Until this spring, I took most of my macro photos with an iPhone 8 and a Xenvo 15x clip-on macro lens. I also have a Nikon D5300 with a 40mm Micro NIKKOR lens. Generally, the phone was better for most conditions. For me, the Nikon only works in the most Goldilocks of situations: When there’s no wind, the insect isn’t moving, it’s relatively large for an insect (over .5 inch) and the light isn’t too dark or too bright. Much of the reason for that is likely user error. But, I’m reluctant to use a tripod or a large diffuser and flash attachment … I want to be mobile and take pictures of things where I see them.
The photo of the click beetle above was taken with the Nikon. It tends to focus on a slim layer of the depth of field. This colorful beetle, by the way, is the fifth in the Elateridae family that I’ve seen with some red markings. I’ll paste a composite of them all at the end of this post.
In April, I traded my iPhone 8 for an iPhone 14. Since then, I’ve wished I kept the old phone for use as a camera. The photo above is one of the clearest pictures I’ve been able to get from the new phone (with the clip-on macro lens), and it’s not great.
What I think is happening is the clip-on lens covers up some of the phone lenses and sensors, including (this is my suspicion), the light sensor. So, with the macro lens on, the phone screen is super dark and I can’t tell if the image is in focus. It’s super frustrating.
I struggled along for a couple of months, experimenting with different ways of taking photos, but last week I ordered a used iPhone 8 so I can have my favorite camera back. Note: There is a macro function on the new phone, but it decreases the area of focus, and so the image quality is degraded.
I’ve seen several awe-inspiring insects this spring and early summer that I’ve not gotten publishable photos for, including this super-long-snouted bee fly. Isn’t it amazing!? Amazing, yes, and incredibly disappointing. For weeks, I’ve been taking dozens and dozens of pictures of each insect, and this shot is representative of the best quality I’ve been getting. This one was taken with the Nikon. Bee flies are active little fluff balls, and this one was zooming between honeysuckle blooms. I can’t hold the Nikon still enough, and it doesn’t have a fast enough shutter speed to get a sharp shot. And I really don’t think a tripod is a solution, because the fly was never on the same flower.
Anyway, I hope my new, used camera phone gets me back to a happy place.
Here are those click beetles:
Ticklehead 