After a struggle with FedEx, I finally received my new super macro lens today. It will take a little while to get used to it, particularly with regards to lighting, but so far so good.
One downside, at the highest magnification, I am seeing dust trails that I didn’t see with the other lens! Easy to fix though. Sharpness at 5x magnification is best at f5.6 even though there is an option to set at f22. As I stack my images anyway, I don’t need more than the f5.6.
There is a review here that outlines its main challenges, but as the reviewer notes, for certain types of photography (such as what I do), these are not really an issue.
Here are two shots using the new lens. One has some issues with the reflected surface of the anatase crystal, the other could probably benefit from a bit more exposure. Not a bad start though.
