San Diego Lady and other SoCal residents

[zeolite]

Fantastic pics.
Do you mind some photography questions?

I've noticed most museums do not allow tripods.
They are probably worried others will trip and they'll be sued.
Flash is often forbidden.
This means high ISO setting and/or blur from long hand held exposures.

Your pics are razor sharp and noise free and I see no evidence of flash.

Did you use a tripod or monopod in the museum?
Did you rest the lens against the case?
Were you at ISO 100?

Any other information you are willing to share about the photography is welcome and appreciated.

Questions welcomed. No tripods or flash allowed at "all that glitters"
This means high ISO setting and/or blur from long hand held exposures. Or special technology
Did you use a tripod or monopod in the museum? No
Did you rest the lens against the case? No
Were you at ISO 100? I was using ISO 1600, and no noise reduction software was applied. My camera is a full frame digital, with 21MP. It will go to 6400 ISO with excellent picture quality, or up to 25,600 ISO with special setting. I had to stop the lens down to f8 or f11 to get enough depth of field. My special technology, is I have a Canon 100 f2.8L IS macro, a state of the art macro lens with 4 stop image stabilization (similar to your Nikon's VR lenses). This means instead of hand holding at a normal 1/100 second, I can go down to 1/6 second with good sharpness. No other camera manufacturer makes such a lens like this at this time, and Canon only introduced it last October. That's what I meant by my camera and lens, for this application, is as good as it gets.

For non-photographers, my IS (image stabilization) lens has a sort of gyroscope built in, to steady the lens. This means I can get away with not using a tripod, where everyone else must use one, except at "all that glitters" they are not allowed.

 

[kenny]

I am in awe.

Seriously, thank you.
I need to keep up - and go shopping.
Up till this moment I have cherished all my 30-year old Nikkor lenses and turned my nose up on newfangled advances.

 

[cellentani]

zeolite, I'm so glad you posted on my other thread - otherwise I would have completely missed this! Almost equally enjoyable as your lavish photos, was the discourse on your photography. Alas, my point and shoot does not have Adobe RGB color space capabilities.

For anyone who's interested, the exhibit is open through June 1st. I so wish I could attend!

 

[rosetta]

Holy cow mr zeolite!

Great photos. Superb gems.

I saw the aurora collection at the natural history museum in London.

I stood in front of that case until I practically had to be dragged away.

I bet people thought I was some kinda lunatic.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Excellent photography as always Zeolite!

Kenny, for us Nikon guys, there is this similar lens. Nikon Telephoto AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR (Vibration Reduction) Autofocus Lens. It's priced around $900 in NYC.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Wonderful photography, those pieces are beautiful.

That collection is making me wish I still lived in SD.

 

[sphenequeen]

going to go! thanks for the pics and the post...

 

[Lovinggems]

Wonderful photography, thank you for posting the photos.

 

[kenny]

Excellent photography as always Zeolite!

Kenny, for us Nikon guys, there is this similar lens. Nikon Telephoto AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR (Vibration Reduction) Autofocus Lens. It's priced around $900 in NYC.

Thanks Gene.

 

[Arkteia]

What an amazing, amazing thing! Thank you all for posting it!

 

[zeolite]

I thank everyone for your kind comments. Kenny, I loved your cute picture; hope the photo information helped. Cellentani, I didn't think anyone but Kenny would read my photo information, since it was a bit off topic for this website. Gene, thank your for your tip on a similar Nikon VR macro lens. Everyone that can, should attend this museum exhibit. I can't think of any exhibit in the world that has such complex butterfly creations, especially since many showcase a single, sometimes rare gem species. And all of the museums should try to match the superb lighting which shows the gems so well.