May-be's Aye, May-be's Naw

The Isle of May from the Biel near West Barns, taken with my new lens and featuring a load of ducks - and the kingfisher! Can you see him? View Large and just above the middle ducks... See? Maybe's aye, maybe's naw.

The thing with this new lens is Vibration Reduction, which is a fantastic feature. It's self-contained in the lens so works perfectly with my trusty old D40 and basically eliminates the need for a tripod. Half-press the shutter to focus and the scene freezes, removing all my hand-shake almost as if the camera is floating.

Yesterday was cold, bright and clear, the perfect day for trying out a new zoom VR lens. But it arrived today when it was mild, dull and wet. Well, I took it out for a walk anyway. It's like using a weapon rather than a camera!

This image isn't much of a demonstration of VR, and I did a couple of quick side-by-sides with my old Tamron 70-300 and my new Nikon 70-300 VR. Pretty convincing. I've taken some photos I'm really pleased with with that Tamron lens, but a beanbag or tripod was always required. Test shots on Flickr. The Scooby Doo lunchbox is 1/6th of a second and still pretty sharp. Great toy :)