Month: February 2024

Testing a New Lens

~ Jesse Yow ~ 1 Comment

Sometimes life gets in the way, and there is no time for writing. It can be easier to find a minute or to for shooting a photo. At Christmas my wife gave me a 1.4x extender for my best telephoto lens, and here are a few handheld shots that I made to test the sharpness of the lens:

Closeup of American flag from about 20 feet away with 700mm lens, to see if I could bring the stitching into focus.
Oranges near the top of our Washington Navel orange tree, from maybe 30-40 ft away with 700mm lens.
Full moon in January, also known as the Wolf Moon, with 700mm lens
Crescent of the waxing moon, taken with 700mm lens, after the New Moon earlier this month (February).
Waxing moon with 700mm lens.
Nandina berries at about 20ft with 500mm lens.

All of these shots were handheld, which is a bit of a challenge with a long lens. The moon shots would be sharper if I used a monopod to steady the lens, sharper still with a tripod, and even sharper with a timed shutter release to avoid the vibration of pushing the shutter button. Would it make a difference on photos in a blog post? Probably not, but the difference would be noticeable with magnification. Maybe next time…