Impressions of Spring

Don't know if it is due to the warm weather, but there sure is a lot of wisteria in bloom this year. Although it is an invasive species, wisteria has been around a very long time, and many of us living in the South are used to seeing it make an appearance each Spring. Speaking of invasive, the unique rendering of the catadioptric lens has long been a fascination of mine, but it is quite difficult to get pleasant images with one, at least in my hands. I mainly use it as an inexpensive stand-in for a telescope, but I've once again been experimenting with it as a regular lens of late...

Tasting notes: Reflex-Nikkor 500mm f/8.

Telescope Macro-ish Photography

Mirror lenses have an easy tell, the so-called donut shaped boke pattern they produce in the out of focus highlights of an image. Of all the catadioptric lenses I have ever had the opportunity to use, the old mirror Nikkor 500 mm f/8 (close focus version) is possibly the most unique. That is down to its ability to focus to just under 5 feet (1.5 m). In other words, the lens is basically a close-focusing telescope. On a camera with a micro-four thirds sensor, the field is reduced by a factor of two compared to a piece of 35 mm film. Using a tripod, I was able to get a few molecules of the orchid petals in sharp focus.