Do I really need a new digital SLR macro camera lens

I am back after the best part of a year away with various health problems now resolved. Hoping to pick up with you fellow bloggers on my favourites list. More posts to follow on my allotment plot later.

As to the title, well no, not really except I love mosses, ferns and lichen and they do look good under the microscope so to speak and I had the chance to buy the IS (image stabilised) version which does away with a tripod for most of my work. Most smartphones and even basic digital SLR kit lenses can get close enough for most pictures with some cropping but true macro at life size of 1-1 take some beating.
Let me explain what I mean by life size, it relates to the size of the sensor in your camera, so the sensor in my full frame Canon 5D is 36 x 24mm so if I photograph an image that is 36 x 24 mm it will fill the viewfinder and the final image should not need cropping, my watch face picture gives you an impression although note that very little of the face except the sub dial is in focus at f2.8 macro lenses have very little depth of field at that aperture.
Some zoom lenses mention macro but they are usually at best half life size 1-2 or even 1-4 in some cases.

My watch face at life size note how very little except the sub dial is in focus due to the f2.8 aperture set by the camera

This Herb Robert flower would need cropping to show more of the flower since it is tiny at about 1cm in diameter

Lichen on our apple tree

Panoramic pictures with the Fuji X100

Those of you who follow photography on this blog will know that one of my favourite cameras at the moment is the first version of the Fuji X100. Its ability to get picture quality and exposure correct each and every time with or without flash is amazing, it`s usually the first camera I pick up when going out. What I haven`t tried before is the panorama feature either in 180 or 120 degree mode.
Monday was a very cold but bright and sunny day so I took the camera up to the Beachy Head area and Birling Gap to try this feature out. The camera is turned on it`s side and following the direction of the arrow on the screen the shutter button is depressed and the camera is slowly rotated until the required number of shots are stitched together. The two shots taken at the 120 degree setting are just about as they came out of the camera but I have reduced the 3.5Mb (reasonable by today's standards) finished file size. I tried the 180 degree setting but found the picture format too wide and too narrow for my tastes. Notice the horizon in the bottom picture is straight, very commendable considering its a series of shots stitched together in-camera.

Birling gap coast guard cottages and the seven sisters

Beachy Head area Belle Tout lighthouse (now a b and b ) in the far distance

The Cuckmere river at Alfriston East Sussex

I have been busy with other pressing items of household chores so have been out of the loop for a while, anyway I thought I would share these pictures with you, that is those of you who have not seen it on Twitter or Facebook, I show them (certainly the top one) really to demonstrate what a lovely spell of sunny warm weather we have had in October a real "Indian summer" we stroll along this part quite often and end with a pot of tea and often a scone in a little quaint tea room in Alfriston called "the singing kettle". 
The bottom photo taken by a friend is the same spot at the height of the floods at the end of December 2013  two extreme views of our weather in East Sussex and England

The De La Warr pavilion with the Fuji X100

A mixed day weather wise at the recently restored art deco inspired De La Warr pavilion at Bexhill but an opportunity to take some more pictures with the camera I am growing to like more each day.
I intend to return when I have more time to photograph the wonderful interior changes

Fujifilm X100 digital camera

My favourite small real camera at the moment for it`s ability to take terrific photos under all sorts of lighting condition from moonlight to bright sunshine and get the exposure right each time every time, I love it.
The camera is retro in that it looks like a rangefinder film camera of many years ago it is a all metal construction and has a full size APS-C sensor with a dual optical and electronic viewfinder. 
The camera can be used on A (automatic) setting but I prefer to use the all manual setting either shutter priority or aperture priority a must if you want to get your DOF (depth of field) right. 
Lens is F2 and fixed focal length of just short of wide angle about 35mm in a 35mm camera format no zoom then and no image stabilisation. Zoom is with your feet and because the ISO will go to 3200 and higher it always sets a fast shutter speed to minimise shake.

with hood and half case fitted the lever with the red dot selects optical or electronic viewfinder

A or rotate for aperture priority f numbers

A or rotate for shutter priority speeds right knob is exposure compensation

I added a Leica style leather strap with lug protectors to protect the metal body

The display giving all relevant data this appears in the electronic viewfinder when your eye is placed up to the viewfinder or you can select a plain optical view with a framing graticule by the flick of a lever

        Four shots out of the camera showing a high resolution lens and correct exposure and colours

when the sun is shining I use fill flash permanently the camera always selects the right amount

Dragonfly

Identified by the open wings in the rest position this specimen was very accomodating allow me to photograph it fairly close with a digital SLR camera macro lens and a flashgun. 
There are some fantastic details and colours in this fabulous insect not all of them particularly pleasant to look at and not really noticable unless you have a macro lens or a very large megapixel camera that allows cropping to reveal the detail.

I have repeated this post on my other blog on wordpress for larger pictures with more detail

Eastbourne "Airbourne" air show Saturday

A sunny day with huge crowds enjoying what is always a splendid event annually. The highlight probably being the last two Lancaster bombers still flying, more on that subject Here from my friend Shrimpton and Perfect`s blog with a Spitfire and Hurricane making up a memorial flight. The Typhoon is always impressive especially on after-burners and is very very noisy. The Red Arrows made a welcome comeback (they were missing last year due to being in Russia on a goodwill visit) and put on the usual fantastic display. All pictures were taken from our beach chalet a good vantage point.

Gull number one get back in formation

The memorial flight plus the Canadian Lancaster

I believe the caption reads "The last one"

Thanks for being on standby guys