Summertime Nature in New Jersey: Sourland Mountain Preserve.
Bumble Bee on Ragweed Bloom. Assignment One – Part One
This week Thom Hogan is posting some photography assignments. Assignment One: “Here’s your first shooting assignment: pick the absolutely worst lens you own and go out and take pictures using it. Not just any pictures, but the best possible pictures you can. Learn to use whatever liability that lens has to advantage.”
I decided to do a variation of this. Instead of going back to the Sourland Mountain Preserve with a big telephoto lens, tripod, and 36 MP camera, I decided to go light, but still wanting to take close-up images of butterflies and other wildlife. I took a Nikon 1 V1 camera with the FT1 adapter with the 70-300 mm VR lens. This kit is almost 20 pounds lighter than the high-end kit I was going to take. The following is one of the first images I took — a Bumble Bee in a Ragweed bloom.
Bottom line, I did get some good images and was able to hike a lot farther from the trailhead. I was not able to get an image of a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth, although I saw at least four during the day. One problem with this light-weight kit is that it is not as fast to compose, focus, and then shoot the image. Another problem with this kit is that with the FT1 adapter, the VR is on continuously — draining the battery, and you can only focus with the center focus position. I will be adding more images in the near future.
![Bumble Bee on Ragweed Bloom. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-30 mm VR lens (ISO 220, 300 mm, f/10, 1/250 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 810 mm on a 35 mm image sensor].. (David J Mathre)](http://www.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000_6Kdger9aFs/s/600/401/N1V1-20120815-084008-C1P6.jpg "N1V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR")