Hoverfly on Smart Weed
Taken in my backyard, this was a high ISO test (1600) on my D40. Shooting insects with clear wings in sunlight can in some cases produce really nice iridescence. If you move the camera around a bit while framing the subject, you can see the colors vary in intensity, going from none at all to brilliant rainbow colors, depending upon the angle of the the sun in relation to your camera. Popping the flash doesn't diminish the level of intensity.
Here I was trying my old 200mm f/4 Micro-Nikkor, focused at infinity, with the objective salvaged from a badly damaged 75-200mm Super Albinar lens reverse mounted on the 200mm. I was shooting at f/32 after racking the ISO up to 1600, which produced a significant amount of "salt & pepper" grain and noise, which isn't present when shooting at ISO 100 to 400. By swapping to a larger bowl diffuser and using an SB20 flash instead of the SB23, I can operate at smaller apertures without having to boost the ISO. This image convinced me that running the ISO on the D40 any higher than 400 probably isn't the way to go.
DSC-5788
Hoverfly on Smart Weed
Taken in my backyard, this was a high ISO test (1600) on my D40. Shooting insects with clear wings in sunlight can in some cases produce really nice iridescence. If you move the camera around a bit while framing the subject, you can see the colors vary in intensity, going from none at all to brilliant rainbow colors, depending upon the angle of the the sun in relation to your camera. Popping the flash doesn't diminish the level of intensity.
Here I was trying my old 200mm f/4 Micro-Nikkor, focused at infinity, with the objective salvaged from a badly damaged 75-200mm Super Albinar lens reverse mounted on the 200mm. I was shooting at f/32 after racking the ISO up to 1600, which produced a significant amount of "salt & pepper" grain and noise, which isn't present when shooting at ISO 100 to 400. By swapping to a larger bowl diffuser and using an SB20 flash instead of the SB23, I can operate at smaller apertures without having to boost the ISO. This image convinced me that running the ISO on the D40 any higher than 400 probably isn't the way to go.
DSC-5788