Today was my day off, but it was pouring rain when I got out of bed. I had planned to go down to kankakee IL to find some bullsnakes, hognoses, and perhaps a glass lizard and a milksnake, but the forecast was daunting. It did clear up around noon, and I probably should have headed south...but i didn't, so when it cleared up I hit a park in the chicago city limits to try to find some birds, bugs, and whatever else showed up.

First two with the 14-54 (28-108). This lens is seriously sharp and fast - it has me thinking carefully about selling my beloved 50mm f/2 macro, and using the proceeds to buy a 150mm macro - a lens length that would be more useful for bugging, since the 14-54 is MORE than capable of being my field herping lens.

First up was this HOG of a bullfrog - it was easily the size of a coke can. I must admit I was looking at his legs and thinking about dinner....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3088/2474929140_af99c28a23_o.jpg

I also saw many toads.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2054/2474113661_717d7f5697_o.jpg

and some bugs. I have a tube on order, supposed to arrive tomorrow. A day late and a dollar short, I guess. This is with said 50mm F/2 macro.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3265/2474929036_80554c44a3_o.jpg

and of course there were some birds. Unfortunately, the light wasn't super good for birding and they were very wary - this park gets a LOT of traffic so I can understand why. 40-150 kit lens, 1.7x sony tcon.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/2474113745_27fc8b7c94_o.jpg

Same setup, some interesting behavior I have never seen here. The bird in the middle of the frame landed on the bank, and the toad in the lower right of the frame CHASED it about 20 feet. How bizarre. Not the best picture ever, but certainly fascinated me.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2355/2474929074_4db9b3ee40_o.jpg

Nice shooting - I especially like the dragonfly.

Wow that 14-54mm must be terrific - I know how much you like your 50mm macro. How much magnification can you get with the zoom? I think I remember reading somewhere that you have tubes - just wondering how the zoom/tube combination image holds up, at the same magnification, verses the macro lens.

But I think you're right about that 150mm - would be terrific for bugging and even some herping.

Nice bunch. My fave is the bathing finch.

Thanks guys!

here's a thread I just posted regarding absolute magnification. The 14-54 is disappointing with the tube. Image quality is still very high, but working distance is not impressive.

http://forums.photographyreview.com/showthread.php?p=286448#post286448

The working distance on the macro is improved with the tube. At about 1.2x, the tubed macro is a good four inches farther from the subject than the untubed macro. When shooting bugs, every inch helps!!

The 40-150 is super sharp, just slow. Since I'll be stopping down to shoot macro anyway, that maximum aperture of f/4-5.6 won't make any difference. It looks like it will boast a range of magnifications from about 1.5x to 0.7x, with a working distance of about two inches from the lens to 15 inches respectively. Not bad, certainly the surprise of the bunch.

oh yeah, the tube and 50 macro get CLOSE.

http://gallery.photographyreview.com/data/photography//500/tiger_beetle1.jpg

Very cool Erik. That toad chasing the spotted sandpiper is hillarious.