I have a very good camera. It is also a very heavy camera and when I load myself up with camera body and lenses, you don’t get much change from 7 kilos. I have hankered after something smaller that I can carry around all the time, something light and inconspicuous which takes good quality images. After a couple of false starts I settled on a Sigma DP1 which is a bitch to operate but is capable of taking some really good shots. Just needs a better photographer than me to get the best out of it.
When I first got the DP1 I could fit it in my pocket. Then I bought an optical viewfinder to fit on the top and had to buy a bag to carry it around. Then I swapped the shoulder strap for a wrist strap. Then I got a lens hood, then I got a small tripod. Then all the bits wouldn’t fit into the small bag and I had to go and buy a bigger bag to hold it all.
Yesterday I added to the gadget collection by acquiring a close-up lens that screws on the front of the lens hood. I bought the lens through Ebay from a gentleman who inadvertently declared the item as a gift valued at $10, which means the customs didn’t bother with it. Shame.
This afternoon we went down to the windsurfing club and after an hour or so of floating around the Gulf of Thailand in not a lot of wind, I gave up and had a play with the DP1 and the close-up lens.
Fun to use and although it could not be described as a macro, it does let you get closer than normal, and it does produce some spectacular bokeh (the blurry background); that green mess in the last photo is just grass. It’s how grass would look if you smoked some. Allegedly.