Up Close and Personal

I love my little Sony compact camera, which I bought used for under a hundred quid on eBay. It's so easy to slip in a pocket and darned if it sometimes doesn't take better macro pictures than my big fat, expensive DSLR. The trouble is there's not much control. Sometimes (as with this small hoverfly), it works great. Sometimes it just won't focus on anything at all at this range. The DSLR is a lot more work but it's a heck of a lot more reliable. The other problem is that with such a short focal length the Sony has a very short macro working distance - 1cm! Many insects are not as tolerant of you shoving a lens up their nose as this hoverfly was. But when everything works out, the Sony is a little star. 

If you need a scale on this image, that's a Herb Robert flower, about 1cm across. Or 3/8 of an inch in old money ;-)


Platycheirus albimanus/scutatus agg. Sony DSC-HX20V f3.5 6.1mm 1/400 ISO 100