnack Hills and Holes near Stamford yesterday for a butterfly photography evening … rather windy but we managed to find some specimens including this male Chalkhill Blue:

 

 

 

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Sony A7SII Leica 100mm APO Macro Elmarit R … f16  ISO 3200 (it was windy! ) 1/160sec … natural light, handheld camera rocked to & fro in the wind at closest focus setting … and played the % ref correct focus. 

 

 

Best wishes

 

dunk

Edited by dkCambridgeshire
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Complete mastery of the technique and superb results.

 

 

Not so sure about that but was an enjoyable evening. Insect photography is a little easier nowadays (compared to the pre-digital era) with availability of high ISO capable cameras, in-camera IS (enabling use of legacy lenses) and little need for flash. We've 'never had it so good' as regards equipment aids. All very different to years ago when obliged to use flash and ASA 100 film!  

 

Best wishes

 

dunk 

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I like doing butterflies and flying insects , but I admire you for your equipment. I use a 200-800 equivalent with stabilisation and fast AF nowadays. It multiplied my hit rate over the 400 and manual focus I used before, but I still am down to something like 50% on the moving stuff. A manual 100? Chapeau!

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Jaap, My close-up photography excursions commenced 35 years ago with manual focus lenses e.g. the currently 'great unloved'100mm f4 Macro Elmar R which is still capable of excellent results. There is a bellows type example of same on offer at a well known dealer for just £49 … add an R bellows or some R tubes and it could produce excellent insect photos.  Nowadays photographers appear to lack confidence to use manual focus macro lenses but they can be cost effective and with a little practice can be enjoyable and satisfying tools. Going up a notch, the 100/2.8 Leica APO Macro Elmarit R is one of the finest lenses of its type ever designed … so its (or more correctly the photographer's) relatively lower 'hit rate' is more than compensated for by its excellent results. I have an EM1 in reserve for the time when maybe I too decide to acquire a Pana-Leica 100-400 … but for the time being am quite happy experimenting with manual focus legacy lenses. 

 

Best wishes

 

dunk 

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I went a similar route, Dunk, a fair bit of my macro work in the last years was actually with the Visoflex/Tele-Elmar 135 head on bellows, which was my preferred rig for handheld macro. However, times change, and we change with them ;)

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  • 1 month later...

A meet-up with friends at Barnack Hills and Holes near Stamford yesterday for a butterfly photography evening … rather windy but we managed to find some specimens including this male Chalkhill Blue:

 

 

That colony must be one of the furthest north for the Chalkhill Blue in the UK. Quite possibly the most northerly as I have a feeling the species no longer flies at Copper Hill.

Edited by wattsy
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That colony must be one of the furthest north for the Chalkhill Blue in the UK. Quite possibly the most northerly as I have a feeling the species no longer flies at Copper Hill.

 

 

Exceptionally well done.

 

 

Barnack Hills and Holes is a 'Site of Special Scientific Interest.' comprising scarce limestone grassland habitat which supports scarce limestone dependent flora and fauna  including the Chalkhill Blue

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnack_Hills_%26_Holes_National_Nature_Reserve    

 

https://fbhh.org.uk

 

 

dunk 

Edited by dkCambridgeshire
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Wonderful shots! I have that same lens wish I could get the same quality captures!

 

Mark

 

 

The lens is not so important … it's the getting down to ground level and awareness of e.g. windy conditions / subject movement / lighting / required ISO setting / required aperture /need to hedge exposures … which count towards the final images . A humble Elpro supplementary c/u lens on a zoom or prime lens would likely enable a similar image. 

 

dunk 

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