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MACROS WITH A SUPER-WIDE LENS

By on • ( 15 )

CMMC October Close Up or Macro

I had been flirting with this Leica 9mm 4/3 lens for a while. I’ve never owned a super-wide lens except for a fisheye that I almost never used because I was never entirely sure what I to do with it.

This lens at 9mm (18mm per 35mm) isn’t exactly a macro though it shoots as tightly as my other two (or is it three?) macro lenses. They listed it as a fast super-wide and a “semi-macro.” I finally decided to buy it but made myself a promise to actually use the lens, not merely own it. Fall is coming. What better time to have a very wide lens?

It had a couple of features that appealed to me. First, at f1.7, it is considerably faster than even my fastest macro lens (f2.8). For its width, it’s not as distorted as most very wide lenses often are. It is the distortion that makes me wary of ultra-wide lenses. I know a lot of people don’t mind or even like the distortion, but I’m ambivalent about it. I like it when other people use it, but I’m not comfortable working with distortion.

The lens is a Leica and it’s sharp. I think it is sharpest in closeup shots.

You can see the leaves turning gold behind the golden flowers

So here’s how the woods looks in this first week of autumn. Finally, my favorite season has arrived.

You can see the changes in color. Fall is pushing through all the rain and warmer than usual weather. The trees were changing as we drove along this morning. Meanwhile, I like the new lens. It’s interesting. Very wide angle, but I think I like it better as a sort of macro lens with other capabilities. Time will tell.

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Categories: #CMMC, #Flowers, #Photography, Anecdote, Cee's Photo Challenge, Flower of the day, Macro

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15 replies

  1. Cee Neuner
    10/05/2023 • 10:54

    Looks like you are having fun with your wide angle lens 😀

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      10/05/2023 • 17:28

      Yes, I am. But I think it will be more of a macro I think. I used it a bit today, but because it’s not a telephoto — nor a true macro — using it is interesting and different. I haven’t downloaded the pictures yet, but I will soon and I’ll know a lot more than I do now.

      Mostly, it is fast — one of my handful of fast primes. For taking pictures in the house, it’s great. I don’t like flash so having a lens that shoots crisply in dim light is great. 9mm should be a fisheye, shouldn’t it? I’m surprised it ISN’T a fisheye.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. lois
    10/05/2023 • 09:50

    Marilyn–that is one beautiful lens. I have a Nikon, and even used lenses are a bit out of my price range. But this lens…I’ll have to look harder and rethink my price range. Not a bad photo in the bunch.

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      10/05/2023 • 17:33

      It’s on sale on Amazon for $478 and they have used ones for a bit less. The difference in price wasn’t enough to convince to buy it used. I needed something that was FAST and would should tightly. And it does shoot as tightly as my macro lenses, but it looks different than ones taken with a “real” macro. I’m not very experimental with lenses, but this one comes from a premium lens maker and does thing nothing else in the arsenal can do.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Carol anne
    10/05/2023 • 00:39

    glad you had fun taking pics! You own a lot of cameras! 😀

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    • Marilyn Armstrong
      10/05/2023 • 00:53

      I own three that I use and a couple of older ones that I will probably give away eventually. I justify this excess by using each camera differently. The newest one that replaced one that wore out over many years of heavy use gets used a lot because it is light and fast. The heaviest camera has the birding lens on it. That lens is too heavy for any of the other two cameras and I keep them paired, though I could change the lens if I decide to take that camera into the wide world. It is also the only weather-proof camera of the three, so I can take it into the rain or snow — or even near a beach. The last one if a very quirky, retro camera in the style of 1950s and 60s rangefinder cameras. It sees the world a little differently. The the mid-weight of the three and it is the camera that I use most of the time when I’m shooting outside. It’s particularly good at black & white, though I don’t do nearly enough black & white photography.

      I don’t change lenses very often. I tend to “marry” a particular lens to a particular camera. The newest, lightest camera gets most of the lens changes for which there are a bunch of weirdly photographic reasons that boil down to “because I like doing it this way.”

      I’m not overloaded with cameras, not compared to other photographers many of whom seem to have many more cameras that me and many more lenses. I gave away a lot of equipment to my granddaughter, my son, Garry, and my best friend. I tend to buy lenses and then not use them which is why I really had to think hard about getting this lens. I know how often it seems like a good idea and works out to be a not very good idea.

      Photographers tend to collect equipment. We also do a lot of swapping and just plain old giving each other presents. We may not have a lot, but we share.

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  4. Sadje
    10/05/2023 • 00:16

    It’s a good camera with vibrant colors

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